Things I Adore: Part 5

Natural Photographs

I read another blog article about Elles' use of untouched and make-up free photographs in a recent issue.  How fantastic!  Too often, we forget that the models and actors/actresses in magazines don't really look that smooth and blemish-free.  They have moles, warts and pimples just like you and me.

While it's important to put your best foot forward; do you need a new face too?  I recently tested this with a couple of my own photographs.  I ran them through photoshop.  Here are the before and after effects:

I guess I'm lucky because there isn't too much to cover, but even so...  I like my real face.  Yes, I have a few freckles and a flat mole on my nose, but they add character.  What is so wrong about being unique anyway?  Why airbrush out the features that make you different?

Do you like au natural?

Things I Adore: Part 4

Color!

Why You Need It In Advertising and Marketing.

Made you look.

Color has a way of catching the eye.  It's undeniable.  I could link hundreds of resources that point to that fact, but you know it's true.  That's why color costs extra. It's special.  It makes your message special.  It shows that you love your product enough to be bold.

Recently I created a quick flyer for one of my clients.  I asked if there was a specific color palate that suited the current scheme and I was told to use whatever colors I felt suited the project.  So I did.  Three hours later, the client was graced with a beautiful deep purple and silver flyer that spoke to his target audience.  The next morning I had a message saying that it wasn't printing right, so I called my client... They're printing it in the office in black and white!  I told them I'd grayscale it and slammed the phone down in a huff.

It isn't smart business.  My clients' target audience consists of image-conscious middle to upper-class African-American men between the ages of 25 and 40.,  Which flyer says I'm your target and "I care about how I'm seen by others" so "I can afford to treat myself," the black or color? (Name of business, logo and address cropped out to protect my client.)

It's worth the extra money to send the right message.  Saving on the color now, won't save you money in the long run. Prove my point or argue against my intuition: Which ad has the most impact?

As a side note, I have really enjoyed having an excuse to toss cutesy color into my blog posts.

Things I Loathe: Part 3

Behold the third installment of "Things I Loathe." If you like what I have to say stay tuned for parts 4-5 and its natural counterpart: "Things I Adore."

I will be limiting these posts to communication-related topics to keep myself from going off on too many tangents.

I absolutely loathe bad photoshop jobs. Apparently I am not the only one, since I found a blog dedicated to seeking out the worst of the worst. In most of the cases shown on the blog, these 'oopsies' were for MAJOR publications. Places that have multiple people looking at your work before it goes to the press. The most recent 'whoops' was in Sports Illustrated. Really, SI? Are you telling me NO ONE saw that?

Sure, graphic artists are people too (maybe), and make mistakes because they are not perfect... but I can do a better job, and no one is paying me tens of thousands of dollars. I feel that they get paid well enough and have enough people looking over their shoulders that this shouldn't happen. Hey, here's a tip: Pay a good photographer to take the SHOT YOU WANT, and there won't be any photoshop problems!

Furthermore, I know my way around Adobe enough to remove every pimple and blemish from my headshots for the rest of my life, but is this much photoshopping really necessary? Put the mouse down, people. There is no need to mess up a great photo over one pimple or thick waist.