Credit tracking, tools, posting, etiquette

I know I've used credits to locate something in a layout I've wanted, but not commented that I did it. I believe TLP's gallery requirements are to identify both designer and layout. CT's and Pollywogs link often because the item is new or on sale, but that's not a requirement. It took me a while to figure out how to handle it because I do not use photoshop but I've found ways to do it. I don't think you have to list what each item is however. Just the kits used. It sometimes takes detective work to find something, but I think that's reasonable.
I love your layouts and often see things that intrigue me. It helps to know what kit -- that's easier to google with the name when it's non-TLP. Your work is beautiful and I imagine you use many kits so I know it's a pain. But it's so helpful when I'm making a layout and remember seeing the perfect image for me page in the Art Journal thread or something.

 

When I am kit scrapping, it is way easier cause I just go

Deep Blue See Bundle | Lena & Tabatha aka Gypsy Girls
and
Cute and Loved Dressed DOWN | Cheryl aka Fiddle dee DEe

the gallery here is so easy to link with the little chain icon that pulls up a menu to copy paste the links
but when I am in creative art journaling mode, I am pulling from everywhere and I use:

CVW (Christy Vander Wall) supply tracker available free here
and it is copy and paste available. Christy's blog is full of hows and helps to load and use her tracker.
I also try (so far in vain) to be published in Somerset, and they must have complete list of credits.

I have in the past, also uploaded a page, and just listed everything layer order. See this page for example

In almost every Terms of Use (TOU) of digital designers, they ask kindly that you please credit their work. I love that we don't pay $10 for 10 papers in digital, and if crediting them helps them, I am all for it!

Also, the gallery in which I upload too, mainly here at the Lily Pad, ask me to credit the designers. They don't ask for links to the store, just to credit the designers. I think as a kindness and member of one of the best forums in digiland, that is the least I can do for them.

I am an addict of the gallery, I get my inspiration and joy clicking and leaving love there. I enjoy reading more about the page in the credits, journaling if the artist wants it to be read, being added, is a joy to my heart to get the whole feel to the page. I can spend an hour, just leaving love....and I love doing it!

It comes down to, we can make a million pages and never show a soul. That is our choice, but if I upload to a gallery, I should adhere to their requests.

 

I like to know the credits so I can follow the information (and the link if available) and then add it to my wish list.

I wouldn't want to hassle a person to ask for credits. That's just me. I'll move on. I have run into so many inspirational layouts, I would be contacting so many people to try to get information if it wasn't posted already. Who has time for that?

I decided long ago, that if I am involved in galleries, then I would post credits with links. I think it's fair to the designer and to the scrappers. Since I want to follow the link as a scrapper, others might want to too. If a credit is unavailable, then I list what it is and the designer.

 

Tracking/listing credits in galleries also helps to ensure that someone isn't posting pages totally created with products by outside designers... which wouldn't be fair to the store or the designers. Bandwidth/gallery storage is expensive. TLP is awesome and only requires 50% be TLP products, so it seems fair that credits should be listed.

I'm glad to see you are back in the digiworld, @sbpoet

 

To be clear, it is the policy of the TLP gallery to list all credits! It's listed in the rules at the top of the gallery.

GALLERY RULES: Layouts must contain at least 50% TLP products. (Templates count as 15%.) Uploads must be less than 250k. List all credits; no off-site linking allowed.

You don't have to link to the items in the store, but you need to list the products you used!

I'm with Jenn, I wouldn't want to hassle someone by asking for the credits! And I have never thought to tell someone that I followed their links, even though quite frequently I do follow the links or look for the product in the store!

 

I always keep Photoshop open when I'm uploading a layout so I can scroll through the layers palette and read the filenames and type credits such as "yellow flower and ribbon from (name of kit) by (name of designer)" and it only takes a minute, even if I used 15 elements from 5 different designers. I'm a fast typist.

 

wow, see how it is bigger then your pic

 

They are not asking the you list every element and kit. Just the kits. You're making it more than it is. No links. And you can't include outside TLP links anyway. But who knows I may have that discontinued kit in my stash. If a designer gives you kits I'm sure that it would be a help to them to have those kits credited. Just my thoughts. You are a great digital artist. I asked because I would like to grow. There were two or three items on one of your pages that would be extremely significant to me in my art journaling, but can you imagine having to go through all those designers and all their kits looking for one thing? I couldn't do that. And I scrap slower than a lot of others.

 

I list the designers and the kits, but I don't link- that step is hard for me to do. I sometimes don't post a layout because it doesn't have enough TLP in it. Since i am making layouts for my own use and I am not a CT, that works. I use GIMP so before I change the layout to a JPG, I open a word document, and copy all of the designers and kits i used for that specific layout, then when i upload to the gallery here I can copy and paste it. Sometimes I just use one button or one paper as a frame or something, so someone looking at my layout might have to look at all of the kits i listed to find a particular item, but I rarely even get comments, so i don't think that has been too big of an issue for anyone.
like others have said, I appreciate al of the designers hard work, sand i do read their TOU's so giving credit is not a problem!

 

This thread seems to have reminded all of us of the importance of giving credit, no matter how we do so.
I link for my CT LOs, but otherwise I usually don't, if only because it can get tricky. To me, a CT LO is created for the release of a product, so the link will be current when the LO is posted--and that's when a LO is most likely to get looked at in the galleries, imho.
Having said that, I do list every product and designer for all LOs I post. A good example of what I do is this LO, which is all Little Butterfly Wings except the (almost-totally-covered) background paper. While I CT for LBW, this LO wasn't necessarily a CT LO because (1) I also used Paula's paper and I personally don't like mixing products in my CT LOs for individual designers and (2) I'd used those kits before, so those products have already been linked via the original LO (as in "the LO I posted when the product was first released"). Oh, and (3) some of them are retired or are newsletter freebies which is why it's so awesome to sign up for newsletters.
Having said all that, I like to list the product name and designer because listing just the designer is like talking about a book but only mentioning the author: "OMG, I just finished that book by Stephen King! You know, that one book he wrote that one time. It's so good." Well that's great, but what book? Cuz he has like 85 million. Plus, mentioning the product can sometimes make it easier to realize what on the page is from that exact product. (Not always, though. I like how @AnneofAlamo said she lists by layer. That would have been good for my example LO!)
As far as keeping track: I just have a little Text docutment file in my LAYOUTS folder that's titled the same as my LO's title, and I put all info in there as I go. It's easy--when I had a lot more CT work the simple Doc file really came in handy cuz I named the file the name of the kit and its release date so I knew exactly when to post my LO. If I have multiple credits but only ONE item from a specific product, then in PS I name the layer the name of the product; that way I can easily delete that one item from my Text doc if I happen to delete that layer (although I tend to NOT delete layers. *shrug*)

 

I don't think anyone is saying you don't want to do credits. It's the issue of not wanting to include kits. And we are sharing why it is important to each of us. Let's get clarity @lmccandless

 

Sharon I feel your pain!

I too do a lot of mixing and matching of kits when I do scrap. Especially when I'm working on PL page. My credits are LONG and I have to credit paper supplies too. That is a whole other headache and won't go there.

A couple of things I've tried for tracking my products....I've used a notebook and wrote down ever single item and kit down. I've down this both while scrapping and after I'm done scrapping. Typically by looking at each layer I can remember the kit. I've moved on from using a notebook and have started using Evernote, using the same method above. It is a bit slow going, but I find it worth it.

Now crediting, I too like to inspire the community especially since I'm on CTs. However, I rarely point out the individual elements I use from the kits I mix and match. It is not hard for someone to go find the element themselves in the kits I list. Most designers to a great job at previewing their designs and the individual could view the element themselves from that. The only time I usually get super specific about listing an individual element is if I've changed it in some way that it might not be instantly recognizable. Like changing the color of it. I know this sounds mean but if people really like what they see then they won't be lazy and will go find the kit they like with the info you give them. I honestly believe kit name and designer is enough. Linking is nice, but not necessary.

For reference....here is one of my PL spreads that was difficult to track. https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/2013-project-life-week-11-left.192532/

I hope that helps! And thanks for the reminder of how important tracking and crediting is!

 

I use Photshop CS6 and keep a notebook that I write down what I use for each layout but sometimes I do use within the program - go to FILE - File Info and in the Description box I will type in credits as I go while creating my layout. Sometimes I might need to delete something that I ended up not using on the layout. Then I can just copy and paste those credits in the gallery when I upload my layout.