Category: Direction
Priorities survey – additional points
Our makers have been helping to shape our early direction through a survey on their priorities. Below is a small sample of related thoughts that you all shared. We’ve picked responses that represent themes shared by multiple makers.
“I’m hoping for a place where algorithms don’t rule supreme. I feel like I always see the same things and its tedious and boring. I want to be inspired and to inspire as well as connect with serious buyers and people who actually appreciate craft and are willing to pay fair prices for all the work that goes into it.”
“Looking for a place where I can find inspiration and connect with other makers and appreciators in a space that isn’t trying to feed me content that is irrelevant to those goals.”
“Be seen and grow brand awareness”
“I would like to be part of a community that honors the handmade tradition. Curated with attention to detail and high quality.”
“A place to sell to retailers and a higher end clientele… A place to make clear that you are a person making handmade work, not a factory!”
“I am really keen for a platform that highlights photographs of makes just as much as videos.”
“An environment that fosters growth; support for beginners and hobbyists without gatekeeping.”
“Makers backstory, how they got to where they are. Ups and downs.”
“Working as a maker and running your own business can feel isolated sometimes, and it would be great to be able to share ideas and information about the skills needed for running a small business (for example the financial and marketing aspects).”
“Find local opportunities such as markets and fairs to share my work or attend as a spectator.”
“Build some kind of ethics/code of conduct and allow reporting for folks that break the code.”
“To be able to exchange ideas, talk to other like minded makers. To have discussions about techniques, experiences, failures and discoveries.”
“A place that offers [an] equal chance to all makers. A place where they don’t have to worry about SEO and algorithms just so they can be seen by a tiny fraction of people.”
“Easy to find by topic or area, easy to search, easy to reach out, and easy to connect, and stay connected. I would also love to see small stores that support these crafts and makers also have a place as I would love to shop local to gather supplies.”
“I’d love to be part of a unique platform with other skilled makers, where time can be taken to tell the stories of my works, and where there are people who value the long road and all its details .”
“In-depth understanding of other makers’ processes, including both their conceptual development and practical approach to the build”
“Maybe a mentorship program for people struggling to balance the fun stuff of the craft with the work of running a business. Classes in different disciplines, offered by members for members… For me, it’s less about sales than it is about connection and learning.”
What are your thoughts?
Whether you participated in the survey or not, what else would you add to this?
Survey results: Priorities
We’ve been asking our makers how their priorities relate to the We Make experience. If you’ve participated in this, thank you! The community response here is helping to shape our early direction.
This is an ongoing survey so we’ll update the numbers over time but we wanted to share early results (from about 180 responses).
How important is each of the following priorities to you as a maker?
1. Easily discover new work by craft
2. Easily discover other makers in your craft
3. Get feedback about your work
4. Have a chance to promote work that’s for sale
5. Create a beautiful showcase of your work
6. Create posts about topics other than your work/WIP
7. Discover makers in your geographic area
8. See behind-the-scenes articles from makers (photography processes, etc)
9. See features added that uniquely support the maker community
What stands out to you?
Are the ratios what you expected? Any suprises? We’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Additional thoughts
Our makers are also sharing a lot of thoughtful and valuable feedback about what’s important to them right now. Once you’re done here, you can read a selection of those responses.
If you’re a member who missed the survey and wants to participate, let us know. If you’re not yet a member, you can request early access.
A sample invitation
Here’s a rough guide for makers to invite new members to join We Make.
For our founding members: if the makers you invite sign up before September 1 they’ll also get the benefits that come from being a founder.
If you think of a point that would add value to what’s here, would you share it by adding it in the comments below?
The message
Here are some generic points. Add your intro and closing and customize these as much as you’d like. Or, feel free to write your own.
With other very talented makers, I’m part of a new social space for sharing and discovering handcraft called We Make.
Access is currently by invitation-only but founding makers have been given a few invitations each so I wanted to see if you would be interested in being a part!
You can see what’s in place at https://wemake.co
As you’ll see on the site, apart from connecting around the images there is also the interactive Maker Map for discovering makers by area or craft. And, the feed for each craft is curated by makers (no algorithms!). There are also a lot of other maker-focused features planned, drawing heavily on community input for direction.
The platform, which is maker-founded and maker-led, is just starting. Registration will be opening to the larger maker community and public soon but makers that receive an invitation and sign up before September 1 will receive founder benefits including free access to features like premium customer support and the ability to include For Sale links in posts.
You’ll see links on the site to join or request early access. Or, you can sign up directly here:
https://wemake.co/join
If you sign up, mention my name in the “How did you hear about us?” field to get pre-approved access.
Defining Collections for We Make
In the full We Make platform that we’re preparing to launch, image posts can be discovered by craft (ceramics, woodworking, etc) and also by use type/environment. We’re calling this second grouping Collections.
Continue reading “Defining Collections for We Make”We’re building We Make: a craft-focused, maker-led social platform
We’re developing an online space for our maker community oriented around sharing and discovering handcraft. The focus is two-fold:
1) support makers to craft their best work by connecting them with the people who support it, and
2) enable the world to discover it.
We originally launched Maker Map (and published this post) as we were building the We Make platform. However, now that we’ve launched We Make we still want to hear from the community as we continue to make important decisions. So, please consider commenting next to a point that stands out to you or enter your general comments at the end.
Continue reading “We’re building We Make: a craft-focused, maker-led social platform”Building We Make: Underlying Assumptions
As we consider together what We Make could become, here are some considerations that have been foundational so far. This is a work-in-progress so community input definitely influences the direction.
Underlying Assumptions
Handcraft has the possibility to not just make our days nicer but to influence our experience of the world and each other.
As makers, sharing and seeing images of each others’ work can help us make even better work.
Continue reading “Building We Make: Underlying Assumptions”