ik this place b dead aha

Yeah I've been so busy with work myself its hard for me to have much time to work on things. Its not encouraging either that I see a lack of activity. I want the site to be thriving so much, but Im not really sure where to start or what will keep everyone interested. Any comments with ideas and suggestions would really help, also anything that members can do to help with activity would be so much appreciated!

I tried with the sunday blog posts.
Maybe rebranding the site to be digital art.
Not just fashion might help.

Levels or stuff to try and achieve could keep people around. Much like stardoll has.

Could do an advice section. Where people come for fashion or beauty advice.

One other thing Ive been working on today is changing what guests see. I opened up our home central to them but with certain features hidden. I also made a new page that talks about the perks of being a member as well, which they are taken to when they go to pages or parts of the site only members can access. Im hoping that this will help encourage new visitors to join as they get more of a glimpse of our home and what the site is like. They can see some of the stuff going on, but not everything. Im hoping that'll encourage new viewers to join and unlock the features.

I always liked the idea of levels, but I think itd be very similar o how we have ranks now. Itd need to be automated as well, and thatd take a lot of coding work. The other thing is I feel like adding that may confuse things since members have to learn about points, diamonds, and ranks (even with ranks removed itd be a lot of different stuff).
I don't want to confuse new members, but I also want to help keep current members interested too...
What I could consider doing is create a section of the site dedicated to other forms of art, like digital drawings etc. The only thing is I want the whole site to be active not just certain few areas, and that wouldnt encourage posting fashions, outfits or boutiques.
Kinda ranting ideas lol

One other possibility would be to just generally expand to fashion overall, not just designs made here. So for example there could be a section members can share their fashion designs/sketches. Another where members could share advice and opinions. A section about fashion news and whats going on in the world. Maybe even offer something similar to what polyvore had in a manner, where members can share mood boards.
I want to keep things game like and make it fun for members to design on DS, but Im afraid that for many starting out the studio setup might be confusing or not simple enough. If we could figure out the best solution to getting members designing, thats what we really need... Ive tried challenges, contests, offering prizes; but I think it has to do with designing itself being too complex for some.

I think more tutorials to help new members design is needed. Step by step tips.

Well now that I changed the setup of what the guests see, theres a popup about joining. Once they go to join I have a new member tutorial that starts automatically. Really its pretty fool proof to me, but maybe if a few members went through it and tested it... Maybe then they could tell me any hang ups they have or things I could improve!

I meant more like a designing 101. Like basics of using the studio. But sure thats covered in your tutorial.

What do you think would be some good basics to include?

Advice section• design tips • more basic contests like ones not having to design much • the other models on the design section e.g. male and child.

The other thing I notice is that there are a pretty good amount of members who actually log in daily, but dont seem to interact. Im trying to figure out if theres a way to get them to stay, maybe even have a survey that pops up as soon as members come onto the site? See what people have to say and go from there... Or even just a general popup when users login that talks about new features?

Well hello, I personally have been dealing with sicknesses and have been enduring loss, and right now been dealing with the fires that have been going on, thankfully our relatives from Paradise Ca have evacuated in time, sadly though they lost their home.  Believe me, I want to contribute to designing again just been not up to it. Sorry.

Aww hope all is well angelina. Keep up the positive spirit's.
Thousands have signed up yet only like 5 post.
Something not right there.

@angelinamc I'm so sorry to hear that and I hope that all is well, you're in our thoughts and we will be here when you are feeling better to design!
@artisticbiscuit I'm talking about the members who login daily, not just those that sign up. If you look at the memberlist you'll see about 10 sign in per day and on weekends its around 20+ So Im thinking if I can get to those who login right away, put a popup on the home when the login. Then use that to either take a survey or even get their attention about something.

Thank you @ArtisticBiscuit & @Leandra for understanding

Jesus I can't believe I've missed this post but just I think ds has to be open to more than designing fashions because digital fashion has been gone for a long time now. There's got to be art features incorporated into this somehow but it needs to be fresh and new not like deviantart or anything but totally something refreshing just not too sure what

@Angelinamc You're in my thoughts and prayers during this time. I heard about the massive fires there and I hope you and your family remain safe and healthy

I hoped the forum games would get members attention. But it's still same few members engaging.
Perhaps have the banner updated with few features of whats talked about in the forums. Much like a new summary or headlines.
Could get more attention for people to post.

-Another thought:
On the home page (banner or somewhere that jumps out) post tips to design or helpful info for participating in the site.

Examples:
1) "Have you seen bad apples new model? Why don't you use it for your next outfit design?"

2) A design tip: "Use low opacity brush to shade. For detailed shading use mix of brush sizes"

3) "ArtisticBiscuit has a variety of interior items in her gallery. Could be useful for your boutique. When was the last time you updated yours?"

-- This could be changed monthly. It would be when you log in to inspire people. Members could submit own messages to use. An advert of what they sell in gallery or a design tip.