Critique feed back poor design templates.

Envato Authors Video Authors
1

Recently two after effects items were hard rejected. I am kind of confused because I am still wondering what they lack of. (that usually happens when you are the author, lol)
I have read many other post in long time about the same situations and what seems that everyone end up doing is starting from scratch a new one. That is what I am going to do. jeje.
But, yes, I will like some Critique feed back on how they can get improved. I am NOT planning to reaupload, I just want to know those little elements and twists that need to be done before hitting the submit botton and not waste some time in a future round.

example 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgzGdg809nc
example 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20xKpD_wWjs

On the other hand, I get kind of frustrated because even that I received the standard message “Unfortunately your submission Pastel Color isn’t ready for VideoHive and cannot be resubmitted as it did not meet our minimum requirements for quality and/or Envato Market policies…” I still see some items with that poor quality. QUALITY? what is quality nowadays? what I mean is that of course everything evolves. A 4 year old item is trash now. Anyway, There are some items that seem to be really old"quality" in the market today.
example: these 2 item were approve in sep 1st 2015

Edit: Links removed. Calling out another author on the forums to make a negative example of them in this way is not allowed.

HEY LISTEN I am not saying they are totally bad, mmm how can I say this: lets use some standard so you can get in my shoes:"“Unfortunately your submission…” and at the same time, I can see some potential costumers for those kind of templates. as you could see they have sold.
My example 2 was rejected the same day. (I have the email that proves it jejeje). I dont consider that my item is SOO bad in “quality”. I agree that It could have something to be corrected regardless is accepted or not.
I totally understand that freedom of approval from reviewers, but this fact guide me to think that they have two different ways of seeing the “STANDARD”. what can be a good file for one, can be a total trash for other. are they concept standardized?
I ask my self a hypothetical question? what would happen IF I reupload my items form a different account and get reviewed by the guy who reviewed the items I mentioned? will them get approved? yes, not!.who knows.
Right now, it is twisting my head off. It seems to me that sometimes it is a matter of luck.

I apologize in advance if this can guide the topic out the point. But i had to say it.

Thanks in advance.
Be respectful
Love each other
And have yourself a wonderful nice day.

2

Damn looks like reviewers are getting damn serious, let me get my 2 cents in.

The 2 items that you called out (even though it’s in really bad taste to call out other templates, but i understand your frustration) are complete trash, i have NO idea how could they possibly get approved. Your items are are better quality wise than those two.

HOWEVER, your items, while better than others, are not exactly ABOVE average standard. There are other items already on the marketplace that do the exact same job, at the same level of quality and higher. Don’t take this the wrong way, you clearly put effort into your work and it shows, but they are still understandably rejected.

The problem here is the reviewer that approved those other 2 items. It’s obvious and unfair that some reviewers have a lot higher quality standards than others. Everyone should be on the same page when review`ing, otherwise we have this mess that you’re dealing with right now.

My personal advice to you is to just focus on your work, it’s easy when you think about it. Just make your projects so good that no reviewer would ever think of rejecting them, good luck!

2 Likes
3

I think you need to look at it like this: The two examples you posted have 6 sales between them. So they got accepted… and they made hardly any sales, because they don’t really have the required quality level. There’s a kind of a blurry quality line below which things don’t get accepted, and there are various reviewers around the world… of course the line is a bit blurry. But the two comparison projects you posted - they were extremely lucky to get accepted.

(I removed the links I’m afraid - it’s against forum rules to call out other authors)

Now to your stuff…

I would say that the second one is of a similar quality level to the second comparison that you posted. It consists of a very simple transition between a few full screen images then resolves to a static logo via the same transition. I can see why this got rejected. There’s not a whole lot to it, the concept isn’t especially coherent and the execution is nothing special. It probably didn’t take you long either, so no great loss.

The first one is different, because parts of the animation are good and it obviously contains a lot more work. However, one thing that strikes me is that it’s rather similar in style to a top selling item by Balistique. http://videohive.net/item/new-solid/3434584 There’s another template around with the diamond shape you use somewhere too. Maybe the reviewer knows these templates.

Now I’m not suggesting that you copied or were inspired by these templates, nor that Balistique or anyone else is necessarily even the originator of this style, but if you see it from the reviewer’s point of view, you are submitting a template that’s in a very similar zone to an existent top selling template, but lower quality.

In Balistique’s, the typography, pacing, interaction with music, color schemes, images are really, really tight. It’s a quality article through and through. It would be perfectly acceptable as a piece of bespoke motion graphics for TV or cinema. We can assume that Balistique is a talented and experienced designer.

In the areas that yours differs from Balistique’s… i.e. design, composition, color scheme, typography, music, edit, structure, pacing, conceptual coherence, finish and so on, it just doesn’t hold a candle to Balistique’s. I’m afraid I’d go as far as to say there are some really bad design decisions, that suggest a certain lack of design experience - just combinations of stuff that don’t work together: the flashing text, the bulge effect on one of the pieces of text, the color scheme (how on earth did you come up with that color scheme?) They look like they belong to a kind of kitsch, retro, 8-bit gaming aesthetic, which the rest of the design and animation really doesn’t. Overall, it just lacks a coherent design direction and doesn’t function together as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay, but it’s just not on the same level as the item linked above, and maybe the reviewer was simply thinking - we don’t need another version of this template.

My advice? I don’t know what experience you have as a designer, but a pro designer, a good one will generally have many years of art and design education behind them and possibly more than a decade of hands-on experience in a high-end design environment. If you don’t have that, then that’s one of the reasons you might find it hard to compete, but on the other hand you could look at this experience as part of your education. This is valuable experience.

Moving forwards I would suggest that you start with an original concept that’s not based on some other piece of motion graphics you’ve seen. Use still design or architecture or photography or just the way things move in the world as your inspiration. Later on you can make genre pieces, but first you have to find your design voice. Next collect some moods on-line, then make style-frames (stills of how your animation will look) for several days. Choose your typefaces and color schemes carefully. Find a great piece of music (preferably one that not everyone else has used). Then sit on it for a few days. Maybe start another piece. Come back to it with fresh eyes and ask yourself: Does it look good? Do I go on and make this into a motion graphics template?

If the answer is yes, then only then turn to After Effects and set about creating your animation. You will find that with all that prep work and all the time and consideration you’ve spent on it, the act of building it will fall into place pretty easily.

Hope that helps.

-felt.

4

thanks Felt_tips. thanks for taking the time and patience to write this long and valuable comment. I did not know that one from balistique it is amazing, I undersdtan, better item aronud. but for sure I was inspired by other items and I tried to put my little touch on my own. Thanks you your comment now I have widen my perspective and yes I see some important lacks on my design. I am not a professional designer but I love it. I am getting experience onto it. I will try to get my hand on somehitng new and unique. hope any will come out of my inexperience mind lol.

5

Hi Lefs,

I wont talk about your second project. Lets focus on the first one. Felt_tips gave an example of another author’s project that is similar your rejected item. Actually this is very good opportunity to see what is wrong with your item and what is ok with Balistique’s item. Those differences must be the key for your next projects and your success. I had a look your profile and you have items which are selling. And as i see they are 3d related ones. But then i guess you had a look at what is selling best in videohive and make a try. I guess you should first make a plan. What should i do? Motion graphics videos? or after effect projects? in which area i am good at, then you should focus on it. As you search a little more you will see that good sellers are focusing on one or two areas. pixflow makes ae templates. HK_graphics mostly do vj loops it has no ae template. but both of them have good sells.

Lastly, i didnt want to tell about why your template was rejected. because it is just details. the important thing is to make a plan and focus on something. I am not a veteran here but as far as i am here as an author i got this experience for me. I had rejected items. Actually i was disappointed at some of them, why because we spent hours to make them and it is very bad to see an item rejected and we cant be objective about our items so maybe we are missing something. Reviewers are human like us and i believe their mood can effect the result of review. All have different thoughts about art, beauty etc. But as i see they know their job they can see what is artistry and trendy.

lastly lastly make a coffee and keep working :slight_smile: