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I would VERY much like this site to come out of beta. Great job guys for creating it and great job community so far for keeping it running.

However, I have a concern that the only people active on this site (and for that matter ANY SE beta site) that the visitors are predominantly from the more popular SE sites (SO for instance).

The knock on effect of this is that the "novelty" of such websites may wear off.

The reason I'm worried about this is because I've received some very important advice from the community here and I'd love for it to be kept around as a resource in future.

This site needs to be promoted in the Graphic Design field, websites such as Adbuzeedo need to be pushing this. Does anyone have any ideas for promoting this site OUTSIDE of the SE boundaries? or do you think I've missed the mark entirely here?

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    I've had the same thought today: The statistics for the site look okayish, but the visit rate seems really low - 142 a day where 500 is defined as "worrying". (It's still very early in the Beta, though, of course, so it may be too early to tell.) area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1924/graphic-design
    – Pekka
    Commented Jan 17, 2011 at 20:40
  • Considering how active this site was in the private beta, and how it's going now, I'd agree with you. I'm sure you'll still get a dribble for a while, but, well...
    – PearsonArtPhoto
    Commented Jan 17, 2011 at 23:38
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    I think part of the reason for this is that Graphic Design is, in it's nature subjective, but those kinds of questions aren't allowed here. There should be scope for subjective questions, with SO and Server Fault etc questions are in their nature technical so there is a right and wrong answer. Maybe this one should allow subjective questions (to a degree of course)
    – Dan Hanly
    Commented Jan 18, 2011 at 9:59
  • @Daniel, actually subjective questions are allow, read this post to the end: blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective
    – Hemi
    Commented Jan 18, 2011 at 11:14
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    actually also check out this even more recent post: blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/01/real-questions-have-answers
    – Hemi
    Commented Jan 18, 2011 at 11:29
  • Hate to say it, but it's not clear from the question headline what's being asked.
    – e100
    Commented Jan 18, 2011 at 13:26
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    @e100 better? :)
    – Dan Hanly
    Commented Jan 18, 2011 at 13:46
  • great -- thanks!
    – e100
    Commented Jan 18, 2011 at 14:11
  • I feel like Daniel Hanly, I do not feel any more to ask questions because the answer that I need are more based on personal knowledge, taste and experience (business experience in graphic design, or help in finding something visually interesting setting some particular parameters). Because I feel that I am always off topic, I do not want to ask to clutter wrongly the group. I am looking for a constructive debate on taste and design, not only sure answer on technicality
    – Littlemad
    Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 1:24
  • @Littlemad interesting. As a Stack Overflow veteran, I tend to react strongly towards any "subjective" questions. But maybe things need to be different on GraphicDesign.SE for the site to work - looking at the numbers on Area51, it is not really working yet. Might it be worth trying to establish high-level composition and critique questions? Hmm.
    – Pekka
    Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 10:44
  • @Pekka: I think that we can try, and correct the diretcion on where we are going along the way. Naturally being constructive it is the main point.
    – Littlemad
    Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 11:15
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    I think we'll know when a question is too subjective - "What do you think of my logo?" for example - but if we are tolerant to more subjective questions we can help build this community. As I said previously, graphic design is essentially subjective, so we need to be tolerant to a large amount of subjectivity as long as it doesn't push the boundaries and as @Littlemad described, as long as it's Constructive, where's the harm?
    – Dan Hanly
    Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 12:40
  • @Pekka +1 for the link to GE SE on Area 51. And I agree with @Daniel Hanly - If we are too narrow, then its quite likely that we will fail because of the lack of activity because of the criteria for a 'good'/'accepted' question on the sit.e
    – JFW
    Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 14:21

5 Answers 5

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I think promoting it without needing to pay for advertising will work just as well. Pulling together a press release with some examples of good questions that have been asked here with quality answers might be the best way to promote it. Send that to some of the more predominant design blogs out there, like Adbuzeedo.

If you can get some of the big design stars to start sending amateurs/students to this page (I'm sure they're overwhelmed with questions) it could be mutually beneficial.

I'd also suggest sending the PR to significant design schools around the world. Students would LOVE this as a resource.

4

One key way is to promote individual questions, as per text above:

Know someone who can answer? Share a link to this question via email, twitter, or facebook.

Pekka's bounty question Web-based workflow solutions for graphic designers (hosted and self-run)? is certainly one which could benefit from exposure.

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  • I think that functionality should be on every question without prejudice. I currently cannot find that link on the question you provided!
    – Dan Hanly
    Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 12:43
  • I think it's only shown when there are zero answers?
    – e100
    Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 13:21
  • This is an issue then because to not be "Worrying" we need 2.5 answers per question, not just 1
    – Dan Hanly
    Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 14:51
  • there is a permalink next to the 'flag' option under the tags for every question, also the share on facebook/twitter links are under the question's starred and upvote count
    – Hemi
    Commented Jan 21, 2011 at 0:27
  • I see - it's just more prominent and explicit before any answers are added.
    – e100
    Commented Jan 21, 2011 at 8:57
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I suggest that we should use some sites like Delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit to promote our site. Perhaps we could suggest users of those webapps to submit each page that they read on Graphic Design SE to the web services to increase external traffic.

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    I agree. I personally already stumble'd it, and I'm about to share it on FB and other social networks.. In my opinion, word of mouth (pardon, mouse) is the best way of promoting both a website and a business.
    – Lucius
    Commented Jan 22, 2011 at 9:04
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A similar question has been asked on Apple.SE in relation to their launch. Please see Jeff Atwood's answer:

I think it's great to announce, but I'd also encourage simple organic linking and sharing of relevant questions and answers.

In other words, instead of posting an announcement, find someone that has a problem addressed in the Q&A here, and answer something like:

I too had this problem, and I found the solution on Apple Stack

Exchange

http://example.com/questions/12345/how-to-fix-your-busted-itunes

Related: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/announcer-booster-and-publicist-badges/ http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/a-recipe-to-promote-your-site/

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I think that we should do some banners (not classic banner, but a nice visual design to put in public place) to advertise visually about it on our Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and graphic design forum. We need something good that everyone of us can create and just put outside. A visual it is much more catchy than a piece of text.

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  • please if you vote negatively explain why. It is not constructive been voted down without an explanation, thx :)
    – Littlemad
    Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 6:54
  • I think wasting money on banners is the last thing that will be helpful for a community like this. It's not like your converting clicks to sales.
    – MikeNGarrett
    Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 8:33
  • @MikeNGarrett - you have to remember that members of this SE site are graphic designers, if we talk nice we may not have to pay ;)
    – Dan Hanly
    Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 8:42
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    @MikeNGarett: I do not mean to pay to advertise. I mean to make something graphical to post in our Facebook, on in Twitter or in forum groups. It is easier catch attention with a visual communication than a piece of text.
    – Littlemad
    Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 16:11
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    -1. I don't mean to sound the pessimist here, but I think this is an exercise easier said than done—find someone to make the banners for free, get consensus amongst a bunch of designers on what looks good, and then find those outlets that will allow for the banners to be displayed for free for an extended period of time. Organic, linked, community-based growth is really the way to go for long-term returns.
    – Philip Regan Mod
    Commented Feb 8, 2011 at 21:26

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