A few days ago, I launched Picalica, “a marketplace for selling Arabic designs and artworks.” As I mentioned before, the idea isn’t new, but my focus was on the quality of Arabic content and how it’s utilized to serve both designers and users. In this post, I won’t be talking about Picalica, its content, or anything of that sort. Instead, this post will have a personal tone, and I’ll take you on a three-year journey about
Picalica Three Years Ago
Picalica real age is three years. Back then, I named it istockds, and here’s a picture of the site’s design from that time. I designed and developed the site on WordPress by myself, then abandoned it after a while. I was just waiting for the right opportunity to revive it, aiming to execute it as correctly as possible without “wasting the idea” or launching it just because I had thought of it.
Picalica Two Years Ago
In one of our sessions, Mohammad and I discussed the previous project, Design Deal, and the possibility of applying the idea and making a preliminary plan for it. I mentioned istockds and the idea of bringing it back with more professionalism and seriousness. That’s when the name Picalica was born, specifically on May 15, 2012, when I registered the domain name.
After that, Picalica remained confined to papers and drafts until I decided to start planning it again with a simpler approach than before and then began working on it seriously. I started by drawing the basic outlines and ideas, but then, as usual, I got busy with projects for some clients over several consecutive months, during which I postponed it multiple times. Whenever I got close to executing it, I would stop for some reason. A general note on this point: “postponing the execution of a project or releasing it in its best form” is simply the main curse of Arab projects. Ideas die over time, and the passion for executing them fades. So if you have an idea for a project, try to execute it as quickly as possible, bring it to life, and then work on and develop it.
Picalica Seven Months Ago
In our society and the Arab world around us, we face an important problem with freelancers “designers and developers,” which is the lack of commitment or taking agreements and work seriously. You agree with the person completely, then they suddenly disappear from your life, only to return with a flood of excuses and justifications “studies, illness, death, and so on.” So I don’t blame clients sometimes for their behavior with freelancers, as the negative image is the dominant one here. My real problem was finding a developer who is “committed and daring” enough to execute what I ask for, even if it’s the correct or more accurate approach, who can act without constantly consulting me on every step “and make sure those actions are correct,” and then deliver a product that is functional, not just for show.
Then suddenly, I remembered Othman, a person who had previously collaborated with me on a logo for his company. I remembered he was a developer but couldn’t recall his work or its quality exactly. I contacted him, and he expressed his interest and admiration for the work and idea. I then sent him the site’s basic layout, and after a while, I sent the design. We then began working. But honestly, I was worried and hesitant that the work might not turn out as I wanted, but what made me both excited and surprised was that he sent the interface as a simple “HTML” for review and testing just one day after I sent the design.
Imagine sending a developer a design for a site interface and discussing whether they plan to use Bootstrap, for example, and then having them come back with a nearly complete interface ready for testing! This action had implications beyond just testing the quality; it showed that the person was interested, committed, and passionate about what they were doing, not just executing to deliver and move on. Yes, that was when I was sure I was on the right track, and thank God for that, and for having you, Othman, the creative one. We then worked for nearly six continuous months until we reached the launch stage.
Launching Picalica
A few days before launching Picalica, I spoke with Abdelmoeim and showed him the site to get his feedback and suggestions. Indeed, there were critical and essential changes that I made to the site based on his suggestions. A single thank you here would never be enough.
I also allowed some designers to test the site, including Ahmed Shadeed. Based on their feedback, many things needed adjustment, and other issues surfaced that I hadn’t anticipated.
After several days of intense focus and pressure, fixing some things here and there “due to the approaching deadline I set for the launch,” and getting lost between what’s urgent and what’s most important, we finished almost all pre-launch adjustments. I wrote a tweet but didn’t post it. I sat there staring at it, reflecting on everything I had been through, then finally clicked it and posted. Othman asked me why I launched the site like that, and I told him with confidence: if I had delayed it by one more minute, it would have turned into days of postponement, and what you see today would have been much later.
Picalica in 15 Days
Even though I work as a freelancer and have encountered many clients—some whose names you’d want to engrave on a wall of gold, and others you wouldn’t even want to think about—I met users in these few days that I never expected to encounter so quickly or in this way. Some tried to hack the site in its first few days, others preferred to mock it and repeat the phrase “failed project,” and then there were others who accused us of fraud or intellectual property violations. Some got upset because their work was rejected or because we didn’t approve the work they submitted, so they started spreading the site’s name here and there with various accusations. And so on.
At the same time, there are people who make you smile just because they share your burden, offer advice and support, and others who stand up for you against the naysayers simply because they believe in the idea or appreciate your efforts.
In the end, I know that what I’ve been through in this very short period is nothing compared to the challenges and problems that other respectable Arab projects have faced, which I can’t even imagine.
But after all this, I look at Picalica with optimism. I read the praise, criticism, and various feedback with a smile—or at least I try to. Whether God allows me to continue with Picalica or not, I know that I am now laying the foundation for new concepts in the Arab world in the field of design and artworks, selling them, dealing with them, or even the general aesthetics associated with them. As such, I and others who work on similar projects will face a lot, but it will undoubtedly one day become accepted norms that no one will question.