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Double Critique Week!

Well, after an unintentional week off, I’m back up and running for the Creative Business Challenge. :) Last week we talked about product photos and descriptions. I wanted to talk about the two of them together, because in a sense they are doing something similar – providing information about your product in a way that appeals to your target market. However, it is just a lot to cover in one post, so we’re still on that topic for this week, looking more at practical ways to put it into action by doing two shop critiques.

If you missed last week’s post, you might want to go back and check it out, here. It covers a lot of the general concepts of product photography and descriptions that we’ll be talking about putting into practice in this post. And while the tips today are directed at two shops in particular, my hope is that it will be helpful and applicable for others as well. One is a handmade shop, and one is a vintage shop, so it should cover a variety of topics.

Well, let’s jump in!

The first shop we’re going to look at is Julia’s Fit, run by mother/daughter duo Julietta and Mariya. Here is the question they asked:

One or two particular areas I would like to learn how to improve in my biz are: Photos and stories. Photos are our number one weakness. Since we both have full-time jobs, we try to experiment on weekends, but that’s not barely enough time. Goal #1 is to improve our photography by far.
Stories are another things that we need to work on. Every item has a story that needs to be told. We are looking to find an approach that works for us and doesn’t make us feel like we’re “bragging” when we describe our items. We think that by improving these two sides of the business, advertising won’t be that much of a problem than it is now.

Great questions! Let’s take a look at their shop…

First, some things they are doing well…

– Photography lighting: I know you said you only have the weekends to work on photos, but it looks to me like you’ve got the lighting part of it figured out really well! Your photos are bright, clear and well-lit without getting any glare or reflection. This is an interesting photography critique, because as far as the technical side of getting a nice photo (things like lighting, crispness, focus, white balance, etc.), it looks like you already have a good handle on that. It will be more in the side of styling and such that improvements can be made. But as far as the technical side of taking the photos, you’re doing a great job.

– Profile: It is always good to have your profile page filled out so people can learn more about the artist(s) behind the shop, and they’ve done a nice job of giving info about themselves in a friendly way, yet keeping it succinct.

Things that are good, but could be better…

-Tags and titles: They’re doing a great job of using all 14 tags (all Etsy shop owners should do this! The tags are one of the ways that people find you in the searches, so make sure you’re using all 14 slots for tags). However, both the tags and the titles could be used even more effectively. Etsy now allows phrases in your tags, so use that to your benefit. Instead of just “blue” you can put “navy blue” or “blue pillow” or, even better, “navy blue pillow”. Just make sure the words actually do flow in an accurate phrase (like “navy blue pillow”) as opposed to just a list of words that don’t make a related phrase (like “pillow cushion soft”). Right now though, most of your tags look like they are just one word. If someone searches “blue pillow”, listings with “blue pillow” with respond better than if they are only tagged separately with “blue” and “pillow”. So think of phrases that people might search for your items, and be sure to include them in your tags and titles.

Things that can be improved….

-Shop cohesion: I think it would be good for you to do some brainstorming about your target market. What is your shop about, and what type of person shops there? I see you have home decor pillows, and that you mentioned in your profile that also do duvet covers and such, but then there are also head bands and bows. And among the pillows there are some pillows that would be at home in a trendy urban apartment, where as some would be more at home in a cute setting with kids, while others look more traditional (as shown in the photo below). Now, I am by no means saying that variety is a bad thing! I’d just recommend deciding what direction to go, and choosing variety within that direction. If you want to keep the hair bows and more fun kid type pillows, you could find a way to tie that together. Or, if you want to be a home decor shop, you could find a way to tie together different styles of pillows. But at the moment I think it is hard for a visitor to know whether your shop is the place for them – whether they are shopping in a upscale home decor shop, or a cute and fun family shop, etc. Neither is necessarily better than the other (although the price you need to get for your items may affect the decision), it’s more just an issue of cohesion so that when your target market comes into your shop, they say “Oh, yes, this is the place I would want to buy ____.”

– Photography styling: Once you have a sense for which direction you want to go, choose one or maybe two ways that look good with that style, and use that same setting to photograph all your products to keep cohesion. Personally, I think you have a GREAT thing going with this setting:

I think this setting is excellent because the white sheets and white window in the background are just enough to give the pillow a current and homey atmosphere – but without distracting from the pillow itself. I would reshoot all your pillows in this setting, but I would personally recommend the following changes:
– remove the watermark. It distracts, and with this type of item, the chances of someone stealing your photo and passing it off as their own is fairly slim. Or, if you’re just not comfortable without a watermark, I’d move it somewhere much less obvious. Besides distracting a customer in the photos, having a watermark can make it harder to get on the front page, on blogs, etc., etc.
– the way you are currently cropping the photo in thumbnail view to where it is just a corner of the pillow can make it hard to tell what the photo is of … I would recommend showing at least 3 if not all 4 sides of the pillow instead of just 2 so that it is clear what it is when people see the photo in their search results.
– maybe play around with photographing the pillows at an angle in addition to straight on?

– Descriptions: I know you mentioned that this is a troublesome spot for you. Let’s look at the description for these pillows:

Here’s a pair of pillow covers in a very popular chevron print. Designer is Premier Prints. This is lovely color scheme of brown and light blue aqua. Very versatile print, would go great with any type of home decor or space. Invisible Zipper is located on the bottom, and blends in with the aqua stripes perfectly. The fabric is a 100% thick cotton. Size about 17” by 17”. Inserts not included.

Thanks and Happy shopping!
********************************
P.S.: International buyers, please be advised that all customs fees are completely out of my control. Check with your local post office for details on customs fees in your area.

I think the first paragraph of the description would be alright if this was a catalog or mass produced item. You cover a lot of the basics – size, color, whether the insert is included, etc. However, this is a handmade item by you. Think about the question, “Why should someone buy a handmade pillow cover from me instead of a pillow cover from a big store?” The description needs to reflect the answer to that. And I think that you might have an easier time explaining that once you’ve figured out the direction for your shop. Those of us who sell on Etsy basically have specialty shops. If you have a good field of your specialty and who it is that would be interested in it, I think it becomes easier to tell your “story”. Just to illustrate, I’m going to imagine I’m you, that I made these pillows, and that I’m going to have the shop specialize in the modern styles of pillow…

After a busy day in the city, it is so nice to curl up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee and a cozy pillow. I made this set of modern brown and aqua chevron pillow covers to keep your apartment both cozy and stylish. Slip them onto pillow inserts and toss on the couch for an instant lift to the room. Lovingly handmade of thick 100% cotton with a hidden zipper, it will hold up well to the tumultuous life of a throw pillow (squeezes, cuddles, pillow fights, and being cried on during chick flicks).

Not that this is necessarily what you would have in your description, but I just wanted to demonstrate that having a particular feeling to your shop and a certain demographic in mind can make description writing a lot easier.

After an opening paragraph to give some personality, I would recommend bullet point lists of details so that people can easily find more info. I gave an outline last week for a user friendly way to write descriptions that you might find helpful. Also think about what details should be included. I see you have that section about international customs at the end, and I think it comes across as a little intimidating. It is certainly all true, but I’d recommend making it a little friendlier. Instead of saying it is out of your control, just state that it is their responsibility. Some other questions that customers will be wondering that should be answered in the description – how long after purchasing the item will it be shipped? it is machine washable? how will it be packaged? etc.

So here is an imaginary example of what the whole thing might look like, based on the outline from last week…

After a busy day in the city, it is so nice to curl up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee and a cozy pillow. I made this set of modern brown and aqua chevron pillow covers to keep your apartment both cozy and stylish. Slip them onto pillow inserts and toss on the couch for an instant lift to the room. Lovingly handmade of thick 100% cotton with a hidden zipper, it will hold up well to the tumultuous life of a throw pillow (squeezes, cuddles, pillow fights, and being cried on during chick flicks).

— Details —
These handmade pillow covers:
∙ measure 17 x 17 inches.
∙ are made with Premier Prints fabric.
∙ are 100% cotton.
∙ are machine washable.
∙ do not come with pillow inserts.
∙ open with an invisible zipper.

— Shipping —
This item ships within 3 business days of payment, and is carefully packaged in a poly sleeve.
International buyers are responsible for any customs fees that may apply in their own countries.

— Want more? —
Interested in something a little different?
Browse my shop for additional modern styles of home decor: http://www.etsy.com/shop/juliasfit
Or click the contact link below if you are interested in a custom order!

I love your pillows (especially that bird one – SO cute!) and I think once you hone in on your target market and if you approach descriptions more from the point of view of getting the reader to imagine using and recognizing the quality of the pillow, rather than feeling like you have to say “this is amazing!”, that might help about feeling like “bragging”.

Well, I hope that these tips have been helpful! Let’s go on to shop number two …

Shop number two for a critique is The Little Red Owl, which is a vintage shop run by Amy. Here were her questions…

one or two particular areas i would like to learn how to improve in my biz are: i have just opened my shop recently and i would love to learn how to better reach my target audience and how to properly price my items. i am also new to facebook (i have a page for my business only) and i would love to get a better handle on that as well. thx! love the blog!

Alright! Let’s take a look at her shop…

First let’s take a look at some things she is doing well…

– Number of listings: Having about 2 pages of items is a great number to start out a shop with – its enough listings to have an established looking shop, and have a fair amount of variety for shoppers to look through. As you find what types of items sell well and such, then, you can continue to build. But you’re at a great number of listings for such a new shop!

– Variety of price points: It is tremendously helpful to have items at a variety of price points in your shop. Big ticket items, like the chairs below, don’t move too fast but the whole time they are in your shop they tend to bring in more traffic. But then you also have smaller ticket items that can have a quicker turnover with that traffic. Personally, your prices look very appropriate to me, too, as someone who used to sell vintage.

– Banner and avatar: I absolutely love the feeling evoked by your banner and avatar. It gives a great vibe for the style you’re going for right away when people see your shop, and having a picture of yourself in your avatar is a big plus, because people love to see the owner behind the shop, so nice job on those!

Things that are good but could be improved:

-Profile: I see you have your profile filled out, which is good, but it seems to be outdated. You mention wanting to open an Etsy shop, and it is now open. You also mention that you want to blog, and give a link – I would recommend perhaps removing that, and then adding in the link and info for your blog once you start doing it. I do see you have your About page filled out nicely, though, which is great!

– Facebook: We’ll be looking more at marketing and such next week – but I did look up your page on Facebook. It’s great that you have a Facebook page, that can be very helpful in marketing! However a few things I noticed that could be improved:
– your cover photo is stretched. I’d recommend creating a new photo that would fit better in the space.
– post on your business page about once a day. More than that, and people will start to “hide” your posts. I’d recommend un-linking it from Twitter and such to keep from overwhelming your followers.
– Keep your posts relevant to your business. Try sitting down and really brainstorming who your target market is, and think about what things are helpful to them. For instance, if you find a blog post that talks about caring for vintage items, that would be a perfect kind of thing to share. Or post pictures of behind the scenes work at your place getting items ready for your shop, etc. But try to keep it relevant – people “like” your page to follow The Little Red Owl, so give them updates that are related to their interest in that.

Things to be worked on:

-Photography Logistics: It looks like you are using indoor lighting and/or flash in your photos. I would highly recommend using diffused natural lighting instead. You could shoot outside in the shade, or inside near a well-lit window. Indoor lights creates unflattering lighting, sometimes distorted colors, and a flash creates glare on the items. Also, make sure your photos are fully in focus and non-blurry, that you can see the whole item in the first photo (especially for unique vintage items where people might not be able to guess what it is from a close-up), that it is not washed out, and that the white balance is properly adjusted.

-Photography setting: When you have a shop with a lot of variety, as vintage shop tend to do, it can be difficult to keep a cohesive shop. A cohesive shop is very valuable in appealing to a certain target market. I get the impression that your target market has an appreciation for quirky meets classic. I think that having one fairly simple background that has just a little bit of quirk without being distracting, and shooting every item in that same place, and at the same angle would be helpful to make your shop recognizable, branded, and cohesive. I kind of like the photo with the white background, but kind of teal colored base for the item to sit on … especially if you were to shoot the photo head on rather than at a downward angle so that the color was more below than behind the item. You could maybe even get away with using some of the red pattern you are currently using in some of your photos, but use it as a base instead of a background, so that the color or pattern is just below rather than behind the item. Enough to make it quirky and unique, but not enough to distract. Here is the photo I am talking about:

Play around with different backgrounds, and find something that you can use pretty much across the board (at least on all the small items, and then maybe one different but similar setting for all the larger items/clothing), and shoot all the items in that same setting. White is good, but if you use a sheet, make sure it is not wrinkled, as that can be distracting and also looks unprofessional.

I definitely love your vintage finds! I think I am someone in your target market. :)

I hope these tips have been helpful both for the shop owners above, as well as other Etsy shop owners!
If you have any thoughts or comments, please leave them below!

Photos & Descriptions: Your product in its best light

Well, we are on to week 4 in the Creative Biz challenge! This week we are going to be looking at a couple of topics that came up a LOT in the post where you all posted your creative biz questions: photography and descriptions. A few things have to be in place before really honing those two, though – you have to have a great product, know who your target market is, and be pricing to actually make a profit. Those points are what we have talked about in previous weeks, so now we’re moving on to product photos and product descriptions.

In both of these two topics remember this: you’re trying to use this medium to convey the essence of your brand in a way that is effective to your target market.

First off, let’s jump into photography. Here are 7 tips (and if you followed my blog design series, you’ll recognize a certain amount of overlap)

1: Excellent lighting makes more of a difference than an excellent camera
Your product photography isn’t going to be printed and hung on walls as art. Its primary purpose will be fulfilled in a relatively small online image. You don’t need a fancy camera with a huge number of megapixels. I took my product photos with an old point and click for a long time. Excellent lighting, though, makes a HUGE difference. Avoid using a flash at all costs. Use natural light – but not direct sunlight. Great places to find diffused natural light are near a window, or outside in the shade.

2: The garnish should not be larger than the food
Props/backgrounds/settings can really set the stage for your photos. But just like a beautiful plate of food, the garnish can help make it more appealing but shouldn’t overwhelm or distract from the main dish. Remember, props and backgrounds should be enhancing the visual appeal of your product, not distracting away from your product.

3: White space is your friend
This doesn’t mean you necessarily have to have a completely white background, but leaving some white or simple areas for the eye to “rest” can help your items really pop – as opposed to everywhere being busy or cluttered. You can also get the same effect by having the product in focus, and the background out of focus.

4: Do your own thing
Your shop photography is an excellent opportunity to convey your own signature branding and shop aesthetic. Don’t just base your photos on someone else’s photos; think about how you can portray your own unique style in your photos. This doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel, though. For instance, there are plenty of shops modelling vintage clothing against a white background, and you can do that too .. but if your model is always wearing a bowler hat, that’s going to be unique and identifiable.

5: Limit your photography choices
It’s a good idea to not have a completely different background/style/setting in each and every setting. For instance, if you’re selling earrings, if one photo is of them hanging on a tea cup, one photo on a chalkboard background, one photo on red fabric, one photo on a model, one photo on sand, one photo on wood, etc., etc. – it’s going to be distracting and make your shop less cohesive. Not every background has to be the same, of course, but if you limit to just a few that convey the same style and use them repeatedly in your shop, it will help to convey your branding and style. This also really helps to keep cohesion when you have different types of products in your shop.

6: You aren’t trying to appeal to everyone
Focus on appealing to your target market with your photography. If your target market is stay-at-home mothers, don’t worry whether urban hip-hop teens are going to love your product photos. If you target market is 20-something guys who are into geekery, don’t worry if your product photos aren’t appealing to 40-something fashionistas. As a small handmade business your goal is appeal to a niche market, not to appeal to absolutely everyone.

7: Your photography should always reflect your branding statement
I recommend having a “branding statement” – a short phrase the encapsulates the style and message you want to convey through your shop. I made a free printable to help develop a branding statement – it was originally meant for blog branding, but much of it applies to shops as well: www.theflourishingabode.com/2012/07/diy-blog-design.html All aspects of your shop should convey your branding – your listings, your photos, your packaging, etc. I find this is easiest when you can actually state your branding in a single statement.

Now let’s talk a little about descriptions…

Writing descriptions can be a challenge, because there are a few different goals you want to accomplish with a description and they don’t necessarily always want to play nicely together. Such as…
– appealing to your target market
– including all the necessary details to compensate for the fact the viewer can’t examine it in person
– using keywords to boost your SEO
– conveying the unique value of your product
– communicating that you have other related items if this one if not quite what the viewer is wanting
– being succinct and easy to read

Online attention span is generally fairly short. Because there is so much information to convey in your description, I used to write reeeeeeeally long wordy paragraphs in mine. But when someone scrolled down from the photo to find huge chunks of text, it actually had the opposite effect of what I was wanting: if it felt like too much to read, the easiest response was to just leave the page.

I have since found the best friend of description writing: bulleted lists.

Of course, there a number of ways you can do an effective product description, but here’s a general outline that I use on my listings (such as the one below) and I hope you will find helpful:

For some more tips on writing item descriptions, you can check out this helpful article on Etsy’s Seller Handbook Blog.

The critique this week is for Elizabeth Hong, owner of Hyperbole Hong. Here is what she posted in the critique request thread about today’s topic:

How can I make my items (through descriptions, photos, etc.) appealing to more people without losing my personality in the mix, or is sterilization a good thing

Thanks for the question!! Let’s take a look at her shop:

First of all, let’s take a look at some things she is doing well…

– Profile and About page: People like to learn about the person behind a handmade business, and Etsy recently gave a unique opportunity to provide this with the “About” page, where you can put up behind the scenes pictures of your process, information about you as an artist and more. Elizabeth has both her her profile and her about page filled out nicely, with interesting info and photos to give people a look into her creative process.

– Craftmanship: her items are look to be very well made. The embroidery in particular jumps out at me .. I’ve tried embroidery and mine never looks so good! :) Her eye for detail is clear in her work, such as the piece below.

– Secondary photographs: she is doing a great job of giving great visual information in the additional photo spots. Etsy lets you put up a total of 5 photos, so it is in your best interest to use all 5, and let each photo give new information. Since the viewers can’t pick up and turn over the item in their hands, use the photo spots to show them as much about the product visually as possible. For instance, she shows the backs of her embroidery, how she packages her items, and other great info in her additional photos.

Now we’ll move on to some things to improve:

– Finding the common thread: I know she mentioned “appealing to more people”, but really the goal isn’t to appeal to a wider audience, but rather to appeal more strongly to a narrow market. I love the eclectic-ness of her shop – from earrings with bows, to geekery inspired decor, to an embroidery piece based on a dress from Singing in the Rain. However, finding a common thread to the shop would be good, and how it ties together in appealing to her target market. She mentioned sterilization, and that is certainly not what I’m talking about – in fact it is the opposite, because the goal is to appeal just to her target market, not to absolutely everyone. I think it would be good to come up with some kind of phrase as far as what the shop is ABOUT and WHO it is that would be shopping there. For instance, the target market for the more formal looking necklaces is probably quite different to the target market for the Pokemon embroidery. (And side note here for Elizabeth – perhaps you have taken care of licencing and such for trademark names and such that you are using, but I wanted to throw this word of caution in here in case you haven’t … things like “X-box”, “pokemon”, “Nintendo”, etc. need to really be looked into as far as the legal side of things and whether you can use them. I know I get lots of requests for custom pieces in my shop that incorporate modern quotes that I simply can’t use due to copyright issues. So that is just a word of caution for you to be careful about the legal side of things.) But coming up with what the unifying theme of the shop is would be helpful in terms of branding and marketing it most effectively. The branding printable from my blog series might be helpful – it was intentionally designed for branding a blog, but could also be helpful in terms of a shop. You may find that you decide to focus on some items instead of others as a result of your theme.

– Unifying your photography style: Once you’ve established the connecting theme of your shop, I’d recommend choosing one photography style to shoot all the different items. When you do have a variety of items, I think photography is a great way to tie them together. Think about your branding theme, and then I’d recommend choosing one or two backgrounds/settings that reflect that without distracting from the items, and use that to shoot them all. And the photography doesn’t have to be “sterilized” – you can put your personality into it! But I’d just recommend limiting the styles. Currently, I see some items in cups, some items on wood, some items on white, some items on a tree, some items on a jewelry form, etc., etc. Narrowing that down will help your shop feel more cohesive. As far as what background to choose … personally, since your items themselves have so much personality, you don’t want to distract TOO much with a competing background. If you use a white background though, you might think about brightening or touching up the color just a little in an image editing program. Here are a few that I think are successful in having a non competing background, and then I’m also showing the result of just a subtle adjustment in a photo editor:

I think these kinds of backgrounds really allow your items to pop – and ever though there is variety in those three items, they flow better with the similar backgrounds. I especially like that on the last two, we can see the entire item, even in thumbnail.

I think backgrounds you might want to avoid are the really bright/deep colored backgrounds (they are fun, but to the point of overwhelming the item itself especially in the thumbnail size image that people see in search results, and the item itself is what you want people to notice and remember) or the hair clips in cups (props should help reflect something about the item – since they were in cups, it looks like they are some kind of tea cozy or herbal sachet or something, to me, and it wasn’t until I started reading that I realized they were hair clips).

– Descriptions: I really like that you are conveying personality in your descriptions, and I think that is an excellent thing to continue. I especially like that you talk in the first person (“I was inspired to make this when..”), as that helps to drive home that these are handmade goods. A couple pointers, though, that might help you to be able to take your descriptions to the next level:
– Be concise but high impact: Keep words and sentences that pack a punch, put them higher in the description, cut out fluffier parts
– Put details in list form
– Have a description format that you use on all listings.

For instance, on this hair clip:

The description you have …

I love cute and unique hair accessories but it’s always so difficult to find something I can get excited about and something that can actually support some hair. That’s why I created this hair clip! I was in a creative rut when I designed these but I had a goal to come up with a hair accessory I could make for myself that would show off some embroidery but not look completely outrageous (well, maybe not completely), and I finally made this. I loved it so much I have made it in every color I have, so if this color isn’t to your liking please check my other listings.
This is a cute and frivolous hand cut light blue felt heart hand embroidered with matching and contrasting embroidery floss then filled with new poly fiber fill and blanket stitched closed. I then hot glue the slightly puffy heart to a metal hair barrette which is then stitched together for an added level of security.

I only use these metal barrettes because I feel they are the only option out there than can securely hold hair without slipping. If you are interested in a set please contact me.
Each item I make is handmade and because of this each one is slightly unique. This item is ready to ship and I usually ship in two days or less.
My embroidered heart hair ornament is approximately 3” x 2” at its widest part.

Everything I make is hand stitched, hand cut and hand assembled by me from my own sketches.

… could become (and I pretty much used words you already wrote, just rearranged)…..

This is a cute and frivolous hand cut light blue felt heart hand embroidered with matching and contrasting embroidery floss. I love hair accessories but it can be difficult to find something cute and unique that that can actually support some hair. That’s why I created this hair clip! The slightly puffy heart is filled with new poly fiber fill and blanket stitched closed, then both glued and stitched to a metal hair barrette for an added level of security.

More details on this sweet heart:
– it measures approximately 3” x 2” at its widest part.
– I use these metal barrettes for the back because they are so effective at actually holding hair.
– This item is ready to ship and I usually ship in two days or less.
– Everything I make is hand stitched, hand cut and hand assembled by me from my own sketches.

Want something a little different?
I love this style of hair clip so much, I made them in a wide variety of colors. Check out the hair clip section of my shop to see the other options: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hyperbolehong?section_id=10455263

That way it makes it easy for a potential customer to take in all the necessary info at a glance, but still conveys your personality – just condensed to the more powerful parts!

I hope this has been helpful for Elizabeth, and others as well! (By the way, Elizabeth, I am totally digging those earrings with black bows!)

Are photos and descriptions something you struggle with? Leave your thoughts and comments below! :)

The real reason it is nice to have a smart phone..

I’ve never had a smart phone before – and I really wasn’t trying to get one. I kind of figured it would be a long time until I had a smart phone, and that was fine with me. But when we needed to get new Massachusetts phone numbers, we shopped around and it was actually cheaper to get a data plan for the number of lines we needed – and the smart phones were free! Sweet.

And now I get to enjoy the real reason I wanted a smart phone:

Instagram.

I went on a quick trip up to Maine this weekend, and I just loved having Instagram to take pictures along the way. My only camera is my nice DSLR, but honestly, I don’t need every photo I snap to be an 18 megapixel photo. I didn’t have a point and shoot, so I’m definitely enjoying using Instagram for that. Here are some shots from this weekend…

Are you on Instagram? If so, leave your username below so that I can follow you! (My username is: FlourishCafe)

BOSTON!!

Today we arrive in Boston! WooT! Fun stuff – you know, like unloading the moving truck. I can’t wait to start exploring the city! In the meantime, here are some Boston-themed finds from Etsy – links below so you can check them out more fully. I think it is amazing to see where different artisans draw their inspiration from, whether it is a geographical location, or something more abstract, the possibilities are endless. And these all sing “Boston” to me. Don’t you wish you were here? ;)

1. Embroidered Necklace by MerriweatherCouncil 2. Boston Mapcut by StudioKMO
3. Vintage Dunkin’ Donuts Thermos by Tribute212 4. Boston Sky Line by ElizabethThomasPhoto
5. Vintage Boston Map by bananastrudel 6. Lobster Print Linen Napkins by madderroot
7. Jigsaw Puzzle Brooch by ME2Designs 8. Boston Skyline by FrescaPhoto

Have you ever been to Boston? Leave your thoughts and comments below, I love to hear from you!

DIY Blog Design: Making your own graphics!

Ok, so we had a lot of groundwork to set before we got to this point – but at last we’re able to start designing our graphics! WooT! :D

If you’re new to this series, it’s a 10 part event that happens each Friday – so if you haven’t seen the previous posts, I’d recommend you go back and check them out to be able to get the most out of this post.
Part 1: Discover your branding with “The Drawing Board” Printable
Part 2: WordPress vs. Blogger
Part 3: Design Tips + Design Worksheet
Part 4: Themes, Coding and Stylesheets

And now, today, part 5 – we actually get to start making graphics! Several people expressed an interest in learning how I turned my hand drawn illustrations into graphics for my site – so I’ll be explaining that, plus talking about using photography for graphics (which is the medium I am using for the graphics I’m making for Lori’s site) as well as tips that I hope you’ll find helpful for whatever medium you are using. Let’s jump in! :)

Alright – first step, pull out your branding printable from part 1 and review your target readership and branding statement; keep it in mind in every step of designing your graphics. And look back at your design worksheet from part 3 – remind yourself of your design choice limits (like your medium, colors, etc.) as well as the design tips I included on that sheet. Make sure you stay true to your design choices as you start making your graphics.

So, as I’ve mentioned before, my friend Lori from In My Kitchen, In My Life has kindly let me use her blog as the demonstration for doing this redesign and move to WordPress. The branding statement we came up with from her branding printable was “Classic and cultured, done simply and down to earth”. On her design sheet I chose colors, fonts and the medium of photography. I consider these choices to be the “paints” I have filled my design palette with – whenever I need to design something for her site, these will be the “paints” I will use.

Today we’re going to work on designing a header. After the importance of not having a background that overwhelms your content, I would say what you put in the header is probably the single most important graphic on your site. First impressions really do make a big difference – and the header is right at the top. The header is actually the whole area right there at the top of your page … and often people have a banner there, which is what I’m going to be putting on Lori’s site. As I mentioned above, I’m using photography as the medium for her design.

A few pointers to bear in mind while making your banner:
– make sure your blog name is large enough and easy to read
– consider including your tagline on your banner to help people know what your site it about right away, but if it doesn’t work on your banner, it is not a requirement
– don’t forget the previous pointers on the effectual use of white space – sometimes less is more
– make sure the main colors in your banner are colors from your design choices
– ask yourself “does this banner fit my branding statement?”
– look back at your branding printable and look at what you wrote that you wanted to be people’s first reaction to your site — and realize that the banner is probably the first thing they will see and react to on your site

So, the next step is to just start playing around. Admission: I am a graphic designer … but that doesn’t mean the very first draft of a design comes out fabulous. Don’t expect the first try to be perfect. Don’t worry about messing up. Just have fun and play around with your ideas! If your medium is painting, try some different techniques, maybe some that are messier, and some that are neater. If your medium is pen and ink, cover your papers with assorted drawings – you can always just crop out the ones you don’t want! If your medium is photography, like I am doing for Lori’s blog, try a variety of shots – different angles, different distances, different photography subjects. And just to show you kind of how it goes, here are an assortment of photos I took just to try out some different ideas for Lori’s banner.

Some rough draft photos:

I wanted to take a photo of some basil and try that out, but I didn’t have any basil. Here is a tip if photography is your medium – try checking out some public domain photo sites. PLEASE bear in mind that just because a photo is on the internet, that does NOT mean it is public domain – even photos on the internet are protected by copyright and you can be sued for taking copyrighted photos. However, there are some sites where photographers choose to make their photos available in the public domain, which means they are no longer under copyright, and you can use them for both commercial and personal use. Just *make sure* the site states they are in the public domain – assume they are copyrighted unless the site specifically says otherwise. A good example is publicdomainpictures.net where they state that you can use their photos for person and commercial use for free – and I found a photo of some herbs there:

And, as I mentioned, I’ll also be showing how turn your hand-drawn illustrations into graphics … here is a sheet where I was sketching some images for graphics for my site:

So now we have a whole bunch of rough drafts – the sampling above is just a few of the many photos I took for Lori’s site and illustrations I drew for my site.The next step is to take those and enhance them into actual graphics in your image editing software. If you have Photoshop – great! If not … well, neither do I. It’s simply not affordable on my budget. However, there is a program called GIMP that is a completely free download from GIMP.org which I highly recommend. I’ll say up-front, it’s not the easiest program to learn. BUT, really, you don’t need to know how to do everything. I’ll give you a few pointers on some of the features … and even if you never learned anything beyond this, I think you would still find the program tremendously helpful. But chances are once you started using it, you’d learn more as you go.

First off, here is the explanation of how I take my hand-drawn illustrations and turn them into graphics. This assumes you’ve already drawn your art (like my feather you saw I drew, above) and have it in the scanner and the instructions are meant for that – but many of the steps and tools are useful for any type of image editing:

For photography, which is the medium I’m using for Lori’s blog, many of these tools are what I’m using as well. Be sure that in editing brightness/contrast that you click the “edit these settings as levels” button before adjusting anything, especially in photography. You probably won’t want to alter the levels quite as harshly in a photo as you would in a black and white line drawing, either. A couple other helpful tools for editing photography are on the “Color” menu: Color Balance and Hue/Saturation. As long as I’ve taken the photos in shaded natural lighting (for instance, taking a photo inside right by a window), these three (brightness/contrast, color balance, and hue/saturation) are usually all I need. See the difference these few can make? This is a lovely photo Lori had on her blog that I may be incorporating into her design that I touched up with these tools:

Plus, of course in a banner, you’ll use text overlay. Like I mentioned before – play around and have fun with it! Here are a couple banners I made to try out on Lori’s blog:

But in the end, I decided they weren’t quite working. So I started using the herb photo from the public domain site. This is a good example of where cropping can be effective. I really only used a small portion of that photo – and even then, I blurred out a significant portion of it to white so that the words would really pop. In the end, I felt this one best spoke to her blog and branding, and also represented her colors best. Here’s the final result:

Though, of course, that is just a smaller version there – you can see how it looks full size on Lori’s site by clicking here: In My Kitchen, In My Life.

Also, if you’re using WordPress and the theme which I recommended last week, you can click here for simple instructions on the code you need to put in to give your site a banner.

I hope you’ve found these tips and pointers helpful – and that you’ll have fun working on your new graphics!
What medium are you using for your blog graphics? Share your thoughts below, I love to hear from you!

To check out the next posts in this series, you can see them here:
Part 6: 7 Blog Layout Tips to Engage your Reader
Part 7: Blog Page: The Must-haves and the Panache
Part 8: 25 Tips for using WordPress

Adventure Challenge: Week 6! Photography Hunt

Time for week six of the adventure-a-week challenge! This time was a little different because there wasn’t just one set aside time for the adventure, but instead it was spread out over several days. The goal? Find and photograph all the colors of the rainbow in springtime plants for this Spring photography challenge!

Right now is a perfect time around here for this – all the flowers are blooming and the weather is just lovely. I actually had been planning on something different for this week, but when I saw all the colors popping up and blooming, I knew we had to try to find them all. And it was more challenging than I expected! Blue and orange can be a little trickier to find. Part of the time we just kept our eyes open everywhere we went for the colors – and part of the time we went for walks and drives specifically looking for them. And always with a camera on hand! It was a fun hunt! And makes for a great photography subject, of course. Here is our spectrum, and then below it are a a few ideas and photography tips:

If you want to add another dimension to the project here are a few ideas, whether you want to do it on your own, or with kids…

To make this more challenging, you can set limits on where you can find the colors. For instance, you could try to find all of them within a set area, like along one road, or in an urban setting where they might be harder to find. Or, you could set limits in a different way – for instance, you could set botanical gardens off limits, or try to only find flowers that are growing in the wild. Any limits like this can make the project more challenging!

— If you have small children who don’t know their colors yet, this can be a fun way to teach colors! Or, if you’re like me, and your kids are old enough to know their colors, they can have a lot of fun helping you hunt for them.

— Or, this can be a fun project to just take off on your own and get to know your camera better! Some of my shots I was more pleased with then others, so I am still learning, but here are a few photography tips that might help:

Natural light is the best lighting for photography – but direct sunlight is not. Bright and direct sunlight causes harsh shadows and reflective whites. An overcast day can be perfect for getting great shots – or if you’re shooting something small like a flower, try standing so that your shadow falls over the plant. That way there is plenty of natural light, but not direct sunlight on your subject.

— If you have a point and shoot, try using your macro setting – it is usually shown with a flower icon. I use a DSLR camera, but I don’t have a macro lens yet, so my pictures are shot from farther away, and then cropped down to just the flower. Not optimal. It would be better to shoot closer to the subject.

— Whether you shoot an up close shot or you crop it afterwards (or both) try to have most of the final version taken up by the color you’re photographing. That way when you put all the photos together, it will make a more clear “rainbow” of colors.

I hope this inspires you to go outside and enjoy the beauty of spring! To see all the rest of the posts in this adventure a week challenge, you can click here.

And I’ve got an exciting announcement since this adventure challenge is almost over, about what the next challenge will be! I’ll be sharing that on Monday, so be sure to come back for that. :) If you’d like to stay in touch for future posts, be sure to subscribe to my blog!

Post you thoughts in the comments below, I love to hear from you! :)

Adventure Challenge: Week 4! Go Stargazing

This week’s adventure for our adventure-a-week challenge has been one of my favorites so far: stargazing! For one thing, since it wasn’t a weekday adventure, our whole family was able to do this one together. For another thing – I just love stargazing! Generally the night skies are most interesting in the earliest months of the year, and with these warm days right now, it makes for some pretty optimal gazing-at-stars-time. So gather some blankets and my illustrated printable and get ready to go stargazing!

We chose the particular night we did for star gazing because it was peak time for a meteor shower. Of course, that is not necessary for stargazing, but it can certainly add interest. There are a few things to take into account in preparation for a stargazing adventure, with regards to the place and time. You need to choose a place that will have limited light pollution, away from city lights, and with an unobstructed view of the sky. You need a time when the skies will be clear and not overcast, preferably not at a full moon as it will compete with the brightness of the stars, and you might want to consult a calendar of meteor showers. And here are a few things you might want to take with you…

1 – Blankets. Enough to spread out for everyone so can lay back and have a good view of the sky!

2 – My constellation printable. This can make a fun activity to let the kids do, to find some of the constellations. Or, ok, let’s be honest – I like finding them, too! These constellations are seen in the winter/early spring sky.

3 – Flashlight and pen. To see and to check off the constellation list. :)

4 – Snacks! If you’re somewhere where you can have a camp fire, s’mores can be a nice touch to your night outing. So classic, so delicious. :) If you’re like me, though, sometimes its difficult to get a chuck of chocolate to actually melt in your s’mores. So here’s a simple and delicious remedy for that – use Nutella instead! :) If you make a fire, though, you’ll want to douse the fire while you’re actually stargazing so the light won’t interfere with your view.

5 – Something hot to drink. Especially if you go stargazing during the colder months. Hot cocoa, hot tea, hot coffee … something to keep you warm and cozy!

Top s’more – regular Hershey’s bar. Bottom s’more – made with Nutella. Both delicious!

A couple other ideas … if it’s in the months where bugs are a problem, bug spray might be a good idea. And if you have a DSLR camera, shooting stars can be a fun project. I had a fun time taking night sky photographs on our adventure, like this one:

I am just a beginner at star photography, but here is what I have learned so far:

– Set your camera to BULB, which will allow the shutter to stay open as long as you hold down the shutter release. The longer you leave the shutter open, the more stars’ light will be captured.

– You NEED a tripod. I don’t generally use a tripod for my typical photography – if I really need to steady my camera I hold it against something stable, like a table. But to take pictures of the stars you have to have the shutter open so long that even the tiniest shift will mess up the picture. I set my camera on the flat railing of our porch, facing up toward the sky, but even so pretty much all of the pictures are at least somewhat blurry. A tripod would have been a much better route.

– Light pollution make a big difference, especially if you are including anything else in your photos, such as tree tops. The darker area you can be in, the better.

– Star trails are something I would like to capture in a future photograph. If you point your camera at the north star, which doesn’t “move” much in the night sky, the stars will appear to circle around it in your photo, as the earth spins. For this, though, you will have to have the shutter open for much longer, obviously, and considering my photos very often blurry after only a minute or two being open since I didn’t have a tripod, I knew there was no point to trying close to an hour. So, again, a tripod is needed.

– Experiment! Play around with your settings, different exposure times, and so forth. It’s the best way to learn and stumble across taking some great photographs. :)

We had a wonderful time laying under the beautiful night sky, and we couldn’t help but be amazed by its glories and what it spoke of the Creator.

We talked, we found constellations, ate s’mores, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Little one especially liked finding the constellations.

I spotted a couple meteors, but not many. Apparently there’s going to be a more major meteor shower on April 21st, so maybe we’ll have to go stargazing again. :)

Here is the printable I made – I hope you’ll enjoy it! These are constellations from the winter/early spring sky, along with some facts about each one. This is not a map of the sky, though; in other words, I didn’t draw the constellations in relation to each other, so their relative position/size on the sheet isn’t relevant … you’ll have to do some hunting in the night sky to find them. :) Just click the image below to go to get the PDF printable file:

Enjoy! :) (Psst … if you’re new here, you can check out our previous adventure-a-week challenge posts. And if you want to keep in touch for future adventures + more, just enter you email address near the top of the sidebar to get a handy email when I put up a new post! :)

Do you like to go stargazing?
I absolutely love getting comments, so leave your thoughts below! :)