Wednesday, April 6, 2011

what I do.

I just love what I do for work.  I'm the art director at Silhouette America and that means all things graphic design are my responsibility.  That includes product packaging, signage, trade show booths, photography, and my favorite, magazine ads.  I love these little projects.  A few weeks ago, we came up with the concept for this ad.



I bought a large metal garbage can and started collecting trash for my shot. FUN!  Pretty much, I had a blast working on this photo, getting the pear bites just right and picking up nasty old toys at DI.  (I wish the Treasure Troll with the chopped hair cut wasn't covered by the lid).  Through the whole process we debated about how it would be received.  Funny? or just flat out rude?  In the end, we decided NOT to run the ad.  We don't really want to be that company that's just out trashing the competition (excuse the pun).  And really, we didn't mean it as maliciously as it comes across.   We just wanted to highlight the one thing that really sets us apart from every other electronic cutter in the industry.
If you're new to the crafting industry, I'll explain.  At Silhouette, our flagship tool is the Silhouette SD, an electronic cutting tool.  Connect it to your computer and you can cut shapes and fonts out of paper, fabric, vinyl, etc.   Every other cutter in the industry requires you to buy a cartridge or a CD of shapes or alphabets (ie appx 50 shapes for about $80).  With the silhouette, you cut all the fonts on your computer (very cool) and have access to an online store of THOUSANDS of shapes that you can buy for around 99 cents a piece.  Basically, we are the iTunes of the crafting world.  Sorry.  I just really, really stand behind this product.  It's not that other tools aren't good... we're just better.

Anyway, instead of the edgy, funny ad, we'll be running this much safer ad.


My favorite thing about these projects, is the photography.  I don't profess to be a professional or anything (accept that I do this for a living) but I'm pretty happy with this shot and I'm improving all the time.  I like studio photography because you have tons of time to figure out exactly what settings you want.

The talented Traci Smith made this happy card and I really wanted a sunny windowsill to match it.  So I grabbed some fabric we had lying around and taped it to the window for my curtain, a wooden shelf for the base, and pushed the whole thing up against a window to get those sweet blown out highlights.  So much fun.

Here's the set up for this shot.  Nice, huh.


I just really love my job... most of the time.

3 comments:

Amber said...

P.S. I LOVE the silhouette. My mom (who has the money and time I wish I did to use on all the crafts in my head) got one for herself for Christmas. It is so fun to play with. What a cool job. And I really like the garbage ad...it is a bit edgy I suppose, but I laughed :)
Glad the wed and honeymoon went well (how can it not?). HOpe you are enjoying wedded bliss. It's been almost 6 years for us and it's still pretty blissful. Have a good day!

The Seaquist Family said...

So when I convince my husband that I NEED to have this, I should just have him call you? You job sounds amazing. I was thinking about you the other day...and when you worked at the dentist office (I think). Time flies, right?

Lisa said...

Amy, the pictures are GREAT. Good for you. Do you use your camera? Are these with the 50mm 1.4 lens? Do you like the 12-24mm lens? Your job is pretty sweet!