SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY & THE LAUNCH OF OUR THIRD PRODUCT
Visual supports are an incredibly important and powerful enabler for many individuals on the autism spectrum who, like Zoe, are visual learners and processors. In fact, the use of visual supports is so pervasive that the ASD community often uses the term "visual" as a noun. We consider Zoe's visual abilities to be a major strength of hers - and we often say that she can do just about anything so long as she has a visual model. If you have ever been to our house, you know that we have visuals hung up all around as cues for Zoe and when we are trying to communicate something novel or complex to Zoe, we know we will be most successful if we put in down in writing for her to read.
But visual supports are actually very helpful for a lot of people and a critical way of sharing information. They have a myriad of applications including functional and decorative, business and personal and if you actually took a few minutes to think about it, you’d realize just how many visual cues you encounter every day. Therein lies the inspiration for Zo Much More's third product which, like all of our products, is powered by Zoe's many strengths. We're excited to use this opportunity of Small Business Saturday to announce the launch of the Custom Card/Picture Holder, which combines Zoe’s visual abilities, her love of color and continues to leverage her impressive fine motor skills.
We struggled quite a bit with what to call these because they have so many uses. We actually considered calling them "Visual Supports" but we didn't want to introduce any confusion by using a tongue-in-cheek reference. So in the end, we turned to friends and to Google and discovered that anyone who markets a similar product also faces the same struggle. We saw references to "place cards", "table cards", "pictures", "photos", "memories", "memos", "menus", 'signs", etc. and also references to them being "holders", "stands", "clips", "displays", etc. Nearly every place we saw this type of product marketed, the name contained at least one slash. So in the end, we landed on "Card/Picture" Holder thinking that most of the time, the item being displayed would be some sort of card (sign, menu, table card, place card, note) or some sort of picture (visual support, photo, art).
If you've been watching our social media, you might have noticed that we have slipped a few into the pictures we've posted over the past couple months. When we sell at Craft Fairs, we use them in our signature Zo Much More colors to display the QR code for our Venmo account. When we hosted Zoe's Needham High friends for her birthday, we used them to indicate which desserts were gluten-free or safe for various allergies. And when we wanted to post a picture to announce the launch of this new product, we used one to do just that!
With that in mind, here are just a few of the many many ways we can imagine them being used:
Events/Restaurants: Place cards, Table Cards, Check-in Info, Menu Cards, "Today's Specials", Food/Drink Labels, Ingredients/Allergen Disclosures, Party Decor/Favors
Businesses/Retail: Wi-fi Password, QR Codes, Policies, Daily Announcements, Sale Information, Product Descriptions
Classrooms: Visual Supports (of course), "Turn in Papers Here", Today's Date is ..."
Personal: Post-it Note Holder, Desktop Reminder, Picture Frame Alternative, Holiday Card Display, Hostess Gift, Graduation Gifts
Like all Zo Much More products, these are highly customizable. Zoe can make them in different sizes and color schemes. As always, so long as we can find the materials, Zoe can make it so please just get in touch and we’ll work through the design with you just as we do with our bracelets and fidget pens. A few friends have been in on our beta testing too. One friend had Zoe make them with a fall/metallic look and used the to label food for their Thanksgiving spread. Another friend has asked Zoe to customize with the year so they can be part of an annual holiday photo gift for family. We’ll be adding to our Card/Picture Holder Gallery over the next few months and of course, asking for you to send pictures of your Card/Picture Holders as you are using them. We try never to post anything that’s a gift or a surprise until we know it’s safe so there’s sometimes a delay before you will see it shared.
We are starting pricing at $10 for the 8 inch version ($2 from each will go to our charity partners) and $5 for the 4.5 inch versions ($1 from each will go to our charity partners) but as always, we will work with you on volume discounts. We are also continuing to source for different height and style holder bases so look for us to add more options.