Yallery Blog

It occured to me that some references to Yallery site components and features in previous posts may have been confusing at best, and not very helpful at worst. This post is the first of likely many, to explain references like “Public Dashboard”, “Private Dashboard”, “Mosaic” and “Art Info Page”.

Yallery’s design utilizes a “Dashboard” method of display. This means that there are no pages on the Yallery site that scroll vertically or horizontally.

The Private Dashboard
The Yallery Private Dashboard provides members with tools to manage and administer their art and participation on Yallery. Depending on the member’s Member Type, art management applications, report generators, private message box, art comment notifications, forum link, event management and subscription/event/RSVP calendar are all accessible on this screen. A member’s Private Dashboard is only viewable by the owner and no other members may view this page or the information available through it.

The Public Dashboard
The Yallery Public Dashboard is the world’s interface into the member’s art Catalogue (Artist members), Collection (Collector members) or Inventory (Gallery members) and ancillary information such as communication options (Bio/Statement, Forum, Website, Private Messages) and Event Calendars (Artist and Gallery members).

The Mosaic
This feature is found in all Artist, Collector and Gallery member Public Dashboards. It is named the Mosaic because the contents are essentially art tiles. When visited by the Dashboard’s owner, the Mosaic displays all “public” and “private” artworks, otherwise only artworks designated as “public” are seen.

Artist members’ Mosaics are populated by their “Catalogue Raisonné.” The contents should encompass every work ever created by the artist whether it has been sold, consigned or held in the artist’s own inventory.

Collector members’ Mosaics are populated by their Collection. The contents include every work currently owned by the collector.

Gallery members’ Mosaics are populated by their current unsold and available Inventory.

Depending on the artwork’s context, there may be one of five backgrounds under the Mosaic Tile:

1. Black/Transparent background Tiles are Unlinked
2. Grey background Tiles signify Linked Artwork between Artist members and Collector members
3. Green background Tiles signify Consigned Artwork between Gallery members (or non-members) and Artist members (or non-members)
4. Red background Tiles signify “Private Artwork” and will only every be seen by the mosaic’s/dashboard’s owner
5. Blue background Tiles signify Artwork that is currently in the Yallery Marketplace

By mousing over a tile, you may see the complete Artwork Title and Artist Name if it is shortened on the tile itself. To navigate the Mosaic, the viewer must click, hold and drag the mosaic in the direction away from the area they wish to view. The maximum size of the Mosaic is 10 x 10 tiles. To view an artwork in more detail, the viewer must double-click on the tile.

The Art Info Page
The Art Info Page pops-up over the Public Dashboard after an artwork is selected from the Mosaic. This page provides a multitude of information about the art, from metadata to comments. When the Art Info Page is viewed by the Dashboard’s owner, it may display some Owner-only information such as the Public/Private state and/or location.

We recognize one of the largest barriers preventing artists and collectors from placing all of their art on Yallery is a lack of photographs (or perhaps, a lack of quality photographs) of their art. Some artists have laser scans made of each artwork they create, so they may make high quality reproductions while other artists make quick photographs of their art before they are packed up and shipped off to a gallery or show.

Collectors and art owners are often told to document all of their possessions in the process of insuring their personal property, but art deserves special attention as there are unique identifying details that must be preserved and recalled during the insurance recovery process should the artwork ever be lost or stolen. The quality of insurance-inspired art photography is often very low.

Some collectors hire professional art photographers to document their collections. However, most art owners and collectors can’t afford this type of service. We believe high-quality collector-generated art photographs can be accomplished if a little time is invested and some simple rules are followed.

If you’re on a budget, smaller Items like glasswork, pottery and jewelry can be placed in a small homemade lightbox made from a large cardboard box with a hole in each side for a light, a sheet of poster board and two lights. The following image of an Aaronson Noon vase was photographed in such a box for my own Yallery Mosaic:

A great resource for art photography hints is over at Empty Easel:

How to Photograph your Artwork for a Portfolio or the Internet

Yallery enables artist members to “overwrite” photographs of linked works supplied by collector and gallery members with “official artist photographs” in the interests of preserving the artist’s vision and expression.

Yallery’s Image Formats
The artwork ingestion process requires one image upload for each item. Each photograph should be at least 1024 pixels (wide) by 768 pixels (high). This is also the size of our maximum image size.

Once an artwork image is loaded into Yallery, our software creates a square tile-sized image that is 100 pixels by 100 pixels for use in the member’s Public Dashboard “Mosaic”. A square medium-sized image of 300 pixels by 300 pixels is also created, to be used in Artwork Info pop-up windows. Images are masked with transparent space if the original image is not square.

Yallery also generates a large “full size” image size that is calculated to be within 1024 pixels (wide) by 768 pixels (high), using the largest side dimensions as a guide. This image is not masked.

As we look forward to launch, members have been asking how Yallery will segment membership types. Yallery is a for-profit business and we wish to have some revenue to support our operation while also supporting everyone who wishes to Socialize their art. We have decided to offer both free “Registered” accounts and subscription-based “Premium” accounts to artists and collectors. Gallery memberships will be a premium subscription.

“Premium” accounts’ Dashboard and Artwork Info Pages are always ad-free. Feature-wise, Premium members will access the full functionality developed for their membership type — including the complete artwork management toolsets for Artists, Collectors or Galleries. Premium members also receive a private Forum, where they can maintain discussions with other members. Premium Artists and Galleries may use the Yallery Event Management application to create and manage the event/opening/show invitation creation and management process.

We are offering all Beta members a “Premium”-level membership at no cost* until the first anniversary of our public launch.

Premium Members who join after our public launch will receive a 90-day trial period before they are billed for their subscription. Our subscription fees will be billed yearly and will be priced based upon the membership type. None of our memberships will require the payment of a “set-up charge” or “account creation fee.”

“Registered” account subscriptions for Artists and Collectors are free, but will be supported by one display ad located on their Public Dashboard” and a single display banner ad on each of their Artwork Info Pages. Registered members are able to store and interlink unlimited artworks, but the Private dashboard artwork management toolset is reduced. Other “Premium” features are absent as well.

We will be retaining our “Authenticated Member” membership for people who don’t require any art hosting or management services but wish to participate in the Yallery community. We hope this will help us keep the level of random (and not so random) spam and other abuse down to a minimum.

Lastly, once we launch, Yallery will be navigatable by everyone with or without an account.

* Certain optional launch features will require the payment of transaction-based fees that are not included in the “Free Account” agreement.