Greetings Aetherius!
This is just a little note for Crafters/Designers that might find themselves struggling to get things approved quickly! I've had many people in the past come to me seeking advice, since I do a lot of design work for people and get it done (typically) pretty quickly. How do I do it? Well, I've been doing this for so long it's just second nature, but I thought about it a lot and figured these are the things I try and find in my own designs that I know Approvers look for when they check over what's in the waiting list.
- Grammar. It is very, VERY important to proofread your work. Pop it into a Word document or something similar to catch those real quick typos you might overlook. Re-read your design at least 4 times, slowly, to ensure it looks and sounds right.
- In line with proofreading your work, make sure to view the pattern before you submit it. Don't just enter everything and blindly submit. You can view your design with DESIGN <number>, before it is submitted. You might catch an error yourself and be able to fix it and save yourself a rejection or two.
- Don't use 'you' or 'wearer' in any of the designs to interact with people. The exception here is Eaten 1/2/3P messages, scent messages in Apothecary items, or in Libations drinks, which are 1st person messages to the one eating/using/drinking it.
- Don't force opinions upon the viewer/user. Avoid things like 'this food is irresistible/delicious', as that forces an opinion upon the eater that they like what they are eating, which won't always be the case. Try instead to focus on the flavors themselves and their mouthfeel. Are they well combined and flavors that complement each other well?
- Complement = complete, compliment = praise. An item cannot give praise, so as a rule of thumb, if you're writing something like 'the sash compliments the overall aesthetic of the garment', you should instead be using 'complement' here.
- Beware the line breaks! Don't indent the beginning of the examined, and don't hit enter after putting in the examined, to avoid those excessive line breaks approvers reject for. If you have trouble with this because of some editor errors or something out of your control, comment on it and it's likely that an admin can see to fixing it. But try and fix it yourself before going to that step.
- You DO NOT have to wait for 3 rejections before you can fix your design. You can DESIGN <number> WITHDRAW, fix whatever was rejected, then submit it again, cutting some time off that wait.
- Remember that previous approvals do not mean that that approved design was perfect and okay. If a new design is similar, but being rejected, that previous design probably was overlooked. Human error, some approvers forget or miss the obvious. Try not to make their lives harder for following the rules they have to follow. Fighting this might just take the approval process longer, and leave you more irritated than it needs to.
If there's other questions or concerns about crafting approvals or just designs in general, toss me a message.
- Jannette De'Artem, Your Goddess of Arts and Craft
Penned by my hand on the 6th of Artificium, in the year 211 AM.
