Ask HN: Review my start-up: Customized Graphics

I work for a small company called eRetailing in Columbus, Ohio. Customized Graphics is a tremendous opportunity for us. We're treating it like a start-up within a start-up.

eRetailing has had some success in the custom apparel space, and now we're moving on to other custom products like stickers and wall graphics. There have been a couple questions on HN in the past about where to find custom stickers for your business. Well, you can absolutely find them here.

We think we're special for a few reasons:

1) When we were building this site there was no one else operating as the Cafe Press of Wall Graphics. Just recently, LTLPrints launched with a similar model. I've seen them mentioned on here before and it looks like they have a great product. We're looking forward to the competition!

2) Our Design Center is delightfully robust. It’s very easy to add your own text and art and then change colors, fonts, sizes, and more. You can also upload images, including vector art. (We think we’re the only place where you can upload vector art to create custom products, which is important for large graphics because vector art scales.) (See: http://www.customizedgraphics.com/designcenter/Wall_Graphics)

3) We represent the next step in online customization. For example, at Café Press and Zazzle you can shop from thousands of family-themed designs. But none of those designs are actually customizable. But clicking on one of our designs sends you directly to our design center, where you can edit text, colors, and everything else. So if you find a family wall graphic you like, it’s incredibly simple to click "Edit" and add your own family name. (See: http://www.customizedgraphics.com/search/all/Family)

Thanks in advance for any feedback! Everything still needs a lot of testing and improvement.

That being said, here's where I think you can improve the execution:

1. Make the site a bit more feminine. Not really a fan of the blue background. Go something lighter, more neutral, maybe a little feminine. Maybe just white like an Etsy.

2. It's not immediately apparent that you can make and sell your own designs. If you're going for the Cafepress angle, I think you need some more obvious buttons/labels for that. At least make the "make" and "sell" buttons on top stand out better.

3. Add some more social/sharing features. Let women/moms create designs and share them with other users. Maybe you do it already, but let people save their favorite users, designs, etc. Again, look at Etsy for cues here.

4. Add a religious/spiritual category right away. As a Christian, trust me–if you have a category with bible verses and religious quotes, it would be a big seller. It's a huge market and I have tons of friends who would buy such graphics for their home.

5. The home page seems a little busy. I'm not sure what's most important to you, but I'd recommend some A/B testing to see what best improves your conversions.

Anyway, good luck with this. I think it has potential. I already showed my wife and she digs it.

There could be a market for your service among the many bilingual and emigrant people in USA.

I opened a store front (http://www.customizedgraphics.com/alexophile) and the main thing I would suggest is having more categories. Work tends to get buried and poorly organized when there's too few categories. The use of tags only obfuscates this slightly, especially if someone doesn't actually know what they're looking for.