Studio Musings

Friday, May 18, 2012

Decisions, Decisions - What do you think?

Two days ago I discovered that the August issue of Beadwork magazine will include a 'Meet the Teachers' section for people teaching at either Beadfest Philadelphia or Texas.  Since I will be teaching at the later, I'm thinking of taking advantage of the offer and posting my own ad in the section, but everything's due today. 

The ad size is 2.25" x 1", and I'm trying to figure out which of the images below works best.  I'm hoping to use one of my Lacework bracelet designs as that's one of the two classes I'm teaching, and it also is more aligned with my freeform beading.  I'm a little worried that my beaded bead is less indictative of my normal style.

But before I sent everything off, I thought I'd see if I could get a few second opinions here.  What do you think?  Which image do you like best?  Second best?  Why?  Any thoughts on text?



They'll do the actual layout, but I put this sample together in Photoshop so that I could get an idea what the finished product might look like. 


One more potential point of interest - I just found this in my inbox (literally).  I wonder if it would help with consistency if my add featured the same bracelet as in their advertising. 


Thanks for your help!!!!!!

10 comments:

  1. Hi Karen,
    I was going to tell you that I liked image 1 and 5, but now that I read about the advertisment I think you should go with the image in the add.
    Therese

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  2. Wow! Thanks for the quick reply!

    Another question - in photo#1, can you tell that it's a bracelet? And does this matter?

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  3. Hi Karen!
    We are visual creatures and I think you should go with the same bracelet they already used. Consistency will help, I think. Plus it is a pretty bracelet :-) I like the text that reads "Freeform Beading. Patterns, Kits, Tutorials" with your contact info. Direct and uncluttered.

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  4. My faves: Bottom left or top middle. I think those show the open beadwork best.

    The top left photo is nice but because the beadwork is laying flat you do not get the full lacework effect. I love the beaded bead, bottom middle, but it is not the lacework cuff which I think you want to feature. Same with the bottom right free form peyote. The top right is pretty but I think the lighter shades of the beads make the beadwork itself harder to distinguish. (Or maybe that is just my old eyes.)

    My two cents.

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  5. I think you should go with the bracelet in the ad, Karen. It identifies you with the class you'll be teaching, and as you said, it's more in line with freeform. Just thought I'd add my thoughts.

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  6. My first instinct was the bottom right photo, since its colors would pop off the page and be noticed, but now that you know what the class ad looks like, I'd definitely go with the same photo as in the ad. As for copy, I agree with Christine, although if you could put a reference in about lacework too, you capitalize on the familiarity folks will have on the term from the ad for your class. Maybe "Freeform and Lacework Beading. Patterns, Kits, Tutorials"?

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  7. Thank you all so much! Your input has been a tremendous help!

    They just pinged me asking for my ad copy (they gave me an extension since I didn't even know about this opportunity until Wednesday). I decided to go with the top middle image as best representative of both the classes I'll be teaching and my personal style and I think it looks pretty good even in a 1x1" format.

    Yikes this has been difficult - but you all made it a lot easier. And the magazine is supposed to be out sometime in June! :)

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  8. Well, I'm sorry I just now saw your post. I'm glad you got some good feedback. I love the image you chose, and I think it is similar enough to the class image (at least to my poor eyes on the computer) that your style is easily recognized. So thrilled for you girl!!!!

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  9. That was the one I would have picked for you too. (I read your last response) Too bad you wont be in philly I might get to go there.

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  10. I'm glad you chose the bracelet. I hope I can make it to BeadFest Texas to say hello.

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