Lifeblob's World

Two months back, our first version of the lifeblob store opened to a tremendous response, thanks to all of you.

During the course of operations, we have been observing the user navigation patterns on the store, silently taking note of the problems you are facing in configuring personalized products and also listening intently to all the feedback. And today, we are pleased to announce the launch of our new lifeblob store that takes configuration of personalized photo products to a whole new level.

Basic Design Principles

“It should be so simple that even my dad can use it without any help!”

This was the underlying principle that we had in mind as we thought about designing the new store. And this translated into 4 attributes that you will see stamped throughout the store:

a) Intelligent defaults

Personalized photo gifts are primarily about turning a cherished memory into an artifact. Hence, the first thing that a user should choose while designing the personalized gift should be the photo. Infact, a user should be able to create a great looking personalized gift by just choosing a photo.

As a result, we introduced a default template for each product, so that you can simply choose a photo and have your personalized gift ready. Also, when you choose your photo, we try to size it optimally so that you don’t have to spend time choosing the right size for your photo. Ofcourse, there is the option to choose a different template or increase/reduce the size of your photo if you want.

b) One click personalization

With intelligent defaults in place, you just need a single click to personalize your photo product. We are also working on a “Zero Click Personalization” option so that if your starting point is the photo page, you see your personalized gift right away.

c) Save work in progress

With the introduction of multiple page products like calendars and upcoming photo books, it became increasingly important that you can save work in progress and be able to finish it later. Hereafter, you can add incomplete products to your cart and edit them again to finish the personalization before you place the order. And yes, we do show a prominent message in the cart so you can quickly see the products that are incomplete.

d) Power user options get triggered on need

We understand that some of you do like to get into thick of the things and like to leave your personal stamp on the personalization. So if you are a power user, there is plenty of stuff under the hood to excite you. You can zoom-in, zoom-out, add multiple photos in the same slot, move photos around etc and create your own thing.

Do check it out and let us know what you think! Your feedback is the only way we make things better and we sincerely look forward to it.

This past weekend was an exciting time for all of us at Lifeblob. We had a stall at the recently concluded siliconindia Startup City 2010 event and we were pleasantly surprised with the response we got at our stall. This was a ideal platform for us to talk about the recently launched Lifeblob Store (http://www.lifeblob.com/store) where we sell personalized photo gifts such as calendars, mugs, canvas, designer photo frames and so on.

Lifeblob Stall

Dart Game

We, also had a dart game in the stall where people visiting the stall could try their hand at darts and win Rs. 1500/- worth of photo products from the Lifeblob store (http://www.lifeblob.com/store). The goal was to get the maximum points by aiming at one of the 3 zones on the dart board (which had different points). If they predicted it right they would get another turn. Else the game ends. More than 500 people participated in this game with many people scoring over 400 points and they walked away with discount coupons on the photo gifts. The winner Mr. Venkatarayappa walked away with the grand prize by scoring 710! Incidently, he had never played darts before!

Hope you all liked our presentation and the products we offer!

At lifeblob, we are constantly innovating to help you do more with your photos. Today, we announce the launch of a widget that is so unique and powerful in showcasing your photos that all existing widgets simply pale in comparison.
What is so unique about this widget?

If you look towards your right, you will see this widget embedded in the sidebar of this blog. The unique aspect of this widget is that it allows a viewer to browse through your entire public photo stream by simply scrolling through it.

Try scrolling down in the widget on your right and you will see that it keeps fetching more photos as you move down. This makes it really easy for you to showcase your entire photostream within the limited space available on your blog. And when the viewer likes a photo, he/she can click on it to see a larger version of the same – neat, isn’t it?

Whats more, as you add new photos to your photo stream, the old photos get pushed down and the new photos automatically start showing up in the widget!

Thats so cool – how do I get it on my blog?

Here are 3 simple steps in which you can quickly build this widget for your blog:

1) Sign up for a lifeblob account – yup, its required. How else would we get your photos?

2) During the signup process, you will be asked to link your existing flickr / picasa / photobucket / facebook accounts. Follow the instructions on the page to link up as many accounts as you want and we will get your photos from there.

3) After you finish the signup flow and reach your profile page, click on the “Embed” icon. You will then be taken to a page where you can get the embed code for your widget – simple!

So get all your photos on lifeblob and proudly showcase them to the world! Do let us know how you like this embed.