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Originally posted by Bruce_Berryhill

I had made some assumptions about how to market cross stitch patterns to people. Then I started to do some research on the matter. I used several facebook cross stitch groups to post a series of questions with an open ended "other: fill in the blank" question at the end. What I got out of it was more people still prefer a printed version with larger easy to read symbols and words. Many still prefer the pattern books, would love to buy them at their local hobby shops, but are dismayed by the dwindling supply and variety at said shops. They see the Internet as the culprit.

Many still want black & white patterns as they feel they are easier to use. But there are customers, typically female but not always, who are cool with downloading .PDFs. They like having the freedom to print off just the page(s) they need, being able to read their pattern(s) right off their tablet or laptop computers. The fact that digital media takes up the same amount of space as the physical size of their hard drive(s) or other mass storage no matter how many "objects" they load onto them. They also recognize that online patterns are often cheaper than printed patterns and can be obtained nearly instantly. A huge gas-saving as well as time saving measure.

While there are divisions between these two groups that are "one or the other" there were some that used both. They see value in both types of patterns. They directed me to some web site that is "revolutionary" for what it does. Combining sci-fi art with cross stitch patterns and paying a small percentage to the artists each time one of their patterns is sold. I don't recall the name of the company. They offer different sizes of .PDFs at different prices. From a logistics point of view you may wish to have one or two options for your .PDFs such as a standard size and an large print size. Or just go with a large print size of about 14 to 18 point font. You might be surprised how many customers will thank you for that.

But what these participants really appreciated was someone taking the time to ask them what they wanted rather than relying on assumptions. So, in short, go do some research first to see what your targeted customer base really wants.


Cheers

Children's Horror Writer, Game Designer, DJ, VJ, Fractal Artist, Animator, care giver to my older mentally retarded brother

I've created 91,000 fractals, 16,800 HD-8k VJ Loops, 60+ short fractal animations (deep zooms), two major science fiction themed games (with their own custom laws of physics and language), I've written dozens of short stories for children's horror

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Originally posted by Dragonlair

Personally, I prefer black/white charts with a color photo of the finished design. I make a photo copy of any printed pattern I have to preserve the original from wear and tear. There are times it would get worn to the point that symbols would be "rubbed" out. When using e-charts, again, I prefer black/white. Ink is not cheap and the colored ink is even more expensive than the black ink. Therefore, I prefer to print as cheaply as possible. having the backstitch lines in color is acceptable and preferred. Using the different styles can obscure the stitch symbol and make the chart harder to use.

Diane
There is no such thing as a stupid question

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