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Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

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Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#41

Post by jkaunisv1 »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #14
jastr wrote: post #13

This is a great problem, that you simplified a lot, but it's still expensive!

No, it's really not. It's about 50% more than you'd pay for a shitty, cheap frame, and half the cost of a custom frame. The OP may not have found product-market fit yet (I'd argue this should be targeted squarely at the pro and semi-pro markets, instead of consumers), but the product itself looks fantastic and the pricing is terrific.

It may be cheaper than similar offerings, but it is still expensive. The thing that jumped out at me from his writeup is the initial problem he was trying to solve - framing a piece of art without paying 10x the price of the art or more. It doesn't _feel_ like he accomplished that, even if he technically did by bringing it down to 3 or 5x.

My inner consumer doesn't want to pay more for a frame than I did for what's going in the frame. It makes me angry. It feels wrong. That's the benchmark I'm evaluating against.

There will definitely be a big difference in desires and perception between the pro/semi-pro and consumer markets. What makes a shitty frame to you anyway (this is an earnest question)? I've never had a wooden frame disappoint me.

Personally I'd rather have the cheapest possible wooden frames that don't fall apart so that I can frame as much of the art I have lying around. To me a frame should be a cheap purchase that gets out of the way of the art it's highlighting.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#42

Post by jhubball »

joshfinnie wrote: post #37

Thank you for this... what great execution to an issue you wanted to solve! One question, where do you source your "best bet" suggestions from?

So framing is mostly subjective, but there a fair amount of science and best practice can be applied. Based on the size of the artwork, there are some "golden ratios" around how thick the mat and the frame should be. The Best Bet button employs a simple algorithm that will give you the recommended configuration. More room to optimize this, but main goal was to have one button that would get you to something good looking if you are not an experienced framer.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#43

Post by solipsism »

jhubball wrote: post #39
ISL wrote: post #29

These sentences in your copy set me up to expect a framing solution that would let me frame a poster in a nice frame for ~$40: "A handful came from Fab.com, there was a Ray Lamontagne concert poster I picked up after a show, and several others I had purchased on and offline. Not one had cost over $40." I felt let down that the minimum cost for framing 24x36 prints was then $109+. It's a nifty idea, and the custom-fra…

Thanks for the feedback! Price-wise, there is almost no way a wooden frame of that size with a framers-grade acrylic could ever get down to that size. Cost of the wood alone is ~$0.30 per linear inch. For me, I think it's wonderful that you can get a great print or poster for $40. That problem has been solved. But you can tell a cheap frame from a quality one every time.

Maybe what I need to overcome my cheapness is a new perspective. From my perspective, the frame is utilitarian. It's just there to hold the goods, which are what is mounted. I don't want it to look shitty, any more than I want my door knob to look shitty, but it amounts to basically the same thing. It feels "off" to pay more or as much for a frame as I do for what goes in it.

And, yet, unlike a doorknob, sometimes you want a frame to have a custom size.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#44

Post by aaronbrethorst »

jkaunisv1 wrote: post #41
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's really not. It's about 50% more than you'd pay for a shitty, cheap frame, and half the cost of a custom frame. The OP may not have found product-market fit yet (I'd argue this should be targeted squarely at the pro and semi-pro markets, instead of consumers), but the product itself looks fantastic and the pricing is terrific.

It may be cheaper than similar offerings, but it is still expensive. The thing that jumped out at me from his writeup is the initial problem he was trying to solve - framing a piece of art without paying 10x the price of the art or more. It doesn't _feel_ like he accomplished that, even if he technically did by bringing it down to 3 or 5x. My inner consumer doesn't want to pay more for a frame than I did for what's g…

    It may be cheaper than similar offerings,
    but it is still expensive.
Fair point. I'm framing hand-made photographs (i.e. made in a wet darkroom) with a retail cost measured in the hundreds of dollars, not posters or prints purchased from art.com. It's totally reasonable that you wouldn't want to pay more for the frame than what's in it.

    a shitty frame
Chipboard, particle board. That sort of thing.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#45

Post by Yen »

Trying out the site, I'm really liking the frame editor, UI-wise. Particularly

* actually shows the expected price, in-line, without having to go to a new page. * shows both the low-detail, big-picture information (a picture of the actual frame), and the high-detail information (exact specs of the frame) * can quickly switch between options, and the display updates

This combination of features lets me quickly iterate through options, and evaluate tradeoffs (does this look better with no matting or 1" matting? The thicker frame width looks nice, but it bumps the price up. How much do I value that aspect?)

Feature wishlist for the future - the ability to handle multiple items in a frame, for a series of photos/triptych/etc.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#46

Post by lifeisstillgood »

jhubball wrote: post #39
ISL wrote: post #29

These sentences in your copy set me up to expect a framing solution that would let me frame a poster in a nice frame for ~$40: "A handful came from Fab.com, there was a Ray Lamontagne concert poster I picked up after a show, and several others I had purchased on and offline. Not one had cost over $40." I felt let down that the minimum cost for framing 24x36 prints was then $109+. It's a nifty idea, and the custom-fra…

Thanks for the feedback! Price-wise, there is almost no way a wooden frame of that size with a framers-grade acrylic could ever get down to that size. Cost of the wood alone is ~$0.30 per linear inch. For me, I think it's wonderful that you can get a great print or poster for $40. That problem has been solved. But you can tell a cheap frame from a quality one every time.

I came to post almost exactly the same thing as the OP - 40 bucks was the anchor and yet the first click lead me to ... No pricing and the second to over 60 bucks.

You anchored at 40 - and surely the frame is less than the artwork.

Can I suggest a bottom "entry level" solution - it might not work but have cheap(ish) standard sized frames and adjust the inner piece of off white card that goes inside.

I have two kids and would love to swap their work in and out on a weekly basis - different sized card to cover things up seems great.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#47

Post by [deleted] »

jhubball wrote: post #39
ISL wrote: post #29

These sentences in your copy set me up to expect a framing solution that would let me frame a poster in a nice frame for ~$40: "A handful came from Fab.com, there was a Ray Lamontagne concert poster I picked up after a show, and several others I had purchased on and offline. Not one had cost over $40." I felt let down that the minimum cost for framing 24x36 prints was then $109+. It's a nifty idea, and the custom-fra…

Thanks for the feedback! Price-wise, there is almost no way a wooden frame of that size with a framers-grade acrylic could ever get down to that size. Cost of the wood alone is ~$0.30 per linear inch. For me, I think it's wonderful that you can get a great print or poster for $40. That problem has been solved. But you can tell a cheap frame from a quality one every time.

[deleted]

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#48

Post by anigbrowl »

Good concept, needs work.

Hated the step-by-step user interface, I like a form I can fill out and click one button, not least so I can view all options at once. The inches + '0/8' widget was extremely confusing and unintuitive. Simple text box and labels would have been fine or text box + dropdown. Annoyed not to have a metric option.

Prices are OK for custom woodwork, but I think you need to play up the 'high quality' angle more on the landing page, because otherwise many people are going to be expecting cheapish frames and get sticker shock. I like nice frames, but more and more I print on canvas with a built-in frame or other 'frameless' options because I have no wish to spend hundreds of dollars on frames. I'm not sure I agree about the mid-price pain point - but I do think your prices are competitive and a slight adjustment to your positioning is all that's needed.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#49

Post by altcognito »

jhubball wrote: post #24
delgaudm wrote: post #12

When I needed to change dimensions, I started over. The first step did show 0/8 but the fractions of the inch were present on the second step. Edit: Now that I've been through the process, I also found that your pricing was $14USD more for the same materials and dimensions than the first site that came up when I searched "online framing" ($46 vs $32). Its not clear from your site how you differentiate on that markup.

thanks for taking a look, I will look into the fractions change. I'm guessing that the competitor was not using materials that were as quality or archival. I'm also trying to differentiate on the UI/UX. Most of the sites I've tried (and I've tried a lot) take dozens of steps to order the frame and have way too many options.

You will make money, but you won't be "disruptive"

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#50

Post by DanielBMarkham »

Related sidebar: last week I was on holiday and took some nice landscape photographs. They were nice enough that I had a few people on my social networks ask if I could frame them.

Being a computer nerd and not a professional photographer, I was at a bit of a loss. I ended up googling for professional print services online and ordering some sample prints.

Here's the thing: contrary to this article, they offered backing. Not sure about the rest of it. I included a couple of oddball-sized prints just to see how they did.

Why couldn't they offer frames? Is there some technical reason this isn't already done? I confess to quickly scanning the second-half of the article, but is there some barrier to entry that I'm not aware of?

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