Image Designer Archive

Hallo

I am not an Image Designer, but I would want a lot more if I were you.

You're like a casual profession, maybe not making much for what you do, being paid in tips maybe. I know I sometimes think it a little tacky when an Image Designer has a set price for doing one or two little hair or makeup changes - though I Always pay my Image Designers well.

Maybe you've already had this idea, but if not I think you should have something to actually sell in addition to your makeovers, "surgery", and all that.
Hair and Make-up kits!
I hate looking for an Image Designer every time I want a different color lipstick or my hair up instead of down. (Yes this idea is for me as much as you)

Image Designers should be able to make and sell these products. They could have a few uses so people could do their own make-up and style their own hair, but will still have to keep coming back to their Image Designer for more kits or for more serious "alterations".

I really really Really want something like this!
Do you?

Nyx

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FILTHPIG wrote:
I know I sometimes think it a little tacky when an Image Designer has a set price for doing one or two little hair or makeup changes

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I know this wasn't really the point of your post, and I saw the comment about you paying well, but, I must ask. Do you find it tacky when a weaponsmith has a set price on a gun you want? Do you find it tacky when a tailor charges you 10k for a new dress or leotard? We're a profession just like any other. Many of us who have set prices (myself being one of these people), have them set in place because we've been stiffed one to many times, as we got sick of it.

All I needed to say

The image designers on the boards have, in fact, discussed some kind of craftable product before. Most frequently mentioned are items like lipstick, wigs, eyeshadow, and contact lenses for some of the more basic routine changes.

If you ask me, this should be a skill of a Master Entertainer.

All of the basic ID changes such as eyes, eyeshadow and lipstick are entertainer skills anyway. Putting craftable entertainer-skill-goods into the ID skilltree probably shouldn't happen. Also, there is no actual ID benefit to taking Master Entertainer. Maybe this should be it.

I'm not very excited about the idea of having a craft-grind session with my entertainer character, truly. I'm very glad there is no crafting component to any entertainer elite profession. I also think that putting layman-level makeup on the open market would completely devalue Image Design as a profession.

Think about it. How many resources would a lipstick take? Ten, twelve? That would sell for maybe 50 or 100 credits. Maybe 200, maybe as high as 500. You'd probably get a number of uses out of it. This means that by buying a lipstick you'd get maybe 15 changes for 500 credits. That means an ID would have to sell her personalservice for 35 credits in order to compete with the craftable market. So we stand around for 15 minutes, trying colors on you, and maybe get 35 credits for that time? If you tip an ID 500 credits for a few minor changes, that means we'd have to sell lipstick at 10,000 credits per stick in order to match our personal prices. I doubt people would pay that.

No. Craftables would allow us something to trade securely, I agree, but they would devalue our personal service completely. Go and ask the smugglers if they want to have Weapon Slicing Kits available to the general public; they often charge 100 credits or moreper % increase, for something that costs them very very little to do,andthey can hold the weapon hostage if the skinflint doesn't pay. A 500-creditWeapon Slicing Kit would devalue them too and I expect they'd respond as I do. Me, I would prefer to have secure trade for being an ID before getting cheap disposable lipstick craftables.

Full disguise kits, though? That I could get behind.

Escia

I see the ability to craft lipstick and eyeshadow as an asset to our profession.A way to increaseawareness of our abilitiesand to advertise our individual businesses.Makeup is Kwee's least requested change and would take very little business away from her. This may be different for other Image Designers of course and if so I could see why you may not want to see 25 little lipsticks or eyeshadows for sale on the bazaar. Hairstyles continue to be a big request on Starsider and for that reason I'm sure none of us would want to see wigs for sale on the bazaar. I see selling makeup however as having excellent advertising potential not to mention being a lot of fun

Kweelips* in mangolicious orange

Kweeshadow* in sultry sienna

I do not see how it could possibly devalue the profession. Lipstick and eyeshadow changes are available to anyone that has Novice Entertainer and so can not be considered a difficult to attain skill. If compared to a real life situation, anyone would expect to pay several times more for a hairstyle change or plastic surgery session than for a little tube of lipstick. Particularly if the craftable makeup were of temporary duration.

As for a craft grinding session, there would be no need for any given Image Designer to craft little temporary lipsticks or eyeshadows. They would still have the ability to make permanent changes to their customers not to mention all of the our other skills.

I would advocate putting such an ability in Image Design IV over putting it in Master Entertainer. I feel that Image Designers could greatly benefit from such an ability, and not many go up the other three lines of Entertainer required to get to Master Entertainer. It is a pity that dancers and musicians who haveno interest in Image Design are forced to take four boxes of it in order to get access to their dances, song and instrument, however, I do not feelthat Image Designersshould be deprived of any badly needed skills as a result. If makeup were placed in Image Design IV, Master Entertainers would still have the benefit of it. That said I would prefer if the ability were given to Novice Image Designer and a different unique skill be given to Master Entertainers, something that a master of entertainment would benefit from. I have suggested in the Entertainer forum that they be given the ability to make stage and club/rave makeup. Dramatic eyeshadow or face/body glitter that would be usable only in entertainment venues.

Agree with Kwee. I have yet to have a single customer who just wanted a makeup chance - probably because people are afraid of not finding an image designer fast to change them back when they're switching clothes. As such, I don't think it would take business from us.

I also agree that it should be a skill belonging to the image designer tree, rather than master entertainer.

I do like the idea, though I'd prefer if it was limited to makeup. I'd guess that 70% of all customers that come to see me want their hair changed, so hair kits would take business from us, I believe. Still, nice idea, and would give the image designer/merchant combos among us (such as me ) something to put onto our vendors apart from FAQs and styling suggestions.

Rieanna,

I do think it's unappealing to have your Image Designer lay out their little pricing list for you before you even get started. A weapon or armor smith can make any gun or piece of armor, put it on his vendor and be done. I want my Image Designer to be about Me and My looks before their fee. This is more important to both of us (hopefully).
I am also sure the Type of person who has ever stiffed their Image Designer was totally identifiable by their stupid name and the undereducated (internet "dewd" person) style of speech they used with you.

Maybe the lower classes need Image Designers suited to them, though. I just won't be using one who feels like I do.

Nyx

Back on topic. . .

Fishwan,

You think having little hair and make-up kits people could use to do the most basic hair styling and make-up changes to themselves would devalue Image Designing but "Full Disguise Kits" wouldn't?
Don't you think people would just buy the full disguise kits and fully change everything.
Then Image Designers would basically have only one use: making disguise kits.

Nyx

Kwee,

Hell ya.

But I think hairstyles should be part of it, too
Maybe a whole kit for 10 or so total personal Hair and Make-up changes.
Or maybe sell lipstick and eyeshadow seperately, and like hairbrushes with so many uses for hair.

Ok, hair is really popular for Image Designers. So I wouldn't expect more than just the basic starting hairstyles to be available when styling your own hair. So it could only possibly add to what an Image Designer can do, not take away.
You shouldn't have to seek help to put your hair in a pony tail, unless you have problems.

I've finally gotten my Image Design how I want it, perfect, and I'm not ever going to change it. I'm done. Like most people have or will, I'm sure. Except for hair and make-up. I found the hairstyle I like most, though, and haven't changed it yet since it requires hunting someone down to do it. If it didn't, I would change it all the time.

Nyx

Heh Nyx. It's nice if you want image designers to be "about you", but that doesn't pay their bills.

So sorry, I have zero understanding for such an attitude about image designers with fixed prices. And I strongly advise you to go read the discussion thread we had a few weeks ago of tips vs. fixed prices, and read the stories of all those IDers who started out by accepting tips (myself included), and got horribly and repeatedly ripped off.

I'm sorry to hijack this thread in such a fashion, especially since your original idea was a good one, but I just fail to understand any rational argumentation behind such opinions, and it's a pet peeve of mine.

Xixxix,

Maybe it doesn't need any discussion. It is not my business to say how you should get money or how much. I am only saying I have met Image Designers I thought to be classy and those I thought to be tacky.
A certain fee for putting a different shade of lipstick on me is probably not going to be demanded by an Image Designer I know and go to all the time (Unfortunately I am not finding anyone I really like on Bloodfin, which in part prompted this thread's suggestion), though I definately will pay more than they will ever ask.
I'm sorry about the times Image Designers have been ripped off. My dilemma, if I were an Image Designer, would not be how to get money from my customers, it would be whether or not to work on the likes of those who look like they would rip you off - (to attempt to make them look like you aren't ashamed to have dewd people like that playing the same game you are, or to not bother with them at all?) since they Must stand out as those who would.

Nyx

Hairstyles are one of the main sources of income for us, I doubt strong support could be raised to have them available on the bazaar. Certainly not at ten uses per item with a cap of 3k. I'm not sure why you think we would be able to detectsomeone who is going to stiff us. I have had people speak in a dudish fashion be extremely polite and fun customers, just as I have had others be just as polite and stiff me. Which is why early in my career I set up a price list. I expect people to ask what my prices are just the same as I would want to find out the price of a hair dyeing at a real life beauty salon. If they don't I will tell them up front to avoid awkardness later. You really cannot know what it is like to play a profession that has no secure trade system until you have played one long enough to know the disappointment and hurt feelings that come along with being stiffed or paid 10 credits for your time. Saying that you do not feel we deserve to have price lists indicates that you do not have respect for our time. It does not matter how much you would be willing to pay. I am also a tailor and I know that I can spend my time whipping up a 10 second cloak or doing a 10 minute nose job and be paid the exact same amount for both. If I were to chargefor my time using a cloak as my guidelineI would expect to be tipped 120k for a 10 minute nose job I'm sure my customers are glad I don't

No no no. I think the idea has been a little misunderstood.
I just gave a little too much of my opinion to begin with. Image Designers can charge whatever they want. . and people can pay whatever they want. That's just the way it is now. It's up to us to either pay first or just trust - depending on each situation I guess.

But that's not what I meant at all. I just wanted to see sellable Make-up (I can tell already that Image Designers are totally against the Hair styling part, even just basic hair styles) for fun and easy use any time I want. Not for some secure way to trade Image Design for money. That is not on my mind at all.

Nyx

Well, if this is about minimizing the risk of getting ripped off, I'd rather have an ability that would let us tie a price to the popup consent window for image designs. I'm interested in makeup kits as an additional source of income when I'm not online, and as something that would make certain profession combinations more desirable. Honestly, since I set up fixed prices, I have not been stiffed a single time. One customer conveniently went linkdead after I had just finished my work on him, so I sent him an email stating that he owed me 5k and asking him to pay that sum within 24 hours. And sure enough, he did. Stating the price in advance seems to protect me from customers who either have no intention of paying, or who would end up tippingme 100 credits after I hadspent an hour showing them all possible changes. I guess when no price is given in advance, those folks can use the excuse "well, you never said you wanted money for this!". Which doesn't mean that I'm trying to talk those who work successfully for tips into using fixed prices, whatever works. Nor do I mean to discuss this topic any further - to make a long story short, for me the main advantage of makeup kits would not be to avoid customers who might not pay, but rather, to get some business while I'm offline, and to be able to put something useful onto my vendors =).