Envato Marketplaces Get Re-Designed, Plus Envato Credit Giveaway
by Vandelay Website Design on September 28, 2009
The popular Envato marketplaces (ThemeForest, GraphicRiver, FlashDen, AudioJungle, VideoHive) just got a fresh re-design, and to celebrate Envato has offered to give away $20 in free credits to five readers of Vandelay Design.
I had the opportunity to ask a few questions to ThemeForest Site Manager Jeffrey Way, and here is what he had to say about the changes.
For those who purchase items at the Envato marketplaces, what are some of the significant changes in the re-design that will improve their experience?
Anything and everything! The goal of the redesign was to make the entire system prettier, quicker, and easier to use. Ultimately, this means that, thanks to an improved tagging/search functionality and the ability to “follow” your favorite authors, buyers will be able to find what they need as quickly and easily as possible.
Additionally, the layout has been entirely revamped. This includes improved blog and forum integration, faster page loads, a marketplace switcher, and even social networking features. Overall – this is a massive redesign that we’re really excited for the community to experience.
We’ve also paid close attention to the suggestions of the community – even to the point of our CEO asking them what they most wanted, via our marketplace global forum. One of the areas that we realized needed to be reconsidered was with licensing. As I’m sure you and your readers can imagine, when there are so many different uses – both personal and commercial – for an item, it becomes extremely important to offer different licenses (at different prices) to compensate. Unfortunately, the variety of different licenses managed to confuse buyers more than assist them. As such, at least temporarily, we’ll be reducing our licenses to only two. Please visit your nearest marketplace for more information!
Most of the Envato marketplaces have greatly expanded since the last design, in terms of the number of items for sale. Was this something that needed to be addressed in order to make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for?
Absolutely. When FlashDen was first released a couple years ago, it was a single nine month project from a small team. Since then, we’ve expanded immensely, and have added GraphicRiver, ThemeForest, VideoHive, AudioJungle, and surely more to come! With over 200,00 members, it quickly became apparent that the marketplaces weren’t “connected” as well as they should be. This is precisely why the developers have added a “marketplace switcher.” This, hopefully, will provide new visitors with more options (marketplaces) that they might not have been aware of before.
As mentioned in the previous question, we’ve also been paying a great deal of attention to our new tagging system – which is a major overhaul over our previous search tool. This will allow buyers to search for anything – whether it be for desired features and colors, to a specific component used within the item.
Also, as with any two year old website, it’s only appropriate to provide a fresh coat of paint sporadically! However, in this case, a lot more than “paint” was added!
Giveaway Details:
If you’re interested in winning $20 in free credits to be used at any of the Envato marketplaces, please leave a comment on this post. Tomorrow I’ll choose the winners using a random number generator and contact you via email if you’re a winner. This post will be updated at that time to announce the winners.
UPDATE: The contest is now over. Thanks to everyone who participated. Here are the winners:
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