Not only do my tags reflect my personal and artistic style, they compliment my jewelry and help them stand out to customers. I believe personalized tags are a great way to market and draw attention to any type of artwork. They add a finished look and create consistency throughout a collection.

Some suggestions to create an identity that is right for you:

1. Use a typeface or handwriting that is easy to read and works with your style and type of art. Keep it consistent so it creates a connection throughout your collection.
2. Color helps to draw the eye, so you might want to try one or two bright colors. But don’t let it overpower the actual artwork. After all, it is your art you are promoting.
3. Create a logo for yourself. A dominant icon or symbol can add a legitimate and professional look to your art.
4. Describe yourself and your work graphically. For example, I use bright colors and a pattern on my tags that reflect my modern and fun artwork and lifestyle. But this might not work for a classic or traditional type of artwork. Discover what works for you and will attract your audience.

Overall, you want to enhance your work and help it to stand out to customers. Remember not to distract from your art, but to create a finished and professional look.

The site was designed by 4O1 Creative, the best web design firm in the Lehigh Valley (and I am so lucky to call one of the members my husband!!).  There were many hours put in to designing each portion to exactly fit our vision, and it was wonderful that we could customize everything in order to meet the needs of our customers and our artists.  They did a fabulous job designing a site that was beautifully artistic with amazing functionality that we’ve never before seen for any craft gallery.  It was an intensely awesome project, and we are still working hard to tweak all of the pieces, so please keep stopping back to see more!  A million thanks to 4O1 for a truly unique site that will really make us stand out.

Some of the features we are especially proud of are:

• A vibrant carousel of images on our home page featuring exciting store happenings.
• Personalized artisan pages with statements, various photos (thanks to Joyce and Rich Yura for being our official photographers!), and a filter option to make your search easier.
• A blog section (yes, I will be attempting blogging) that will allow us to reflect on store news, events in town, artist interviews, and other things, complete with a category filter.
• Special contact pages and links to our Facebook page as well as the different groups we are associated with.
• An easy-to-read calendar page for events in Emmaus, craft fairs and shows, and especially events that OOOH will be hosting to keep our followers involved in not only our happenings but other fun things to do in the area.

Again, keep checking back to see these upcoming features that are in-the-works:

• Our excellent online store, where we will be offering some of our artisan’s beautiful work complete with sales suggestions and top sellers lists.
• For our current artists, a personalized page with login name and passwords in order to view your current inventory, print tags or inventory check-in sheets, check on special orders that may be processing, etc.  We are always open to suggestions to add to your personal account in order to make things smoother and to better suit your needs!
• Contact and other information for becoming a part of OOOH, including frequently asked questions.

We are very pleased with our newest addition to Out of Our Hands, and there are sure to be many exiting improvements in the near future.  Our goal is to make ourselves known to a larger crowd, whether it be people living in the Lehigh Valley or visitors to the area, and with the newest steps we have already taken, we are sure to do exactly that!