- What should I consider when choosing colors for my artwork?
Words.in.Frames has two Styrofoam suppliers. Supplier A offers Color Codes 01 (white), 02 (yellow), 06 (red), 07 (bright red), 11 (bright green), 15 (blue) and 16 (black). Supplier B offers Color Codes, 03 (orange), 04 (pink), 05 (pastel red), 08 (lime green), 09 (light green), 10 (dark green), 12 (purple), 13 (turquoise blue) and 14 (pstel blue). Please see the colour palette for the choice of colors.
The colors offered by Supplier A are brighter and more striking while the colors offered by Supplier B are the softer pastel colors. The Styrofoam materials offered by the suppliers also vary in texture and thickness. The Styrofoam by Supplier A is smoother and 1 mm thicker than the Styrofoam supplied by Supplier B. So just an advice ( not a MUST ), try to use colors from one supplier instead of a mix of both.
- Can I include cartoon icons like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Winne The Pooh, or even Angry Birds into the artwork?
No, these icons are patented and incorporating them into our artwork will be an infringement of copyrights. Words.in.Frames does not have the rights to use them as part of our artwork.
- Can I use other cliparts as part of the artwork?
Yes you can as long as the clipart is not copyright patented.
- What is the difference between CUT IN and CUT OUT?
There is a sample on what is CUT IN and what is CUT OUT in the blog. The main difference is characters & words using CUT IN will always appear BLACK ( or the background color which they are pasted on ) while characters using CUT OUT will be the colors they are cut out.
- Can the smaller text and wordings in the artwork be CUT IN / CUT OUT instead of just being printed?
Styrofoam is a very delicate material, so there is a minimum font size for any Chinese character and English alphabet to be cut in or out, preferrably font size 48 and above for English alphabets and font size 120 and above for Chinese characters. That explains most of the smaller-font-size text in the artwork are printed.
- Do I get to see a preview of the actual artwork before confirming my order?
Yes, a computer generated artwork ( in PDF format ) will be generated to provide customers a preview of the actual frame. Customers can make alterations to this artwork before confirming their order. Do take note that the colour tones and textures in the computer generated artwork does not truly reflect the actual colour tones and texture of the Styrofoam in the final artwork. The actual Styrofoam is nicer and better. Please refer to the colour palette on our blog to get a better feel of the actual color tone and texture.
- If I could not find a design I like in your blog, can I request Words.in.Frames to come out with a completely new and unique design for my frame? And is there a design fee if I go for that option?
Yes, you can; even though we always encourage customers to pick & customize from our existing designs. Customers need to understand it takes time to create new designs ( and the templates to make them ), so in fairness to other customers in the queue who opted for existing designs, their frames will take a longer time to make and deliver. In addition, the cost of new designs will also be slightly higher than the existing ones. And if customers want more than one new design to choose from, the final cost of the frame will increase accordingly.
- How many versions of alteration are allowed before finalizing the artwork design?
Preferably 2-3 versions as each alteration takes effort and time to produce. In fairness to other customers who are waiting in the queue, a fee of S$5.00 ( per version ) will be charged for Version 4.0 and onwards. Also the more alterations you make and the more versions you request, the longer you have to wait for your artwork frame to be made and delivered to you.
- Can I change the wordings in your artwork?
Yes you can. Our frames are 100% customizable. The artworks posted in the blog are just samples, everything can be changed in the artwork.
- Can I change the font types used in your artwork to my preferred font types?
Yes you can because our frames are 100% customizable but you will need to provide & send us the font file ( e.g. ARIAL.TTF ) if it is not a Microsoft Windows standard font. These TTF files can be found in the FONTS sub-directory under C:WINDOWS Directory ). A couple of things to note when selecting your preferred fonts. 1st, as Styrofoam is a very delicate material, please avoid fonts with very thin strokes. Thin fonts also does not stand out when CUT IN. 2nd, as all words and characters are hand cut, it is almost impossible to cut straight edges straight, so avoid fonts with straight edges. Please see Popular Chinese Fonts for some of the popular Chinese fonts used in our artworks.
- Can I add a photograph as part of the artwork?
Yes you can, but clear and high resolution picture preferred. Depending on the design you want, please send the picture either in landscape or portrait orientation accordingly. Customers can send the picture(s) to be added to the artwork as image files ( e.g. JPG, BMP, PNG, etc ) by e-mails. No hard copy of the pictures is required.
- Can I insert and replace the photograph in the artwork on my own?
Preferrably not because Styrofoam is a very delicate material and you might damage the artwork when you try to do that. In addition, dust particles might also creep in too.