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Doctor_Green wrote:

Really helpful guide

bubble103 wrote:

Recognition.
You've probably headed over to this forum, the Show & Tell section, to seek it out.

We all want recognition, acknowledgement and appreciation for our work and projects on Scratch. It's a big part of our community - Imagine, Program, Share. What's the fun in sharing projects if no one notices them?

So, for many scratchers this Show & Tell forum is an awesome way to advertise your stuff and get recognition! But, there is much more to becoming a well-recognised, or even famous, scratcher than just advertising… Let me share with you what I have discovered on my 3 years on Scratch.


1. Put that effort in!

You wanna be recognised? Well, what do you want to be recogised for?

You have to make great stuff, put huge effort into what you make.

Your projects don't have to be perfect - you'll grow and improve over time through practice, and feedback from others. What matters is your effort, and you knowing that you gave it your all.


2. You gotta give to get.

Give other scratchers a hand with tricky scripts. Make a logo for someone. Be friendly and welcoming to new scratchers. Make friends, enter contests, chat, collaborate, help, give advice and constructive criticism!

By doing those kinds of community activities, you're basically ‘giving’ to the community. You make yourself someone likable and therefore more well-known.

Well, you can't sit in some corner of the website and not interact with this community at all, then expect the community to suddenly shower you with attention. It just doesn't work.

When I first started on Scratch, I pretty much did that. XD I was too shy to speak to anyone. Finally, I came out of my bubble (lol, get it? Ahaha… ha… Okay, not that funny. XD) and started talking to other scratchers. Know what I found? They don't bite. X3 Most of the people on this website are very friendly. I've made some great friends, collaborated with some brilliantly creative people. I'm sure you'll find the same thing, if you just give it a go.


3. Judging a book by its cover.

You've heard the saying, right? ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.' Basically, don't be too quick to judge based only on first impressions.

How does this have anything to do with Scratch? Well, let me ask a different question: what's the first thing you notice about a Scratch project?

Its thumbnail! (The ‘thumbnail’ is the little picture you see before you click the project. )

Now, thumbnails are very important - they're the first things you see, the things that influence you whether to click on the projects or not. If you want to use the ‘judge a book by its cover’ analogy, the thumbnail is essentially the ‘cover’ and the ‘book’ inside is the actual project.

Like it or not, we all judge books by their covers: we want to look at projects with eye-catching thumbnails, and are less interested in dull ones.
So, if you have nice thumbnails, more people will look at your projects!

Don't worry if you think you're not so great at designing good thumbnails - that's where other scratchers can help you! Have a look in the Requests forum for some forum shops that create art, logos and thumbnails for scratchers!

Oh, and one more thing - as well as project thumbnails, your logo/profile picture is very important! It's something that represents you and the kind of scratcher you are. Again, if you need a hand making a professional-looking logo, ask around in the Requests forum!

An extra note:

metallic123 wrote:

Never judge a book by it's cover. Some scratchers don't even know how to use thumbnails. I didn't till recently. If the thumbnail is a mess, still give the project a try. You never know what it may be like!

Yes, it's something we do without thinking most of the time, but I think the point metallic123 raises is very important: try your best not to judge a book by its cover! Also, here's a little help on how thumbnails work:

Scratch is responsible for what your thumbnail is on projects. It will take the image of whatever was on your project's screen when you last saved it and use that as the thumbnail. One way to control what your thumbnail looks like is this: 1) create a new sprite. 2) draw a picture that fills the whole screen that you want as your thumbnail. 3) put a script in it to make it hide when the project starts. 4) save the project with the thumbnail sprite showing and covering the screen. 5) And you're done!


4. Do it for YOU!

What's the point of being famous for something you don't even like doing? There isn't any! Make sure that you're making projects that YOU enjoy making, NOT because it's trendy and you think playing along with what other scratchers are doing too will get you popular. Although, if what you wanna do just happens to be the same as the trend, go for it anyway! Do it for YOURSELF, not for anyone else. Ultimately, following your own passions will get you far further and far happier. And Scratch is about learning, but it's also about fun!

Don't let the desire for recognition ever make you lose sight of that.


I hope this guide has been helpful to you! Please share your own tips in a reply below. Oh, also, if you thought this guide was cool/amazing/terrible/hard to understand/helpful - please please let me know, I really want to hear what you think. Scratch on!

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techExpert321 wrote:

This is a great guide, and I will start following its advice right now. So anyone who wants a thumbnail, tell me on my profile.

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