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Envato Author Resources For COVID-19

As we move through these uncertain times, we want to acknowledge the impact COVID-19 is having on our world and let you know that we’re here for you.  Our CEO Collis Ta’eed has started a questions thread on our forums and we encourage you to jump into the conversation.

We want to reassure you that we’re ready to support you and we will do our very best to help you prepare and adapt to the changes ahead.

To help get you started, we’ve put together a series of current and updated resources that you can action right now.

Envato Worldwide [Digital] Conference – April, 2020

As you would have heard, we suspended our Envato Worldwide Conferences due to growing health and safety concerns for our staff and authors. We have since moved to a fully-online Digital conference, Envato’s first conference of its kind, scheduled for the 22nd of April during India Standard Time (GMT +5:30).

We welcome you here to join us, in the comfort and safety of your homes, to engage on a series of topics and discussions that we know will be beneficial for the future of your work. You will also have an opportunity to hear a presentation from ThemeFusion, the talented author behind the most popular WordPress theme of all time – Avada

ThemeFusion to share their story, learnings and author insights from its early beginnings, to $25 million today and all their important milestones along the way.

We’ve just opened up registrations. Please register here to join us! 

A Sneak Peak of the Agenda!

We’ve just released our 2020 Creative Trends Guide – the first ever guide combining search data and insights from Envato Market and Envato Elements. 

In this report, our Content Specialists and Content Insights Team at Envato have put together their top trend predictions, based on customer demand and industry observations. This also includes trends that have emerged on Envato Elements and Envato Market over the past year.

By exploring what people searched for and purchased on Envato over the last 12 months, you’ll discover inspiration for your work in 2020. 

You can access the exclusive release of the 2020 Creative Trends Guide for authors here

To help support you with more insights and customer data during these uncertain and challenging times, our Content Insights team have put together the major trending searches across all of our item-types from the past three months and upcoming seasonal content for both Envato Markets and Envato Elements.

You can access the latest blog post on Searches & Seasonal Trends here.

For even more inspiration, we’ve also collated insights from the What Customers Are Looking For On Elements Survey, as well as specific requests. Although it’s within Elements, many authors will find the data gathered here useful in thinking about their next project. 

Check Your Bonus Eligibility [Elements]

Don’t forget that Envato Elements authors are eligible to share in the Content Bonus Program. This is one of several ways in which authors can be rewarded for contributing great content.

Envato Elements authors can check their eligibility by accessing the Author Dashboard here. Please make sure you keep up to date with your bonus eligibility so that you can aim for a share in the bonus in the next coming while. 

Representing 2020 Content Challenge

Last month, we announced the launch of our Content Challenge for Envato Elements authors – Representing 2020. This challenge provides authors with a unique opportunity to respond to new customer insights and trends, to create better and more relevant items in the future. 

This aim of this challenge is to unpack what it means to create authentic and inclusive representations of the world we live in now – from age, gender, body-types, ethnicity, disability, religion, localization, designing for accessible experiences or the ways in which we challenge gender stereotypes and traditional roles. 

As we’re seeing now, the world is shifting and changing, and this needs to be reflected in the assets that you create as authors. By responding to these insights, you can better meet the needs of your ever changing markets and customers on a global scale. 

We’ve got plenty of resources to help you along the way! Get involved and start submitting your best items now by using the custom tag [REP2020]

If you’re a Market author, then you can still sign up to our bootcamp on creating diverse and authentic content here and access all the tips and resources!

As we navigate our work during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to remember that content related to this needs to be an authentic and sensitive representation of the world we’re experiencing now.

To help with navigating these challenging and uncertain times, we’ve put together our COVID-19 Guidelines to best prepare for success and some quick tips below. 

  • Look to create content that helps spread awareness, unity and connection at a time when we need it the most. Check out these examples from designers and illustrators helping to lend advice and create content we can all relate to on a human level. 
  • We know that we can limit the spread of disease by covering our coughs and sneezing into the elbow instead of our hands. By helping to visualize these activities, you can help to spread awareness of preventative measures. Check out this new example from Envato Elements!

You can access the COVID-19 Guidelines on the Author Help Center here.

Content Opportunities

Illustrations

There is a big opportunity in Illustrations (and vectors) to help tell this story and support our global community. Illustrations provide a pathway to create content related to the pandemic, without being exposed to it and others (in a way that photos and videos would require). 

As always, we encourage you to showcase diversity across ages, gender and ethnicity, as well as movement, emotion, statistics and connection between characters. Make sure to review the Top Rejected Reasons and remember that Authenticity is key.

Template Kits

Envato is launching Template Kits, a brand new category of items on ThemeForest. This is a great opportunity for authors to get into an emerging market nice and early – from those who are already designing beautiful themes, to graphic designers who may not have a coding bone in their body.

To celebrate this release, we  will be awarding the first 400 Template Kits approved and published $200USD as part of the Template Kits Upload Bonanza.  Given the current situation, the offer has been extended to April 18 2020, so that we can give more authors the chance to earn through this bonus! Check out these useful links:

When you’re ready, upload a template kit for review now!

Free Learning Tools & Offers Available 

Given the current global situation of COVID-19, many organizations and companies are helping to provide free tools and offers for the creative community to continue skills-building and learning. It’s a time to come together and offer support wherever we can.

Check out the tools that we’ve found so far:

We also have a dedicated forum thread with more free offers and resources for authors to up-skill during this time. Feel free to check it out, and add your suggestions if you have any here.


These are all the ways that you can optimize your portfolio and learning right now. We hope that it helps you best prepare and adapt to this current situation and support your future work. 

Following this post,  we will be releasing more information as part of our second release of COVID-19 author resources, so watch this space!

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