YourCover review and giveaway
Written by valmg on October 18, 2008 – 11:35 am
I love doing reviews and recently I got a chance to review something that hasn’t been reviewed by many other people. I was so unbelievable excited to get the opportunity to review YourCover, a system that allows you to create a personalized magazine cover from your own pictures.
Michele, the founder of YourCover, shared how the company got started with me. “My husband and I started YourCover back in 2000 with the idea that at some point in their lives everyone deserves to be the star of their very own magazine cover! Initially each magazine cover was custom-made for each client but the expense of all that creative labor was quite high and the market for a magazine cover at over $300 was not large. The internet and computer graphics caught up with our vision and in 2006 we launched an interactive site that allows consumers to upload photos and use our online design system to personalize a magazine cover themselves. We were able to drop the price point to just $49.95.”
Once I realized I was lucky enough to be able to review such a cool product I immediately found myself in a quandary. Which style cover would I use? After all, the categories of available covers currently includes Anniversary, Baby, Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, Birthday, Communion, Father’s Day, Golf, Graduation, Holiday, Mother’s Day, Personal Celebrity, Pet, Quinceanera, Retirement, Reunion, Special Event, Sports, Sweet 16, Valentine’s Day and Wedding. I decided I wanted to make a personalized magazine cover for me, to celebrate the fact that I had two beautiful boys.
When you begin to make your cover you start by choosing which “event” you’ll be celebrating, meaning which cover style you’re going to use. Each of the choices offers several different template layouts for you to choose from. I decided to use the Personal Celebrity category. The next step is to upload your cover photo, which you can resize and crop.
The next part was the part I had the most fun with - personalizing the cover. When you view your cover layout on the screen you’ll see boxes indicating areas that can be customized. You click on the box and you can enter your text and make any changes to the font that you want. If you need help coming up with text to put in the different spots, you can get some text suggestions from YourCover. A menu is available with several categories of suggestions, you just choose what type of subject your text will be about and it will give you some suggested headlines.
When you’re finished with the front cover you can design the back cover as well. There are more than thirty different background images available for the back cover to choose from. Then you can add more text and even a couple more photos if you choose. When you’re finished you see an online proof, decide if you want a frame and place your order.
As a note of interest, I checked out five other sites selling magazine covers. Not a one of them offered the ability to create a back cover. None of them offered as many options for customization in the way of text. They all looked far less personal than YourCover.
I was impressed by the design system in that it had so many choices and options for customization. It was very easy to use. The only thing I wish the site offered was a way to change the cover selection once the design process is underway, for those of us that change our minds about things.
As far as the results, we were totally thrilled and impressed by the cover that we received. It was exactly as I had designed it and looked like it had been professionally printed. The cover is printed on really thick, heavy glossy paper. The colors matched what had been in my picture and the picture looked bright and clear. Our cover came in an acrylic frame which is neat because we’ll be able to put it on the coffee table and everyone will be able to see both sides.
I can’t say enough good things about my experience with YourCover and I highly recommend their fabulous customized photo gifts. There are so many choices and ways to personalize the covers that they could be used for anything. Anyone would be totally thrilled to receive one of these covers. You could even treat yourself and have a cover made from your favorite picture. YourCover also offers shoppers the ability to put their cover on posters, mugs, mouse pads and t-shirts.
The giveaway
Whoever wins this giveaway will LOVE the prize! YourCover has generously offered a gift certificate for creation of one personalized cover to the winner of this giveaway.
How to enter
To enter visit the YourCover website and take a good look around. Then come back to this post a leave a comment telling me a little about a cover you’d like to create and give to someone else, including who it would be for, who’d be on the cover and what it would be celebrating.
Additional entries are available if you
*blog about this contest linking to YourCover and this blog
*subscribe to my rss feed
*stumble, twitter or share this giveaway on a social media site or in a forum
*fave this blog at Technorati
Leave an additional comment for each extra credit entry you’ve completed and include your user name or a the link to where you mentioned it.
The fine print
This contest will end on Monday 10/27/08 at 11:59 pm est. US addresses only please. Only comments containing the requested pieces of information will be eligible.
Good luck everyone!
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.
Will
October 18th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Val, Great review. As a person who seems to like playing with new technology, would you mind writing a review for Veeple.com. We are a website that enables people with the opportunity to place interactive links on top of their videos, making anything and everything linkable to relavent content outside of their video. The idea is to tie everything together and drive traffic back to the content creators website, thus creating the opportunity to monetize their videos and enhance their over all message. After reading your review of YourCover, I figure that this would be right in your area of interest. Might even be something you can use for your own website. Please check it out.
Peggy Gorman
October 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
This is one of the neatest item and software I have found.I would love to make one for my children,the personal celebrity looks like it would be so much fun.Everyone would get a kick out of it. I would also do one for my babies(cats and dogs). Count me in to this wonderful contest
Peggy Gorman
October 18th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I subscribe
Heather
October 18th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I would LOVE to win this and would put a picture of my 4 kids (once the 4th is born next week!) and I would have all their names and ages and I’d make it to give my husband for Christmas because he is great!
Heather
October 18th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I also subscribe to your RSS
sandy
October 18th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
would do a sports one with kiddos or love issue with hubs and I for anniversary
Cindi
October 19th, 2008 at 2:24 am
What a fun idea. I would enjoy having my two sons on a baseball cover. Please enter me in your drawing. Many thanks…..Cindi
Millicent C.
October 19th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Oh how fun! I would so do a sports theme with my sons on it! Thank you for the chance to win!
Millicent C.
October 19th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I am a subscriber
tanyetta
October 19th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
i would put my entire family on the cover!
Mary @ Adventures in Mommyland
October 19th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I like the Mothers Day Cover for my mom. I’d put a picture of my daughter on it for her for next Mother’s Day. Great giveaway, thanks!
Mary @ Adventures in Mommyland
October 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Blogged ya:
http://mommyland512.blogspot.com/2008/10/your-cover-giveaway-at-vals-views.html
Thanks again!
Mary @ Adventures in Mommyland
October 19th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Stumbled this post, user name hellomary018.
Mary @ Adventures in Mommyland
October 19th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Sent out a tweet, user name Mary512.
Mary @ Adventures in Mommyland
October 19th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Faved this on Technorati, user name Mary512.
Mom of 3 Peas
October 19th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I would love to make own for my daughter. I’d love to celebrate her and let her know how special is she is to our family. Her 2 year old brother passed away 11 months ago and it obviously has been difficult on our whole family. She has been such a trooper through the whole process though. I know that there were many times she felt left out as we were going through the treatment process and now healing.
stacey moore
October 19th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
would love to get one of my son in his baseball uniform on a baseball cover!
thanks!
moore.g@insideconnect.net
stacey moore
October 19th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
we are subscribers!
thanks!
stacey moore
October 19th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
blogged you at prizeatron:
http://www.prizeatron.com/2008/10/contests-for-october-19th.html
thanks!
Jessica
October 19th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I would love to do the Baby cover for my daughter. When she gets older I would love to give her the Oh Baby Magazine Cover announcing her birth just to let her know what a special little miracle she is to us and how she changed our lives.
Julie Donahue
October 20th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I would probably use the Father’s Day template for a picture for Daddy.
Ann
October 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
What a fantastic giveaway! I love your review!!!
I would love to do the personal celebrity (celebrities) with my 3 kids on the cover. My parents live in Belgium (we moved to Oregon 4 years ago) and this would be perfect to put some milestones that the kids have taken on the cover. Some funny quotes of the kids would go on there too!
Thanks for the chance to win this!
Ann
October 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I’m a subscriber.
Ann
October 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I faved you on technorati (my username is gunzie).
Genevieve Larson
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:45 am
I would put my 4 kids and niece on it and give it to my mom.
thanks
Genevieve Larson
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:46 am
Just subscribed via email
thanks
Danielle
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I love the Father’s Day one and would give it to my hubby with all the kids on the cover.
Katie
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I think these are so cute! I would make one for my husband for Christmas. I would put my 3 kids on the cover and tell of all sorts of times the kids did things together….
Michele
October 24th, 2008 at 3:07 am
I would love to win this for my mom and dad. I would design it with an anniversary theme as it’s there 40th wedding anniversary this year. Yep, that’s right…….40 years!!! Isn’t that awesome??!! Anyway, I’d want to do like a yesterday/today type of theme on the cover using their wedding photo and current photo. I would have the wedding photo be in B&W and the current photo in color. It would say something like, “Celebrating 40 years of bliss.”
Thanks so much!
Michele R.(CA)
luvkittysmeowmail@gmail.com
Michele
October 24th, 2008 at 3:08 am
I subscribed to your feed.
Thanks so much!
Michele R.(CA)
luvkittysmeowmail@gmail.com
Michele
October 24th, 2008 at 3:09 am
I Stumbled your giveaway, and my username is Luvkitty.
Thanks so much!
Michele R.(CA)
luvkittysmeowmail@gmail.com
Michele
October 24th, 2008 at 3:10 am
I made you a favorite on Technorati, and my username is Luvkitty.
Thanks so much!
Michele R.(CA)
luvkittysmeowmail@gmail.com
Heather C
October 27th, 2008 at 2:36 am
I know some grandparents who would love one of these! Thanks for the giveaway!
Brandy
October 27th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I would love to make a cover of my grandmother, “80 and Fabulous”! Her 80th birthday is in January and this would be a great way to celebrate. Thanks for the chance.
kathy pease
October 27th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
i would put a pic of my hub with the heading BIGGEST JETS FAN