An open letter to the Picnik users…
by K. Michael Alexander
Today Google announced that Picnik would be closing on April 19th. It’s a sad day for me. It’s a sad day for the Picnik team. Most importantly, it’s a sad day for Picnik users. As a member of Team Picnik for almost four years, today was a rough one. Sure my job is secure, my team is still together (somewhat,) but the product we all poured our lives into is going away. It’s hard. Yet, it’s not about us. It’s never been about us, and frankly, that’s what made Picnik great.
This summer while my wife and I were traveling on vacation we stopped at a small bed and breakfast in Anaconda, Montana. At breakfast we met a mother and daughter from California. When the topic of where we worked came up I mentioned I worked as a designer for Picnik. The mother and the daughter both became super excited and told me how much they loved Picnik, talked about their favorite features, and told me what they did with the product. It was great. It was a great reminder of who we were and really who we made Picnik for.
When were were told that Picnik would be shut down, that mother and daughter we met in Montana kept coming to mind. In the end it’s not about us, it’s about you. Our users. You’re the ones who really suffers with this shut down. Not Google. Not the Picnik team. Not our API partners. It’s the people, our users, that made Picnik what it was.
As a proud member of Team Picnik I want to say to all you amazing Picnikers out there, thanks. This shut down sucks. I know. I understand. I commiserate, but remember it was you who made Picnik great. It was you who made it exciting to come into work every day. It’s you who made me smile every single day.
Never stop creating.
Comments
OK so you are sad too. But you still have a job. What about all the Picnikers who rely on Picnik for their work. What do they do now? what about us ornary folk who love the product just for our own use? The collection of pictures I have produced of and for my family are awesome – yes I can boast because Picnik has made my snaps into beautiful portraits.
Surely you designers can come up with a stand-alone product. So many of us will buy it. We could make you a fortune. There is nothing comparable out there – honest. The Google+ is a joke – it’s no better than any free app that you get when you buy a camera.
Please heed the pleas from the users – your customers- and make us a stand alone programme rather than just taking it away.
You could make us a programme in your spare time and flog it independently of Google.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. DON’T ABANDON US.
And please reply because your silence is deafening to your users.
Sue
Honestly, there is no good answer.
I completely understand how deafening the silencing has been, especially from Picnik. We’ve always been open and clear in our communication with our users and hearing nothing but silence from us is confounding. It feels wrong to me as well.
Believe me when I say I recognize that Google+ isn’t going to fulfill the needs of most Picnik users. In the meantime hopefully someone will step up and fill the gap Picnik is leaving in the marketplace. You’re right the opportunity is there and it’s huge. For now, what remains of the Picnik team will keep working on Google+ Photos. I realize it’s not a great answer, hell it’s not even a good answer, but it’s the only answer I have.
Thanks for your support. I’m sorry Sue.
(My words are my own, not Google’s, Blah, blah, blah, blah.)