Kelly Smith | Made in Seattle

The goofy site over at http://www.jacquielawson.com/default.asp is an interesting study. A few days ago I mentioned that a former colleague from RealNetworks was launching a greeting card site. So, apparently this space is pretty hot because Jacquie makes nearly $4 million dollars per year with her site and Andrew Wright (of SmileBox) is a seriously smart and qualified guy who would have been successful in any manner of other business. But the thing I find interesting about Jacquielawson is that she says in a recent article that ‘It’s a bit of a crusade because there’s so much rubbish on the internet”…hmm. So, this really cracks me up because I find the site itself to be rubbish and the greeting cards to be absolute CHEESE of the highest order. The artistry of the animations is average and the typical card concept is simpleton and unoriginal. On nearly a daily basis I catch up with a number of artists and vector animators via my del.icio.us bookmarks that produce a higher order of artwork that has the same or greater potential than anything on these greeting card sites.

But businesses often have little to do with real art. $4 million USD per year is some serious smack. Does anyone look at Jacquielawson.com and think that it is anything OTHER than web rubbish? I say this is about focus and perseverance. Most great designers and developers I know simply do not have the discipline to see their way through to any level of success. They can’t stay focused. Congrats to Jacquie for being the turtle and not the hare.