How to sell samsung themes
WOW! Becoming a Samsung Mobile UI Themes Designer
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welcome to Wow webinars of wisdom from
the Samsung developer program I'm Toni
Moreland and today we're talking themes
so a theme is the phone user interface
that you can design the background the
app icons fonts all of the different
screens and then upload that design to
the Galaxy store and sell them around
the world so if you're joining us live
and you want to chat with us and you
have any questions you can post your
questions and we'll get to them
throughout the webinar if you're
watching this later and you have
questions just use our forum post a
question there and we'll get to your
answers all right so you're ready to
start designing and selling to the world
excellent so Samsung makes it easy and
free and Mac or PC all without doing any
coding the software is called theme
studio but we don't just let anyone use
it you have to show us that you have the
design skills and you do that by
submitting a themes portfolio so today
I'm going to talk to you about what
makes a great themes portfolio
submission and I'm also going to talk
about what is not a good themes
portfolio submission so how do you do
that without the software well you
download our starter kit it helps you
come up with the different screens that
are required to show as well as the app
icons fonts you can establish the colors
don't worry that you don't know how
themes do do works just have fun be
creative be different this is your
concept design of what your theme would
look like when you're done with your
theme design submit your portfolio our
review team will then look over the
designs if we love your work
we'll give you access and you can start
designing and selling themes using theme
studio
all right let's talk themes so what
makes a great themes portfolio
submission and more importantly what
doesn't make a great themes portfolio
submission so the first tip I want to
give you is don't use copyrighted images
in fact don't even use stock images we
want to see your talent as a designer so
all of the graphics that are in your
concept must be custom that you designed
yourself you know there's a lot of
themes out there on the Galaxy store and
one of the most important things is to
be unique so we want to see custom
artwork that you designed yourself in
your concept when submitting your
portfolio there are six different
screens that we need you to design the
lock screen the home screen message
screen the dialer contact and settings
it's super important that your design is
cohesive sitting on the review board we
see a lot of different designs that come
in that are really nice but the contact
screen won't look like the setting
screen they'll actually look like two
different concepts so it's important
that your overall concept is very
cohesive and that every screen conveys
that concept
all right colors lots of colors to
choose from it's very important that
your theme has a nice color palette to
it don't just go pick random colors and
throw them in there actually take some
time and look at your colors and come up
with a nice color palette if you need a
little help there's actually websites
online that you can use that will help
you determine a nice color palette all
right let's talk fonts so fonts can be
fun and fonts can be crazy but fonts can
also be hard to read so when you're
designing a phone UI you want to make
sure that the fonts are easy to be read
I mean people are grabbing this phone
and looking at it quickly they need to
be able to read the words in your theme
so one of the areas that I like to have
a lot of fun with are the app icons do
not use the default icons that are
included with the starter kit we need
you to redesign all of the icons and
symbols that are in the starter kit
often we'll get submissions from people
that have created a great concept the
others wonderful design but they haven't
recreated all of the app icons and when
that happens we have to reject it so
make sure you redesign all app icons in
the starter kit you spend a lot of time
on it don't worry you can actually use
these icons on few
things that you submit and remember
these are icons and symbols that need to
be easily read it quick clamps so you
don't want to have a busy background
behind them and they should be easily
legible people should understand what
the icon symbol represents have fun but
you know be smart with that all right
when you're done with your design take a
break step away from your computer go do
something fun clear your mind
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when you come back to your design you
won't see all the individual elements
you are working on you'll see the design
as a whole you can answer that question
is my design cohesive all right let's
talk getting started so what are the
steps the first step is to go download
the starter kit the starter kit includes
a Photoshop template file for those that
are not using Photoshop though we
actually include also a PDF that shows
you the example screens that you need to
redesign as well as all the app icons
and we also give you a phone frame of
one of the Samsung devices so that you
can design within the phone frame itself
all right so let's take a look at the
starter kit starter kit includes the
Photoshop template file an example PDF
file as well as just the blank phone
frame I'm gonna go ahead and open up the
Photoshop template file and you'll see
within this Photoshop file there are
seven artboards here one of the our
boards is just the directions that tells
you all of the steps that are required
the remaining six artboards those are
the artboards that you're required to
redesign when you're submitting your
application now I'm using a really neat
feature within Photoshop called generate
image assets what I'm gonna do is go up
to the file and just make sure that
generate image assets is selected now
what that does is that each of the
artboards that end with dot jpg those
artboards are automatically exported by
photoshop into a new subfolder so i'm
gonna go back to my Finder window and
notice now within this folder I have a
new subfolder that ends with assets if I
open that up you'll see here are the six
JPEGs that have automatically been
exported now what's really neat with
this feature is that as I work with the
artboards and I make changes to them
Photoshop automatically exports and
updates all of these JPEGs so it makes
it really easy for you when it comes
time to exporting your JPEGs for your
application okay I'm gonna go back into
Photoshop here
so I'm gonna start working with these
artboards and update the different
layers the one thing I want to do to
make it easy to navigate is make sure
that auto select is selected what that
does is as I click on the elements
within Photoshop Photoshop will
automatically select that item so I want
to work with this background here now if
you've noticed there's a special icon on
some of these layers these are all smart
objects what that means is there's an
embedded Photoshop file within this
master Photoshop file so I'm gonna
double click the background and now what
I'm gonna do is take my part work that I
already designed I'm just gonna copy it
to the memory of the computer and I'm
gonna paste it into this new Photoshop
file I'll go ahead and get rid of the
background it's not needed the next
steps pretty important you have to save
it so I just did the key command for
save and then I'll close that and you
can see it updated in my artwork there
but not only did it update there I'm
gonna go back to my Finder window open
up that asset folder and notice now the
home dot jpg file has been updated it's
pretty cool
the next thing I'm gonna do is start to
update the different elements within
this design let's go ahead and change
the text so I'm gonna go ahead and click
on one of those that'll open up that
subfolder here I'm gonna select all of
my text layers I'm gonna want to change
the color of that let's pick something
that is more in line with this design
find a nice purple that'll work and then
let me change the font I'm gonna go up
to this font here Advent Pro gonna
select semi bold now the next element to
work with are gonna be the app icons so
I'm gonna just click on the phone icon
there and you can see it automatically
selects that smart object layer I'm
gonna double click that layer so that I
can open up the smart object I'm gonna
go to my artwork that I've already
designed I'm just gonna go up to select
all copy go on to that layer then just
go paste I'll delete
the original phone app save it that out
of the way and you can see it's updated
here but because it's a smart object
whatever that artwork is used within
this Photoshop master file it'll update
there as well so notice down here in the
lower left corner because it's the same
icon it's updated there as well all
right I'm gonna go through pretty
quickly here and just update the
remaining app icons so again selecting
the icon double-clicking the smart
object gonna open up my artwork select
all edit copy go to here edit paste
delete this layer save and it's updated
hey we're done updating all of the app
icons the homescreen
the most part yeah it's basically done
maybe I make a couple other little
tweaks to some of these other icons up
in here other symbols but this design is
basically done the next step would be to
go and update the remaining five
artboards that we see here now when
you're done updating your artboards you
then it must compress this folder so I'm
just gonna right-click select compress
and it saves a zip file that zip file is
what you're gonna include when you
submit your application okay next let's
take a look at the example PDF so just
like the Photoshop file we have
different pages of the PDF that are the
different artboards that you're going to
design the first page though is the
that's the directions and you can see
here we're suggesting that the artwork
we created at 1440 pixels wide by 3040
pixels tall that'll give us a nice
high-res design for us to critique from
there we've got the different screens
that you would decide so this shows the
basic lockscreen the homescreen the
dialer screen the contacts messages and
settings so you can use this as your
inspiration for your design to show you
all of the elements that need to be
designed and again to stress you must
update all of the icons that you see
here now you can use this PDF as your
inspiration for using whatever design
program it is that you would like to use
if you're not using Photoshop and lastly
let's take a look at the phone at frame
dot PNG file so this is simply just a
single layer transparent image of a
frame if you're using an alternative to
photoshop like or sketch you can
take this PNG file and bring it into
that design program and use it as your
frame to design within alright let's
take a look at some actual theme
portfolios that were submitted I went
through a few of our latest rounds of
submissions and grabbed some theme
concepts that really show great design
all of these designers I'm gonna share
have been accepted into the themes
partnership
I am only showing four screens for each
just so that I can show them a little
larger all right let's take a look at
this first one here this one is
extremely creative absolutely love this
artwork very whimsical concept of the
catching stars this looks to be
hand-drawn love the color tone very
earthy and old-world feeling the font
that this designer selected was perfect
it matches great with this with this
hand-drawn concept I love that little
bit of drop shadow that's behind the
text that ensures that it will stand out
from the background these icons are
great match the the hand-drawn concept
definitely captures that style I love
how they downplayed the lockscreen art
on the home screen knowing that these
app icons need to stand out even the
weather icon of the cloud and the Sun
that's hand-drawn I just overall it's an
excellent theme concept in design okay
so the second concept here this is quite
different excellent execution love the
color palette this really works well
across all the screens love the design
style with the different gradients real
simple font and here it really works
well with this concept these icons are
great they really really pop in this
design love the white background behind
the icons with the gradient fill for the
symbol notice over there in the in the
contact screen though the designer
reversed that out they put the gradient
background behind the white letters it
really makes it so those letters pop but
yet give a unique style unique look
compared to the app icons that were on
the home in the lockscreen
overall just a great design love love
this love this concept
all right another great design here this
third design love the leather texture
with the stitch seems very realistic I
love having that dark background on the
lockscreen and then the light background
fall of the other screens it really
enhances the the experience of unlocking
your phone this is similar to like
having a book covered and you open up
that book to reveal the pages of the
book love the icons they've got a great
3d rendered look to them
excellent reflected highlights on the on
the icons very clean and simple font
real easy to read color palette it's
pretty unique you know what but it
actually works you know it's not a
highly saturated color palette and very
elegant really really strong concept
love this design alright and finally
this fourth design here that I'm sharing
again a very simple but yet very elegant
design love the restrained color scheme
but yet has a very saturated feel to the
to the color that really helps make
those white icons pop on this design
excellent legibility you can really see
how easy it is to read not just the
icons and the apps but even the fonts a
very simple clean font overall just a
very well executed design more than one
yes definitely
as long as the themes good I mean
remember you're gonna be judged on what
you submit so if you submit a great
design along with a design that maybe
it's not so good you're gonna be judged
as a whole as a UI designer so make sure
you're sending strong designs so people
often ask what can they do that help
themselves get approved well one thing
we tell them is give us a cover letter
you know tell us a little bit about you
as a designer give us links to some of
your portfolios show us some of your
other work so when can you submit your
portfolio for review well you can
download the starter kit at anytime at
work on your designs but because this is
an exclusive group there's actually a
window for submitting that window is
open every other month for two weeks
once we've received all of the
applications we then take about four to
five weeks to review all of the
different designs
if you've been accepted you'll get an
email with access to theme studio and
can start designing and selling on the
Galaxy star if you've been rejected
you'll be encouraged to redesign and
resubmit and when the window opens that
again will then review the design
alright one thing to keep in mind when
submitting your application is don't
tell us that this is just for personal
use or that you're just wanting to learn
how to use the software
you know Samsung is looking for
designers and developers that want to
start creating and selling on the Galaxy
stores so make sure that you tell us
that you want to design and create for
Samsung thanks for joining the webinar
hope you guys enjoyed it I'm gonna take
some time now to answer a few those
questions the number one question that
we have received is where do I download
that starter kit well we've made it real
easy I actually just wrote a blog so go
to our website developer.samsung.com go
to our blog you'll see a blog that I
wrote there called how to become a
samsung mobile UI themes designer and on
there is a link to download the starter
kit the next question I just want to do
wallpapers and I actually submit a
portfolio for just doing wallpapers well
no you actually have to apply to be a
themes designer once you've been
approved you can then choose suggested
wallpapers or even just do app icons but
we do need you to apply as a themes
designer next question can i design
themes from a well-known designer or use
copyrighted images no not for your
approval to become a theme designer we
need to see all original artwork now
once you become approved if you have
license to use that artwork then yes you
can use licensed artwork but you do have
to provide us with proof of that license
to use their artwork let's see here
another question can I submit more than
six screens with my portfolio submission
yes you can but the six required screens
need to be submitted at that time as
well so you can submit more but you do
have to include the original six I think
that's pretty much it for the for the
majority the questions that came in we
did answer a lot of private chat
questions so hopefully we answered them
all for you if you have more questions
though you can go over to our forum and
can post some questions on our forum you
can also send email to support at
Samsung Developers comm and you can also
submit the support request using our
website you can contact us that way so
we would love to hear from you so please
take our survey let us know how we did
today with our webinar and we look
forward to seeing you next time on Wow
thank you
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you
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