Hi Everyone!

First off I want to give a big thanks to all the backers. Your support has shown me there is a future for the Glow Glyphs and I’m not the only one excited about an interactive LED alphabet, I appreciate it immensely, thank you!

We’re at the halfway point, 9% funded and two weeks in. Unfortunately, the campaign is not where I’d like it to be but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped working on the Glow Glyphs, there’s been plenty of action happening behind-the-scenes so let me fill you in on the details.

Here’s the topics I’m going to cover:

• PR and outreach efforts
• Lab work
• Collecting feedback
• Campaign reboot
• PR and outreach efforts

PR and outreach efforts

My major effort for the past two-weeks has been working on promotion and outreach. I’ve written dozens of submissions and notifications to websites both big and small, and I’ve penned a variety of forum posts to try and get them in front of the right people. I was mostly targeting DIY, gadget, geek and design crowds, people I think would appreciate the effort and the opportunity. Growing the audience is crucial to being successful in a crowdfunding campaign however it seems most of the submissions have gone unnoticed and the Glow Glyph audience has remained small. But on a positive note I did have a nice interview with the Portland Tribune and they wrote a nice short piece about the Glow Glyphs which I’m sure entered the eyeballs of a nice collection of north-westerners. However overall I’m feeling unsuccessful, getting above the noise-floor is not an easy task for a solo creator so I think I’m feeling the growing pains of trying to raise the signal-level of the project and grow the community around it. If anyone would like to share their ideas about reaching a wider audience please get in touch.

Lab Work

In between the moments of writing and submitting I’ve been finding some sanctuary in the lab assembling and testing new prototypes. I just received a new panel of Glyphs that include the ‘star’ & ? and !, which I’m pleased to report are functioning great. I’ve also been trying out accessories, power supplies, and cables, trying to hone in a good balance of design, functionality, and price. I’ve found that there are a ton of nice LED accessories that use the DC barrel jack so I’m considering adopting that as a standard. I also fired up the 3D printer and started to experiment with diffusers and covers, if you ask me I think they look pretty awesome, definitely worth continuing to investigate.

Collecting feedback

Talking with friends I’ve received some helpful feedback about the campaign that I think is relevant to the slow-goings. If this resonates with you let me know.

• There’s a lot of friction in the ordering process. There’s confusion about which reward to select, all being slightly similar offerings but widely different in pricing. The fact that orders must include a special comment to select the letters is also an extra layer in the buying process that probably doesn’t need to be there.
• The messaging is unclear so the value proposition is confusing. I think there’s lots of opportunity for the Glow Glyphs in different applications but so far the messaging hasn’t been successful in highlighting the unique qualities. I think this is partially do to their DIY-nature but also because I’ve wanted to chase multiple applications rather than commit to a single one which has had the unfortunate side effect of creating a very vague and abstract message about why the Glow Glyphs are special. And while I really like the stop-motion animation video it’s more of a “tear-down” video than a true showcase so I think it’s missing the mark for most people.
• The price is too high. Yes, I can see this, this is a big factor. I set a modest margin but chose to take a less aggressive and risky approach on the price, which would have made it lower. With an alphabet of LED letters, each letter needs to be priced low to avoid feeling a price sting as the cost quickly climbs when building a custom message. In a perfect world what would the price be? What feels right? I think somewhere between \$2-5/letter (unpowered versions) would be a no-brainer, but right now it starts at \$9/letter, so the question becomes: how can I cut the price by >50%? Well the short-answer is for me to take a bigger risk. To drop the cost to \$3/letter I would need to take on some higher upfront costs in order to drop the BOM cost to a place where I wouldn’t be losing money on each letter, but I think that’s a risk I’m willing to take...

Campaign reboot

So with these things in mind; the poor outreach performance, the continued improvements in prototyping, and the feedback on the campaign, I’d like to suspend the campaign and take a moment to retool and refresh the framework so it’s easier for me to get Glow Glyphs into your hands and to get them the attention I think they deserve. I think a reboot will be a win-win and ultimately prove to a be good decision for the continued lifetime of the project so to receive details on the reboot please go to glowglyphs.com and sign up. You’ll be the first to hear about their availability and ultimately save money with discounted pricing.

And if you haven’t done so please support the project on social media. I need your help to grow the community so let’s spread the love for Glow Glyphs together!

Join in! - http://www.glowglyphs.com/
Like it! - https://www.facebook.com/glowglyphs/
Tweet it! - https://twitter.com/LeoneLabs
Gram it! - https://www.instagram.com/leonelabs/

Thanks again and I hope to see you all again real soon.

Cheers,
Matt Leone