Product Submission Guidelines

Please read through the guidelines below before submitting products for approval.

We have some general guidelines for all products as well as guidelines specific for some products types. Jump to:

Product Type Specific:

General Guidelines

CONTENT

  1. Usefulness: Products must be high quality and of demonstrable use to architectural students and professionals.
  2. Copyright: All products should be original works for which you hold the copyright for any elements used.
  3. Content: No products should include any hateful, offensive or distasteful content.
  4. Quality: Products will only be approved if they are of sufficient quality. Illustrative works (such as CAD blocks, Vectors) should be well drawn and visually attractive. Functional products (such as Grasshopper Scripts) must work consistently and be free of bugs.
  5. Ease of Use: Products should be designed in way that makes them easy to use. See specific product type guidelines for further advice on achieving this.

PRODUCT PAGE

  1. Product Descriptions: Product descriptions should be comprehensive and accurate. They should include information such as product function, exact product contents (the types and amounts of files user will receive, software requirements (including what versions of software are compatible), as is applicable.
  2. Product Images: You should upload at least one cover image for each product, clearly showing the product.

FILE SETUP

  1. Organisation: Files should be clean and well organised. The precise steps will vary between file types but generally this will means using layers, groups and/or blocks to organise elements, and ensuring that any unnecessary or duplicate linework or layers are deleted prior to submission.

    See specific product type guidelines for further advice on ensuring products are well organised.
  2. Editability: For products such as CAD blocks, vectors etc, it is preferred that files are designed to be easily editable by the user so that they might have more flexibility in their use. For example for a figure this might mean grouping elements so that might be easily recoloured or removed.
  3. Instructions: Where it might not be immediately obvious how to use some or all functions of your products please include instructions. These should be provided as PDFs only, editable files such as word docs, will not be accepted.

    See specific product type guidelines for further advice on ensuring products are well organised.

CAD

File Format: All files should be saved as DWG 2004 format using mm.

Blocks: Blocks should be used unless there is a reason they are not appropriate. Blocks must have a useful base point.

Scale: All CAD blocks should be drawn to the correct scale for what they represent.

Layers: Layers should be organised logically with clear naming.

Optimisation: All CAD files should be purged prior to submission and ensure any duplicate or unnecessary linework is deleted.

Grasshopper Scripts

Functionality: Scripts must function as advertised and be free of issues. Please test your scripts prior to submission to ensure to ensure accuracy, stability, and reliability in various scenarios.

Organisation: Scripts should be well organised and easy to navigate. You should aim to group and annotate components. You may also wish to cluster and password protect the workings of your script and present the user with a simplified set of inputs and outputs to interact with the script.

Optimisation: Scripts should be optimised for efficiency, minimising computation time and resource consumption wherever possible.

Documentation/Instructions: Ensure you have included sufficient instructions on how to use the script. These may be included within the script itself, or included as an accompanying .pdf file.

Plugins: It is preferred to avoid plugins if possible to increase ease of use for customers. If it is unavoidable that a script uses plugins for Grasshopper please include a note within your script of the plugins required.

Demo Files: Please include a Rhino file (saved as Rhino 6) that is set up as a demo of your script. This file should include an example of the input needed for your script to help the user understand how the script should function.

Vectors

File Format: All vector files should be saved as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), AI (Adobe Illustrator), or EPS (Encapsulated PostScript.

Avoid Rasterized Objects: All vector files should be scalable and not include any rasterized element which would prevent proper scaling.

Layers and Grouping: Layers should be clearly named and used to organise the vector elements. Groups should be used to allow for easy selection of drawing elements.

PNGs: PNG exports at an appropriate resolution of each individual vector element should be included in your product upload. For example for a pack of 10 Vector Trees, the upload should include 1 Ai, SVG or EPS file and 10 PNGs of individual trees.