WPMU DEV now has DEV-related comics and cartoons that are free to use on your websites and social media. Plus, regular caption contests are coming soon (with great prizes, FYI).
Introducing The DEV Pixels: A fully dedicated comic section for WordPress developers, designers, and tech-geeks in general. In a nutshell — comics made for you! And also designed to help your agency or freelance business (more on that later in this article).
Along with our award-winning plugins, hosting, The Hub, and other goodies that we offer, we figured that we might as well throw some comics in the mix, too. And, like a lot of our plugins, we allow them to be used on your WordPress sites (or social media, apps, etc…) for free!
Comics will be regularly updated on our site, emails, and social media.
So, do you want a peek at what we have in store?
There’ll be gems like this…
…familiar characters such as this…
…and some nutty ones.
Some will make you burst out laughing like an emoticon; others will make you cringe like you do when encountering a console error. At the end of your long working remotely day, we’ll be sure to have some that you’ll enjoy.
A Quick Look Around
The DEV’s Pixels is still in development, but here’s a glance at what we have so far and what you can do with the comics. You’ll also see how they can be beneficial for you, beyond just a laugh.
Access the Comics
Quickly access The DEV’s Pixels from wpmudev.com’s homepage. What’s nice is you don’t even need to be logged in to view! This makes it especially easy to access when on your mobile or when you have no reason to log in.
The DEV’s Pixels is located towards the bottom of our Resources area.
This takes you to The Dev’s Pixels Homepage. Here, the latest comics will be featured on top and updated regularly.
The homepage features thumbnails of each cartoon, the tag(s) of each comic, an option to download, opt-in for a subscription to The Dev’s Pixels, and a link for each one to share. However, for a better look at each one, you’ll want to…
View Individual Comics
Thumbnails are nice, but to check out each comic up close and personal, click on the comic thumbnail that you’d like to check out.
This will enlarge it, giving you a better view.
Is this one…bad?
Download or Share Comics (and how you can capitalize on them)
As I touched on, you can download or share any comic you see! It’s entirely free and they’re all up for grabs. All we ask is that you link back to WPMU DEV when doing so (e.g. source: wpmudev.com).
Sharing these comics on your website, social media, emails, ebooks, and newsletters provides added engagement and enjoyment for your users! Content that includes cartoons gets a lot of attention.
As stated by Bob Mankoff, former cartoon editor of The New Yorker:
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, a cartoon is worth 500,000.
“Cartoons are funny that way — no other art form can communicate an idea quicker or more effectively. Humor disarms, connects, and then communicates in a fraction of a second. In a world where every eye is bombarded daily by thousands of messages, cartoons command attention and convey your message instantly.”
To use the comics, you’ll see the option to Share or Download below the thumbnails.
Clicking the download button will immediately download the comic to your computer. If you tap share, it will link you to the particular comic you want to share.
Additionally, you can access the download button or link from the enlarged comic.
They’re free, easy to use, and can benefit your site more than you can imagine with email opens, shares, likes, and engagement! Consider them yours.
Search Comics
There are two ways to search for comics: Tags and the Search Bar.
Searching comics can be done from our Search Bar at the top of the homepage. From here, type a category of interest, and all results will appear.
Type any category that you’d like to search.
Tags are located below each comic’s URL. They’re also below each thumbnail on the homepage.
If you like that category, click on the Tag, and it will bring up all the other comics tagged under that category.
Can’t find what you want? Please keep checking back as we update regularly, or shoot us a request! We will actively produce comics that are in demand.
Engage
We have several ways of engaging with the comics. One will be our Caption Contest (which I’ll get to discussing next), and another way is to leave your comments!
Each comic has a comment area, so you can let us know what you think, provide feedback, add a funny gag — anything!
Plus, you’ll find these on our social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter), where you can engage, share, and like them as you wish.
Caption This! The DEV Pixel’s Caption Contests
Along with the regular comics, soon you can join in on the fun! We’re going to be having Caption Contests, where your participation will earn you Hero Points and a shot at victory by having the best, funniest caption.
Oh, and we’ll be dishing out some amazing prizes (free hosting, anyone?).
Your caption goes here!
To get an idea of what a caption contest looks like, check out The New Yorker’s or CartoonStock. Ours will be similar, just a bit techier.
It’s coming soon, so get those creative juices flowing.
Subscribe!
Be sure to never miss a comic and Subscribe! When on the main page or below each individual comic, you’ll see an area where you can signup to get The Dev’s Pixels delivered right to your inbox.
It’s free, and you’ll never miss a comic.
Who the Heck Are We?
There are other WordPress/Dev comics, but we hope to bring WordPress comics more into the mainstream. After all, with WordPress being so prominent, there’s no reason why humor revolved around it shouldn’t be either, right?
That being said, we feel eligible to step up to the challenge of creating the best WordPress comedy around.
All the comics are created in-house, specifically for WPMU DEV. They’re currently produced by syndicated cartoonist Nate Fakes (hey, that’s me) and illustrator Natasha Borg.
Nate has produced comics for MAD Magazine, Red Bull, 21st Century Fox, and numerous other companies and publications. Plus, he has a syndicated series, Break of Day, that’s been published in print and online for over a decade.
Natasha just graduated from University and has worked as our WPMU DEV illustrator for close to two years now. She’s responsible for the most excellent banners, graphics, and illustrations found throughout the WPMU DEV blog and social media.
Plus, we have a talented team of writers and developers behind the scenes to help clue us in on what’s funny and contribute (when they’re not slacking on Slack).
We Hope You’re Drawn to The DEV’s Pixels!
The DEV’s Pixels is an exciting new feature that we know you’ll enjoy. We also hope you take advantage of sharing the comics wherever you feel fit, even if that includes printing one out and hanging it on your MacBook.
As you can see, along with just enjoying them for fun — they can be valuable for your business! Hopefully, you’ll see for yourself the attention-grabbing superpowers of comics.
Be sure to check out The DEV’s Pixels homepage here and subscribe! And we’ll be announcing the caption contests soon. Get in the loop by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Stay tooned for more!
