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Show HN: PosterStitch – Instagram and Facebook Photo Collage Maker

32 points by DenverR 12y ago

DenverR 12y ago
After reading HN daily for over a year, I finally have something to submit! I would love to get any feedback from the community that helped inspire this.
- georgiecasey 12y ago
  great stuff! nice to real businesses submitted to HN. I know from my sisters and family members and my travails in the appstore that collage makers are in serious demand, and the option to order prints is a good business. you really are 'solving a problem' (i hate that phrase!) for normal people who'll have no problem logging in with Facebook, unlike HN users
matthewrhoden1 12y ago
I think this looks pretty awesome, but you're never getting me to sign in with a facebook account. I don't know why I'm that way, don't judge me.
- davidw 12y ago
  Be wary of what the HN crowd says. They may well not be your target market, at all!
  - matthewrhoden1 12y ago
    Very true, you might not consider me your average user.
- untog 12y ago
  I get disliking FB logins, but when it's a service specifically for uploading Facebook photos, I think you can expect it.
  - jack-r-abbit 12y ago
    From The Site: Use photos from Instagram, Facebook, and your computer Seems one could make a collage entirely from pics on their computer. So not exactly as "Facebook only" as you make it out to be.
    - calbear81 12y ago
      The differentiating factor is that it connects to your social accounts to make that process easy. You can already make collages at the dozens of photo printing sites that exist.
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  It makes a collage of your facebook photos, how else is it supposed to get access to them?
  - matthewrhoden1 12y ago
    First point in the header "Use photos from Instagram, Facebook, and your computer" what if I wanted to just use my computer photos?
dmamills 12y ago
This looks awesome, and I immediately started to try to build one as a gift for my girlfriend, but I don't have a facebook account.
- DenverR 12y ago
  Thanks for the (attempted) support! It seems like there are quite a few people that have the same problem with Facebook. I'm going to add a non-social login as soon as I can.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
antichaos 12y ago
Nice job! Where do you get the posters printed?
- DenverR 12y ago
  We actually use Lob.com for our printing. Their API is very easy to use, and the print quality is fantastic.
asarode 12y ago
Do you mind sharing the process behind printing and shipping the posters? I've been wondering how that process works. Do you just send orders to a printing company and let them take care of the shipping too?
- DenverR 12y ago
  Sure, we actually use Lob.com as our printer. They take care of both the printing and shipping, and have been great so far.
lechevalierd3on 12y ago
Having to use FB for both login and then File picker is one too many.
duvander 12y ago
Thanks for posting, this is well done. I really liked the fun you put into the "processing photos" animation. A few thoughts: * The double "connect to Facebook" is jarring. * My photos didn't fill up the collage--why not make the sections bigger instead of making me add more photos?
- DenverR 12y ago
  I always wonder if anyone notices that, the animation is one of my favorite parts of the site! Thats a great idea about having the collage adapt to the number of photos uploaded. I may see what I can do with that.
damarquis 12y ago
I like the design. However, save draft button is not working for me.
- DenverR 12y ago
  I'm looking into that now, thanks for the heads up!
ada1981 12y ago
This is really great. The UI looks like it needs some stabilization as its not really clean in my chrome / macbook pro retina 13" -- some css type issues or something. Great idea letting people share for free as it drives referrals. What kind of volume are you guys seeing?
- DenverR 12y ago
  The more MVPy version was seeing about 1,500 sign ups per week, but I am hoping this improved feature set bumps that closer to 5,000.
johnbaum1968 12y ago
This looks great, even on mobile! Would you mind sharing the shop software you use?
detaro 12y ago
"Signing in with Facebook allows you to save your designs and download your collages!" Nice, but I just want to try it out and don't save anything...? Let people start using it immediately and prompt them for login if they want to add photos from there or save it.
- DenverR 12y ago
  I think you're right. It was out of laziness that I made FB login required, but I think it might help conversion rates if I nix that.

32 points by DenverR 12y ago

After reading HN daily for over a year, I finally have something to submit! I would love to get any feedback from the community that helped inspire this.

georgiecasey 12y ago
great stuff! nice to real businesses submitted to HN. I know from my sisters and family members and my travails in the appstore that collage makers are in serious demand, and the option to order prints is a good business. you really are 'solving a problem' (i hate that phrase!) for normal people who'll have no problem logging in with Facebook, unlike HN users

matthewrhoden1 12y ago

I think this looks pretty awesome, but you're never getting me to sign in with a facebook account. I don't know why I'm that way, don't judge me.

davidw 12y ago
Be wary of what the HN crowd says. They may well not be your target market, at all!
- matthewrhoden1 12y ago
  Very true, you might not consider me your average user.
untog 12y ago
I get disliking FB logins, but when it's a service specifically for uploading Facebook photos, I think you can expect it.
- jack-r-abbit 12y ago
  From The Site: Use photos from Instagram, Facebook, and your computer Seems one could make a collage entirely from pics on their computer. So not exactly as "Facebook only" as you make it out to be.
  - calbear81 12y ago
    The differentiating factor is that it connects to your social accounts to make that process easy. You can already make collages at the dozens of photo printing sites that exist.
Igglyboo 12y ago
It makes a collage of your facebook photos, how else is it supposed to get access to them?
- matthewrhoden1 12y ago
  First point in the header "Use photos from Instagram, Facebook, and your computer" what if I wanted to just use my computer photos?

dmamills 12y ago

This looks awesome, and I immediately started to try to build one as a gift for my girlfriend, but I don't have a facebook account.

DenverR 12y ago
Thanks for the (attempted) support! It seems like there are quite a few people that have the same problem with Facebook. I'm going to add a non-social login as soon as I can.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

antichaos 12y ago

Nice job! Where do you get the posters printed?

DenverR 12y ago
We actually use Lob.com for our printing. Their API is very easy to use, and the print quality is fantastic.

asarode 12y ago

Do you mind sharing the process behind printing and shipping the posters? I've been wondering how that process works. Do you just send orders to a printing company and let them take care of the shipping too?

DenverR 12y ago
Sure, we actually use Lob.com as our printer. They take care of both the printing and shipping, and have been great so far.

lechevalierd3on 12y ago

Having to use FB for both login and then File picker is one too many.

duvander 12y ago

Thanks for posting, this is well done. I really liked the fun you put into the "processing photos" animation. A few thoughts: * The double "connect to Facebook" is jarring. * My photos didn't fill up the collage--why not make the sections bigger instead of making me add more photos?

DenverR 12y ago
I always wonder if anyone notices that, the animation is one of my favorite parts of the site! Thats a great idea about having the collage adapt to the number of photos uploaded. I may see what I can do with that.

damarquis 12y ago

I like the design. However, save draft button is not working for me.

DenverR 12y ago
I'm looking into that now, thanks for the heads up!

ada1981 12y ago

This is really great. The UI looks like it needs some stabilization as its not really clean in my chrome / macbook pro retina 13" -- some css type issues or something. Great idea letting people share for free as it drives referrals. What kind of volume are you guys seeing?

DenverR 12y ago
The more MVPy version was seeing about 1,500 sign ups per week, but I am hoping this improved feature set bumps that closer to 5,000.

johnbaum1968 12y ago

This looks great, even on mobile! Would you mind sharing the shop software you use?

detaro 12y ago

"Signing in with Facebook allows you to save your designs and download your collages!" Nice, but I just want to try it out and don't save anything...? Let people start using it immediately and prompt them for login if they want to add photos from there or save it.

DenverR 12y ago
I think you're right. It was out of laziness that I made FB login required, but I think it might help conversion rates if I nix that.