Cricut Artist Program – One Month Review
I am SO pumped to announce I’m now a Cricut Contributing Artist!! I’ve wanted to apply since the program first started, and I honestly can’t believe I got in. I am so glad I took the leap of faith and applied because this has been the biggest source of motivation and excitement over designing in the last couple years.
Apply to be a Cricut Contributing Artist
Applying to the program is super easy. Fill out some basic information and then upload 3 SVGs… it’s that simple. I don’t know why it took me an entire year to finally apply! So this is your sign to just go for it, it couldn’t be easier.
Read the FAQs
Make sure you read some of the FAQ questions. Cricut does a great job at providing information on how to succeed. Once you’re approved they have even more FAQs in their resources, and I’d recommend reading those before uploading as there’s SO much info in there.
Double Check Your Files
If you get denied, they will have you wait 3 months to reapply. If you’re impatient like me, I would take the time to double check those files. Make sure you have compound paths where appropriate, and your text is outlined (and not in a text box). These are two of the more common issues Cricut mentions.
First Month Review
I can honestly say, I’ve never had a better response to my designs in such a short amount of time. In 4 weeks I’ve had over 6,000 people use my designs. That’s on only 2-300 designs uploaded. What’s different about Cricut is that the number shown in your analytics is people actually using your design. It’s not just people buying your design and never using it – no, it’s people who have cut your designs at least once. I find that really cool!
Uploading Designs
The uploading process is the easiest I’ve encountered yet. When you don’t have to worry about descriptions or cover photos, it makes things super quick. You’re also limited on categories and tags, which I find to be a good thing. It means I don’t have to spend too long thinking about tags, because there’s already a pool of ones to choose from.
Since there aren’t any cover photos, I find that the search results aren’t as biased. There’s an even playing field when all you are seeing is the design without branding or mockups.
If I were to list the same designs to a marketplace I would never receive the kind of love the my designs are getting on Cricut. It’s truly the reason I’m so motivated to design right now.. this has made me realize it was never my designs, it was just the algorithms on marketplaces that set you up for failure.
Quality Checks
But even with all those perks, one of my favorite things about Cricut’s program is that they quality check every design. This is a game changer for designers and crafters. As a crafter you get to know that every design within Design Space has been checked and ensured it will work properly for the Cricut machines. This cannot be said for online marketplaces like Etsy and Design Bundles. As a designer this is also a huge perk because it means that if I make a mistake I get to fix it before a customer has a chance to use it and get frustrated.
Overall Thoughts
So with all that said this has been an amazing first month in the program. I’m so excited to see where the rest of the year takes me. I’ve already started making more Cricut projects because of this, and I’m sure that motivation won’t stop anytime soon.