Sell the object, tell the truth.
A collectible note is a piece of art. Its story lives in the image, material and care of making. Edition numbers describe the proposed run; they do not promise scarcity, resale value or returns.
NOUNS MONEY WORKSHOP / 02 — PRODUCTION
Good art.
A considered edition.
Paper, people, a place on the shelf.
Turn one collectible art-note into a small production plan you can actually understand.
THE PRODUCTION DESKSTUDY Nº 001
UNTITLED POSSIBILITIES / ONE EDITION AT A TIME
ORIGINAL NOUNS ART · CC0COLLECTIBLE ART / SPECIMEN
THE SAMPLE EDITION
Garden study
Warm uncoated · Numbered by hand · Glassine + story card
Warm uncoatedForest & vermilionHand-finished study
Garden specimen / local seed
An original composition around authentic Nouns pixels. Import a shared Workshop JSON design to plan its production here. The engraving is a visual treatment; this sample does not specify an engraving print process.
START WITH THE THING
Make it worth keeping.
Give the note a tactile identity, then put a cost beside each choice.
A
B
PrintingTwo-colour studyA visual brief for your printer.
C
D
Every amount is an editable example, not a printer quote. Changing a material description keeps your cost assumption.
SMALL IS A REAL STRATEGY
Choose a useful scale.
Keep a proof. Keep an archive copy. Decide how much work the edition should be.
ONE-TIME WORK / USD
MAKE THE ASSUMPTIONS VISIBLE
A price with a reason.
Explore a studio shelf, a shop counter, or a gallery. These are distribution concepts, not active offers.
Set the channel deduction below; choosing a context keeps your rate.
Whole copies, rounded down. No sales have taken place.Planned retail revenue—
Channel deductions—
Net receipts—
Entire edition cost—
Modeled surplus / loss—
CASH BREAK-EVEN—
FROM SCENARIO TO SPECIFICATION
The last careful mile.
Use this as a working checklist. Checking an item records your note here; it does not verify production or publish anything.
0 of 5 marked in this study.
A local working file, with assumptions, calculations and any imported Workshop design. Collectible art only; no currency, redemption or financial claim. Nothing is ordered or sold here.
Save study keeps one version in this browser only. Clearing browser data removes it.
EDITION OUTLAY—All production paid upfront
COST / AVAILABLE COPY—After proofs + archive
MODELED EDITION MARGIN—Surplus ÷ net receipts
SAME OBJECT. THREE SCALES.
The shape of a small run.
Same unit rates, fixed work and channel assumptions. No volume discount is invented.
Assumes the entire run is funded upfront. Taxes, shipping, equipment, storage and unentered overhead are excluded. Add them to your cost assumptions before making a real production decision.
THE BUSINESS OF A SMALL OBJECT
A collection begins
with a clear promise.
One beautiful object. A legible story. A production plan sized to the people who might care.
A shelf is part of the design.
A studio collection can explain the process. A retail counter needs a clear card and protective packaging. A gallery can add context, with its share visible in the model. Choose the setting before finalising the economics.
Recover the run, then learn.
A lower unit cost can hide a larger commitment. Compare total outlay, available copies and the sales needed to recover the full run. Keep the first edition small enough to improve after handling a real proof.
How the model works +
All amounts are illustrative USD assumptions. Fixed work is setup + physical proof + studio labour. Variable cost is printed copies × (paper + printing + finishing + packaging). Contingency applies to their sum. Proofs and archive copies come out of the run and cannot exceed it.
Available copies = printed − retained. Planned sales = floor(available × sell-through). Channel deductions round to the nearest cent for each sold copy. Net receipts = planned sales × (price − deduction per sale). Surplus = net receipts − the entire edition cost. Edition margin = surplus ÷ net receipts; it is undefined when net receipts are zero.
Cash break-even = ceiling(entire edition cost ÷ net receipt per sale). This is recovery of an upfront edition, so unsold and retained copies are already paid for. A zero print run still includes any fixed costs entered. Zero edition cost needs zero sales to recover; positive cost with zero net receipt cannot be recovered. A recovery count above available copies is outside the run.
Material and channel labels describe a concept. They do not automatically replace your rate assumptions. The projection has no volume discounts, actual printer quotes, customer data, orders or payment flow.
Original artwork & provenance +
The frog uses original Nouns geometry from the official Nouns monorepo snapshot. Nouns artwork is CC0 / public domain. The surrounding note design is a new composition. No official affiliation is implied.
Default Garden study seed: background 0 / body 14 / accessory 70 / head 89 / glasses 15. This is a reproducible trait combination, not a minted Noun ID or proof of ownership. Portrait manifest · Source record · Upstream code licence.
The note is a screen specimen. Arrange bleed, colour separations, stock, trim and a physical proof with your printer before production. The SVG preserves the canonical portrait rectangles.