Graphic ponderings

I spent today making ads for the widgets.

Ad making is a weird thing. I have no training in graphic design and no background in marketing. But from experience both as a consumer and as a person who used to watch people debate the merits of assorted publications and ad copy, a few basic things should apply:

1. It should be clear - who and what's being advertised, where to get it, etc. If a person seeing an ad can't easily answer "who, what, where", then something is likely wrong. 
2. It should be clean - clutter obscures the information, and the key to an ad is getting across a specific bit of information to entice people into clicking through to the shop. This means text should be as succinct as possible and images shouldn't obscure what there is of text.  And images should be clearly comprehensible when it's tiny because dude, I'm not getting any younger and my screen resolution is set pretty fine.  Folded into this is the fact that the text should be proof read and free of errors, and the images should be free of random artifacts and obvious cut and paste markers. 
3. It should be attractive for the target audience - which is to say if you're advertising to people who are interested in fake blood and gore, then fake blood and gore is the way to go. I'm not, so no big, splashy zombie parties in my ads.  I'm selling yarn and stitch markers, so my ads figure yarn or stitch markers, and I try to go for pictures that will tantalize.
4. It should make sense - And by this I mean all aspects of it. There's got to be some sort of internal cohesion, and random things just popping up don't "make sense". 

These are the basics, and it's almost all based on aesthetics which are totally subjective.  I was making ads for Ravelry, so I'm really familiar with my competition's ads.  Tonight, I realized I got bit with the minimalist bug.  To whit, this is what I ended up with for the dalmatian jasper ad:
   ETA: 
 (eta: the spacing was bothering me, and the smallness of the foregrounded widget.)

Now, it's kind of chilly in color which is potentially off putting, but I decided to keep it because it's a counterpoint to the warmth of the tiger eye ad. But look at all that white space!  I think I could have tweaked the spacing of the words a little bit more to make the white space a little more emphatic, but I'm happy enough with it as it is.

Widget removable stitch markers

I introduced Widget stitch markers to the shop last night.  I'm really happy with this design. Been pondering it for a couple weeks, and then spent days working on the actual final result.  Since these are removable markers, they're suitable for both knitting and crocheting.


Dalmatian Jasper and non-tarnishing Nickel (large) and Tiger's Eye and non-tarnishing Brass (small); click on the image to go to the listing.

I love split stitch markers. I use them for all sorts of things other than marking my place, and they make great tiny stitch holders.  I really like dual functionality too, so these fit over the needle and can serve as a regular stitch marker as well.

New beginnings

Wow, it's really empty in here. *listens to the echo*

Right, I plan to have a fantastic blog full of fibery goodness, knitting thoughts, some give-aways and contests, and bits of this and that from my day to day nuttiness. Just not quite yet.

I plan to have this up and going by June 1, 2010.  It's a bit of a soft launch in that I might post things before then, but that's when I'm really planning on everything being properly ready to go with an inaugural contest.

I hope you'll come back and visit!