Perspective pictures... tick anyone else off??

Originally posted by Orion
...It would be best to headline the ad with BIG BOLD letters "FREE CUSTOM KNIVES"....
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As I said before, the one thing I've learned in over 30 years in the advertising business -- EVERYONE's an expert in advertising.

:D

(Cam, just to clarify: are you saying that your eyes will AUTOMATICALLY stop scanning the rest of the BOLD headline because your brain logs out as soon as you hit the word "retire"? Wow. I guess I shouldn't have retired at 52 - I still have so much to learn!:rolleyes: )

:D :D :D
 
Originally posted by Gollnick
...
One, Two, Three, Four. One, Two, Three, Four. One, Two, Three, Four....

And just as those fly casts are consistent, so the pictures start to become consistent... they become a commodity. One might say "duplicative," or even, "monotonous."

That's why I try to break free of the four-count rhythm every now and then, change with the composition, experiment with the light, try a different angle, anything to add some creativity, some excitiment, something to make the picture different.
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This is the point I was alluding to when I said "breaking the rules" from a position of knowledge and power can give you art and sales.

The good old thinking out of the sphere...

Cockroachfarm:

My fav was a local realtor that took a similar instant advertising coures. He was CONVINCED from the course that the ad REALLY needed to stick out. He ran a 1 col 1 1/2 inch white on black with a photo. We'd talk to hime about changing it every chance we had. He wouldn't. But he'd sure comment on the 2 and 3 col 4 and 5 inch well designed ads. Especially the color ones. ;)

If any of you have never seen one it's a black blob with something that looks like it my be a photo surrounded by white "scribbles."

The gent I was talking about is a designer for the organization. They just sent the "bosses" to a short course tha taught them receipes. Usually if you follow a receipe exactly you get good, edible food. You want something REALLY good, you find the chef that creates the dish and writes the receipes. Kinda like hiring a new college graduate and giving them free reign. I wish I could remember the quote, but it was from a top manager in a Fortune 500 company. He said he loved Harvard grads. They just weren't allowed to make any decisions for their first year...
 
Concerning the picture of the BM balisong above... I showed it to some friends who aren't knife afficianados and they had no idea what it was.
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Ah, the sound of success.

The question, though, is did it spark any interest. Did they say, "what is that?"



Mr. mwelch8404's receipe analogy is perfect. If you go to a Perkins restaraunt anywhere in the country, you'll find that they all serve the same thing. They all cook from the same receipe book handed down from the corporate HQ with ingredients shipped from the corporate wearhouses. This allows them to staff their kitchen with people who are not Chefs; they are technicians at best. They follow the receipe. They arrange the food on the plate just like the picture shows. Etc. And this allows them to deliver an adequate, consistent product at a competitive price.

If you want adequate and consistent, then that's the place you should eat.

But if you go to a better establishment, you should find a chef who, drawing on years of formal training, experience, and his own good taste, has created the receipes himself. Eating here will be a unique experience. It could be uniquely bad or it could be uniquely good, but it will be unique.
 
some artsy fartsy ad guru
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Hey, I resemble that remark...
Reading this thread is like being at work :eek:
Perspective creates drama, drama draws attention.
Attention is a good thing.
Including a mug shot in an ad can work, but it takes away the drama. An ideal situation (read: budget) you'd have the teaser/beauty ad run for a while. Then follow with the nuts and bolts info ad.

Alot also depends on the client's likes and dislikes. And they are paying the bills.

My design philosophy has two main creedos:
1) Everything lines up with something else.
2) Make sure they know it before they read it.
and Rythm
My design philosophy has three main creedos:
1) Everything lines up with something else.
2) Make sure they know it before they read it.
and Rythm
(Sorry couldn't resist:D )

My critique on Doc's ad?
If the detail shots please the client, use them. Just make them larger than the main image...if the whole knife is life size (100%) in the main photo, then make the detail shot 125-150%. Also unclutter the background in those shots.
I would have the space between the detail shots and the logo, match the verticle space between the detail shots (rythm). Have the headline and the knife line up along the right edge...stuff like that.

Then I'd PO the photographer by selecting everything but the knife and fade it to maybe 60%. That'd make the blade and the headline jump. (Not picking on the pic, just making the blade the star & you can't push it that hard with just the camera)

And to think, I promised myself that I wouldn't type a bunch :rolleyes:

I think it is really cool that Dr. Lathe's blades follow my two, no three rules.
You Sir,
You're knives have face.


Great thread...now I feel like going to lunch.....
 
Cockroach-
Even though I have spent the last 15 years in the corporate identity/graphics business I am not an expert on advertising by any means. No one is. The first step one should take toward becoming an expert in said field is to realize that a single ad formula will not appeal to everyone. That is why I am baffled by your blanket statement of "I can create an ad - USING TEXT ONLY - that EVERY member of this forum will read from start to finish. I guarantee it." That is ludicrous. First of all it was proven wrong by myself as I would not have read the entire thing. One thing I AM an expert on is myself and my tastes... things that I like and things that turn me off. I am also aware of the fact that in a lot of areas a good percentage of the population is just like me. Therefore I can guarantee that NOT everyone would have read that ad.

The fact that there are thousands of members here on BF and the fact that threads having all sorts of subject titles that only get a few hundred views is proof of that... When was the last time you saw a thread get over 20000 views? And if a thread even came close to that number a lot of those views were repeat views by the same people. That shows the diversity of the BF populace and their tastes and I can guarantee that I would not be the only one who did not read the ad after seeing "Tom Mayo retires...".

Nothing personal against Mayo but I am just not a fan of his work. I am sure he makes great stuff it has just never spoken to me personally. I can make a blanket statement here... if you put "Tom Mayo retires..." as your header you would not get as many hits as you would if you used the header "FREE CUSTOM KNIVES". I can't believe you could honestly even think otherwise. Common sense tells us that there is a good percentage of people on BF that could care less about Tom Mayo or his knives. Maybe 10% of the forum populace likes Tom Mayo. Maybe another 10% likes John Doe, etc... but I guarantee that over 50% like custom knives, especially if they are free. Do the math. If you put "Tom Mayo retires..." you target that 10%... if you put "FREE CUSTOM KNIVES" you target everyone who likes free custom knives, regardless of the maker, so therefore you target all the Mayo fans and even the fans of other makers who may not be that enthusiastic about Mayo or his knives. (Tom, I am sorry you got dragged into this ...!!!!!).

I have stated that my tastes are simply my opinion (although I am sure there are a lot of others who share that same opinion)and I realize that all people are different. Actually, perspective pics will turn me AGAINST a product or manufacturer... After the Busse Aftershock incident (where I almost bought one based on a misconception due to distorted photos) I am wary of these types of photos as I automatically assume they are trying to purposely make the product look like something it is not. I understand that that is what 90% of advertising is, making the product look better than it really is (i.e. plastic fruit and airbrushed vegetables in MacDonald's hamburgers ads, etc...) but I feel like a picture of a knife should speak for itself. Especially if I am going to spend $400 on it. So basically, when I see a perspective pic I don't comprehend it as "art"... what I see is a distorted picture that hides the true qualities of the product in question. My mind translates that as "if this company has to hide or distort what the product looks like then they must not really have a lot of faith in the product". If the manufacturer has no faith in the product, why should I?

Gollnick-

"The question, though, is did it spark any interest. Did they say, "what is that?"

Of course they did... how would you react if someone asked you a trivia question and after you answer "I don't know" thay just say, "Well OK, then". Wouldn't you ask them what the correct answer was... The funny thing was that a few of them then asked, "Well why didn't they put the whole thing in the picture so you could tell what it is?"... I had to explain that the pic came from BF and that most everyone here knew what it was... There is your example of target marketing. You can get away with that type of stuff in a specialized target market but if you are targeting the general public the artsiness goes right over their heads.

As far as your restaurant/chef analogy goes... I don't mind experimenting with food and meals but I am not going to experiment by dropping $400 on a meal that may suck because a chef wants to be artsy no more than I am going to drop $400 on a knife that may or may not be what it was advertised as being by distorted pictures. If I am going to drop $400 on a meal it's going to be something that I know I like.

Peace-
Cam
 
He posted while I was typing mine.
We now have 4 entirely different "expert" views on how Dr. Lathe's ad "should" have been. That proves that no one ad is going to target the entire market.

I go to the movies to see art... If I am being sold a knife I want to see exactly what the knife is about without all kinds of distractions and fluff that take away from the knife or try to obscure the product. It's that simple. I am aware that a lot of people like the "dramatic" artsy ads but those people are not going to drop $400 on a semi-custom knife. A large percentage of those people are into the $20 Frost Ninja Death Machine knives...

And let's face it, most of the guys who are into professional ad design are in the business because they are "artsy". They are not hired because they are in touch with the demographic, they are hired because they produce graphics and 99% of the time people who create art do not do so for other people... they do so for themselves. In the advertising business this is a huge catch-22.

Peace-
Cam
 
Originally posted by Orion
Cockroach-
....that EVERY member of this forum will read from start to finish. I guarantee it."....
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Point taken. When I typed this, I probably thought I was still in that "other" forum" - where my assumption would probably be justified.:D The point I was trying to make was simply about market "targeting" - and I rushed into it. I was obviously much too specific.

And yes, I did forget about the most powerful word in advertising - FREE". But, hey, I'm old and retired so give me a break, OK? ;)
 
The purpose of the "artsy" ad is to pique your interest.
To catch your eye.
To make you remember the product.
Selling you the knife comes later...like when you're in the store on cruising the web/dealers.

There is no black and white, right and wrong. It is all grays...cool grays and warm grays, my own personal favorite is "Cool Gray #4" (That'll show my age ;) )

The main thing is:
Get it (the product) out there.
Make it look good.
Make it memorable.

Old advertising adage:
"It's not how much cr¥p that's in the bag...It's how pretty the bag is."
:D
;)
:D
 
Jim, Ebbtide,

I appreciate the compliments! I did "fade" the background to some extent before I sent the pic to Dan!! The T Shirt had FUZZ on it !!! I'm talking Hi Tech here ;)

Trying to send HUGE TIF files through Email is a challenge in itself.


Neil
 
Getting back to the original question...... Perspective

Personally I love pics like the one below. This is why I'm leaving the ad work up to Dan. ;) My problem is that I take a photo, I like it and feel everyone else SHOULD also.....LOL!!!

If anything this pic does prove that the same knife can look very different when photographed from the extreme perspective.


Neil
 

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Originally posted by Ebbtide

My design philosophy has two main creedos:
1) Everything lines up with something else.
2) Make sure they know it before they read it.
and Rythm
My design philosophy has three main creedos:
1) Everything lines up with something else.
2) Make sure they know it before they read it.
and Rythm
(Sorry couldn't resist:D )
Click to expand...

One of the guys that worked at the paper with us decided to go back for a his doctorate (communications.) He used to teach at the local universtity, and would often (ok. a couple times a year) get students the would enumerate points:

Firstly

And B.

And then: (or sometinmes lastly or finally...)
Or

A

and Second

and lastly...

And my favorite - a university beauty queen with the motto: carpediem all run together and pronounced like a metal (vanadium) or something.
 
Dr.Lathe, I'm not pretending to be an advertising guru by any means.
I like your photo a lot, it just gets a little too 'busy' with the smaller pixs. Now if you could just somehow incorporate a puppy into your pix, you would really get the attention of a large group of people! I know: Show the word FREE , a pix of a puppy, & your knife. Of course the FREE item is the puppy! Of course this would mean a stronger & larger box for shipment, more tape, larger postage costs, more insurance, food, water, etc. Errrr! Please disregard my idea - when the customer gets that package..... My mind works in strange ways!
 
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