Creating items customized with your tribe’s identity involves three steps:
- Create a Tribe
- Select items to customize
- Apply designs to the items
Although Tribal ID is still in early BETA, meaning that we chose to launch it before all of the functionality was complete, all of the basic steps are possible, although with a bit of human intervention.
Create a Tribe:
This step is simple. On the homepage, enter the name of your Tribe in the box next to the “Create” button.
Home Page (varies slightly the second time you visit)
Don’t worry if you are not sure of a name, it can be changed at any time. When you have entered your tribe name hit the “Create” button.
Tribe Details Page
On this screen you enter a description of your tribe, add Tags,upload an image, pick a color and a font. The description and tags are used by our search engine to help people find your tribe and to browse other tribes to get ideas. Everything on this page can be changed at any time.
Tribe colors and fonts are used on your Tribe page, a free page created by Tribal ID to display your images, products, members and comments, and on a widget that you may choose to install on your existing Tribe site or blog.
Upload a Tribe Image
Your Tribe image is used to decorate your Tribe page and for creating customized items. You are not required to upload a tribe image at this point, but it makes the Tribe page look better.
To upload an image, prepare a good, clean version of your logo or art in .jpg, .png or .gif format. For the Tribe page the image will be displayed at 326 x 326 pixels. Uploading a much larger or smaller image, or an image that is very tall or very wide will cause it to look distorted on the page.
When you are ready, click on the “Choose File” button and a box will pop up that allows you to select your file for upload. Simply click “Submit” and your Tribe is ready.
Once you hit the “Submit” button you are taken to a Tribe homepage. A sample product “blank” is displayed, and the Tribe name or Tribe image appears in the image display area in the upper left.
Select Items to Customize
In this step you select items to customize “blanks”, upload additional images for use in the customization and send the information to our designers to create examples of how the product will appear after customization.
You can browse the items in our blanks collection in two ways.
- A large product image with a sample set of blanks appear on the right of the page. You can select the large product image to choose the product for customization. Or, you can click any of the smaller images beneath and they will repalce the large image, and can then be selected for customization.
Select blanks to Customize
- You can also search for a blank by typing into the box next to the “add products” label above the large product image. A list of blanks will be returned that match your search. If you do not see something interesting, try changing your search. For example, “Cap” returns different results than “hat.” If you still do not see anything interesting, remove your search term and hit “Search” and you will see a comprehensive list of customizable blanks.
Product Search Results
If you cannot find a product that you like, email us at info@tribalid.com describing what you are looking for and we will look for a blank that matches your needs.
Apply Designs to Your Selected “Blanks”
When you hit the “Customize” button or “add +” beneath a blank you will be taken to a page that asks you to enter a description of the customized product, select or upload an image to use in customizing the blank, and type in a description of the customized product.
Product Customization Information
The Product Description information is where you write, in your own words, what the customized product is and why it is interesting to your Tribe. For example, a custom tattoo may be “a great way to scare the kids.” The manufacturer’s information and the basic product description will be supplied by us.
Next you have the opportunity to upload an image file for us to use in the customization. Don’t worry if you do not have a design that you like, we can help you create one. If you do have an image, upload it in .jpg, .png or .gif format and type in any instructions into the “enter instructions here” box. As a general rule of thumb, 300dpi images reproduce well. For example, if you want a large image across the chest of a man’s t-shirt, upload an image that is 2400px – 3000px wide.
The Special Instructions area is where you tell us how you would like the blank to be customized. e.g. “put a 2″ tall logo in black and white on the pocket and the text “save our schools” in a matching font in white across the back shoulders.” We will contact you in the course of designing the product, but this gives us a head start.
Creating Your Custom Products
We will receive your instructions and contact you. Many items have a wide variety of customization options. They may be printed, engraved, embroidered or decorated with heat-transfers. We will contact you to discuss options and to work through any issues related to design, file type, colors and design placement.
When we have finished creating mock-ups for you you will get an email from us saying that the product is ready and it will appear on your tribe page ready to order. Customized product designs can be removed, changed and new products can be added at any time.
For now, all prices include shipping and handling. Tax will be computed if the order is shipped in California.
Once an order is placed it takes from 2 days to several weeks to create the products, and in many cases we will contact you in production to get your feedback.
Have fun and don’t worry about creating too many designs. We are learning about what people like and don’t like and using that information to make the site better.
Click here for How to Use Tribal ID Part 2
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