I've been giving a lot of thought to the opening lines that I'll be presenting when the shop goes live... and have made significant headway so far in getting ready. There's still a lot of work to do, but sooner or later I'll be there and set to present... So for those who are interested, the initial line of styles is listed below. Photos will, of course, follow... as well as the announcement as to when the vendors are live... won't be long now!
Kitsune
Anime inspired short (<20cm long) spiky hair - initially targeted at the female market but could easily work for both. Available in the full 32 colours, like all the rest, of course! 163 static prims and retailing at a tentative L$75 per colourway.
Joss
Long, curly and actually pretty wild. Heavy on the custom textures this one for flexi spiral curls to make your eyes water. I love it, and so will you! 81 prims total and retailing at L$125, due to the time it's taking me to sort out the textures...
Heidi
Double french braid into two long plaits (around 45cm) - a bit of fun, with added 60cm long flexi colourchange ribbon details. Some flexis around the head and in the bangs, and some at the ends of the plaits to add a little life. 91 prims total and retailing at L$99
Zoe
Well I have to release the first hair I ever made, don't I... This was the one. Simple - a few flexis because I could... nothing fancy at a price you can take it or leave it at. 27 prims total and retailing at an insignificant L$25
Eowyn
Guess who's spent too much time in front of the 'Lord Of The Rings'? A take on the hair of the eponymous character. Open with a braid encircling the head. Colourchange flowers make up the clasp above the drop, which is slightly curly for added texture. 93 prims total (nearly all in the braid, I assure you!) and yours for L$99
Marion
Eowyn's sister style. Not as complex - no braid or flowers, but a workable and simple open drop style (50cm long in the size 50 version.) A mere 25 prims, and retailing at $L49
Banded
Now this was made as a base for a style that I plan to work on in earnest now alpha issues have been resolved (kinda)... Ultra-low primcount unisex hair with colourchange headband. Wear this when teleporting to avoid that unfortunate "sun don't shine" problem. 3 prims(!) and retailing for just L$10... as any more wouldbe taking the mick...
Samurai
Another movie inspired one - this time Kurasawa's epic... Males in mind here, but we'd recommend a skin underneath with no built in hair. Clourchange chopsticks for added effect. Somewhat fun, but due to the limiting nature of the style, yours in its 32 prim goodness for just $L49
George
Conservative, formal and more importantly very short (<10cm long) men's hair - a slight wave to it with some fine details in the front. Took AGES to do due to the high primcount and trying to stop it going all poofy. I like it... might be a bit severe for some but hey... your call... 165 static prims for $L75
Criss
Another men's style with a little more movement to it... Choppier and longer than George (but still under 20cm) with a fun flexi fringe and bits running down the back of the neck (to break up the lines... not look like a mullet!) layered and fun with a slight offset parting. Personally, I think this one works on the girls too... well certainly on me! Pick up the free demo and find out for yourself! 119 prims total and debuting at $L99
Ponytails - XL, 2XL and 3XL
Ah yes... Had some fun with these... All built around the same basic framework with the same head covering and bangs (and a couple of fun loose strands in front of the ears.The ponytail is topped with a coarse fabric colourchange scrunchie allowing almost innumerable colour combinations. The XL is 57 prims with a 0.8m drop on the smallest size; the 2XL is 64 prims and 1.35m long; while the queen of them all; the 3XL boasts 70 prims and a total drop of 2.1m(!) While some of the end is lost to allow for the feathered texture, when I wear the 3XL and stand still for long enough, it clips into the floor! Great ful if you go dancing in it though! Each available separately for $L49, or as a bundle of all three lengths for $L99
Other styles to come involved a more elaborate, big-hair ponytail, a single plait aimed more for the men; and a style as yet unseen as prim hair in Second Life... I'll tell you more about it once the pics are done... ;)
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Thursday, 26 April 2007
The initial line of hair colours
So after much pratting about with a range of options, and spending more than I care to divulge on hair texture packs in search of what I was after, I've settled on the original 32 colours for the Discord Designs hair lines... These incorporate 23 colours from a pack by Lexus Bosch, and include a further nine that I tweaked myself, as the initial collection was limited in the main to "natural" shades... I initially considered another bank of textures by a different designer with some 90 shades in, but after using them for a while, they seemed a little flat, and were quite hard to use when it came to the alpha layered ones...
I decided the best thing to do was to add my own by retinting a few shades, rather than mix and match between groups, for the sake of uniform overall appearance.
Either way... here they are...
As you can see, some of the colours are a little whacky; but I'm sure there are people out there who will approve!
Once again we have apples, to tie into the logo and for the sake of convenience, all the colours are labelled so people know what they're buying.
I hope there's something there for you!
Until next time,
Kalli
I decided the best thing to do was to add my own by retinting a few shades, rather than mix and match between groups, for the sake of uniform overall appearance.
Either way... here they are...
As you can see, some of the colours are a little whacky; but I'm sure there are people out there who will approve!
Once again we have apples, to tie into the logo and for the sake of convenience, all the colours are labelled so people know what they're buying.
I hope there's something there for you!
Until next time,
Kalli
Logo!
Announcing the logo for Discord Designs... designed by the highly talented and very lovely Thatcher Ochs:
The actual pic is transparent, but for reasons best known unto itself it displays with a black border!
As requested, he included the little apple at the top, which is, I guess, the brand icon. There are good reasons for that, which I might explain later...
Either way, I hope you like it! It'll be displayed on all vendors, and is actually being built into some products when a hidden root-prim is required...but that's a technical issue that I'm not going to go into!
Hopefully it'll become a common sight thoughout SL... but we'll see...
Until next time,
Kalli
The actual pic is transparent, but for reasons best known unto itself it displays with a black border!
As requested, he included the little apple at the top, which is, I guess, the brand icon. There are good reasons for that, which I might explain later...
Either way, I hope you like it! It'll be displayed on all vendors, and is actually being built into some products when a hidden root-prim is required...but that's a technical issue that I'm not going to go into!
Hopefully it'll become a common sight thoughout SL... but we'll see...
Until next time,
Kalli
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Preliminary Thinking: Hair Pricing
This is just me working off the top of my head here... but I admit, I'm setting foot into turbulent waters. The Second Life hair market is a tough one to break, what with a number of well established, and extremely talented builders already out there making names for themselves.
I admit it... I'm still learning a few tricks, and my repertiore of workarounds increases with every new style... as such I doubt I'd be able to make any headway in the market if I launch with all my style costing what is regarded as "normal" prices. In fact, it's already quite clear that only the top few designers can make serious money from a single style... For example, Lost Thereian can get away with charging $L235 for a single style in a single colour (because, in short, they're THAT good); and Helyanwe Vindaloo, who's Deviant Kitties styles are certainly stunning (if not as "photorealistic" as Lost's) can do very well for herself charging $L175... but us mere mortals are unlikely to impact the market if we roll in charging $L200... So I figured, the best thing I can do is aim low... not to undercut the big guns, but more to make what I do have available at a price that more people will be prepared to pay for work by a relative unknown... So I've been thinking...
There are four levels of complexity that I work to... so each style will be costed on the basis of how much effort it took to make... This may be retweaked at a later date should the need arise.
The most complex styles, requiring development of original textures, will be charged slightly more than other styles... so, shall we say $L125 in the first instance? Sounds about right to me.
Slightly down the scale come those with flexis, but a regular bank of textures. These in themselves aren't necessarily overly elaborate, but do take time to put together. I'll be happy to see them go for $L99.
Down once more to styles where flexis aren't used... primarily as short hair looks terrible if flexible, as any movement is jerky and unnatural... but in turn, people aren't prepared to pay full price for a non-flexing hairstyle anymore. These will market at a fairly realistic $L75.
And the ground level... while it might seem a little counterintuitive, it is in fact pretty easy to create any number of hairstyles around the same basic setup... say, for example, a ponytail available in three lengths could be based around the same head covering, bangs and associated. Here it would be kind of rude to charge full price for each, bearing in mind they are essentially the same style... So in this case, I'll be launching at $L49 for an individual style, or $L99 for a pack of three related styles... ad I do have a few of these planned... announcements to follow!
Then of course, I have to start thinking of what to do about multipacks... so many people offer them - hair colours grouped in such a way that you get a number, or even all available colours in one single box... Well, in the first instance I'm offering 32 colours, with the potential of expanding the range at a later date... so what can I charge? Here's my thinking...
The box price for every colour in each style should be sold at the the price of the style, times the square root of number of colours... I know... I know... sounds complicated but the pricing is relatively straightforward... Basically it means that a 32-colour box costs just over 5.6 times the cost of a single style... while a 64-colour box (if I ever get that far) would cost 8 times... which I figure is pretty reasonable... So pricing for the four tiers listed above, adjusted to the nearest 25 for ease of not confusing too many people with odd pricing, works out at:
Tier 1 - $L125 each or $L700 for all
Tier 2 - $L99 each or $L550 for all
Tier 3 - $75 each or $L425 for all
Tier 4 - $49 each or $L275 for all
What this'd mean is someone could expect to get no fewer than 2 sizes x 3 lengths x 32 colours (or 192 hairstyles) in an all colours threepack for a mere $L550 - or $L2.86 a hair... Sounds like a reasonable deal to me!
Regular single packs, even for the most complex styles I'll offer would work out as $L10.94 a hairstyle...
So there you have it... comments, analysis and suggestions are welcome, of course!
As always, until next time,
Kalli
I admit it... I'm still learning a few tricks, and my repertiore of workarounds increases with every new style... as such I doubt I'd be able to make any headway in the market if I launch with all my style costing what is regarded as "normal" prices. In fact, it's already quite clear that only the top few designers can make serious money from a single style... For example, Lost Thereian can get away with charging $L235 for a single style in a single colour (because, in short, they're THAT good); and Helyanwe Vindaloo, who's Deviant Kitties styles are certainly stunning (if not as "photorealistic" as Lost's) can do very well for herself charging $L175... but us mere mortals are unlikely to impact the market if we roll in charging $L200... So I figured, the best thing I can do is aim low... not to undercut the big guns, but more to make what I do have available at a price that more people will be prepared to pay for work by a relative unknown... So I've been thinking...
There are four levels of complexity that I work to... so each style will be costed on the basis of how much effort it took to make... This may be retweaked at a later date should the need arise.
The most complex styles, requiring development of original textures, will be charged slightly more than other styles... so, shall we say $L125 in the first instance? Sounds about right to me.
Slightly down the scale come those with flexis, but a regular bank of textures. These in themselves aren't necessarily overly elaborate, but do take time to put together. I'll be happy to see them go for $L99.
Down once more to styles where flexis aren't used... primarily as short hair looks terrible if flexible, as any movement is jerky and unnatural... but in turn, people aren't prepared to pay full price for a non-flexing hairstyle anymore. These will market at a fairly realistic $L75.
And the ground level... while it might seem a little counterintuitive, it is in fact pretty easy to create any number of hairstyles around the same basic setup... say, for example, a ponytail available in three lengths could be based around the same head covering, bangs and associated. Here it would be kind of rude to charge full price for each, bearing in mind they are essentially the same style... So in this case, I'll be launching at $L49 for an individual style, or $L99 for a pack of three related styles... ad I do have a few of these planned... announcements to follow!
Then of course, I have to start thinking of what to do about multipacks... so many people offer them - hair colours grouped in such a way that you get a number, or even all available colours in one single box... Well, in the first instance I'm offering 32 colours, with the potential of expanding the range at a later date... so what can I charge? Here's my thinking...
The box price for every colour in each style should be sold at the the price of the style, times the square root of number of colours... I know... I know... sounds complicated but the pricing is relatively straightforward... Basically it means that a 32-colour box costs just over 5.6 times the cost of a single style... while a 64-colour box (if I ever get that far) would cost 8 times... which I figure is pretty reasonable... So pricing for the four tiers listed above, adjusted to the nearest 25 for ease of not confusing too many people with odd pricing, works out at:
Tier 1 - $L125 each or $L700 for all
Tier 2 - $L99 each or $L550 for all
Tier 3 - $75 each or $L425 for all
Tier 4 - $49 each or $L275 for all
What this'd mean is someone could expect to get no fewer than 2 sizes x 3 lengths x 32 colours (or 192 hairstyles) in an all colours threepack for a mere $L550 - or $L2.86 a hair... Sounds like a reasonable deal to me!
Regular single packs, even for the most complex styles I'll offer would work out as $L10.94 a hairstyle...
So there you have it... comments, analysis and suggestions are welcome, of course!
As always, until next time,
Kalli
Working from the ground up...
So... developments are ongoing, relating to the shop and the contents thereof..
The shop itself has been in situ for a wee while now, constructed in no time flat by the supremely talented Xed Goheen. It's located on the western side of Synchronicity Island; occupying a 4048m plot:
Well watch this space... more details, including first views of launched products coming soon...
Until next time...
Kalli
The shop itself has been in situ for a wee while now, constructed in no time flat by the supremely talented Xed Goheen. It's located on the western side of Synchronicity Island; occupying a 4048m plot:
The store comprises a Teleport entry area (cunningly hidden by the tree in the lower left corner of the photo) and four large covered areas, each 20m square, connected by ramps. The fifth area with the sloping dark roof on the left of the pic is where I'm going to be sticking the jewelry I'm looking to market. I'll have hairstyles located on the two far-side plates, with the nearer ones being used, in time, for other items for sale. Once I'm up and running, I'd like to have a bash at shoes and other accessories which will go in these areas; along with work by my partners in crime on this venture... which for the moment include peircings and prefab houses(!) OK... a bit of a weird mix, but who said you had to stick to one thing? And besides, neither of them have their own shopspace and they're both very talented builders - but you'll soon see for yourself!
Some space may be set aside for tattoos, clothes and even scripts, depending on whether certain people get back to me requesting space. But either way, details will be supplied here as and when anything is newsworthy.
Regarding content; I'm still beating myself up by constantly going back to completed styles and tweaking things I'm not happy about... as a result I've retinted one hairstyle - Kitsune - no fewer than three times already; and when 32 colours are involved, that's no mean feat. I've also decided, after a run-in yesterday, that It's likely to be prudent to supply two sizes of each style, as, being a tiny person, my head is on the small side. This results in a little work required to fit a small hair to a larger head, which seems beyond the capability of some residents. As such, to make it easier for all and to cater for those who'd just like to click to wear a new style, I've decided to launch Female hairstyles in sizes 50 and 65 (based on the first head slider) and Male styles in sizes 65 and 80. Hopefully this will cover enough bases to ensure that at least something fits.Well watch this space... more details, including first views of launched products coming soon...
Until next time...
Kalli
Monday, 16 April 2007
A new dawning
Greetings to all of you out there in the E-zone... Kalli checking in here to say welcome to the Update Blog for Discord Designs - a retailer of hair and accessories; soon to be located on Syncronicity Island in the virtual world of Second Life.
The team is in the process of doing it's thing, and we hope that before long our doors will be open to the public, for you all to come visit, and depart with your hard-earned Lindens(!)
We'll be using this blog to highlight our new products, give details of special offers, stuff to do with forthcoming events and the rest of things; so do keep an eye on it!
More news, including details of the opening product releases coming in the next few weeks.
Until then...
Kalli
The team is in the process of doing it's thing, and we hope that before long our doors will be open to the public, for you all to come visit, and depart with your hard-earned Lindens(!)
We'll be using this blog to highlight our new products, give details of special offers, stuff to do with forthcoming events and the rest of things; so do keep an eye on it!
More news, including details of the opening product releases coming in the next few weeks.
Until then...
Kalli
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