Button Brainstorm!

Do you like winning? I do! Great! So now's the time to throw on your thinking cap and help me brainstorm some fantastic new pinback button designs! Best of all? If your design idea is chosen you'll receive the adorable new set free of charge! Woohoo!

Let's start off our thinking process by taking a quick trip back down button memory lane and gain some knowledge on what sort of designs I'm most interested in! And since I now possess the wonderful editing abilities of photoshop (thanks neal), I've been able to touch up my old designs (with some help from fraser) and compile them in one massive jpeg for you to ogle! Hooray!


Overload of cuteness! And super geeky cuteness at that!! But even though I love all my designs equally - the public certainly does not, and I pretty much stink at guessing which designs will sell the best (just like I mentioned here). I've tallied up my latest buttons sales and of the 170 sets I've set loose on the world this is how they rank:

1) hot sellers: mustache kitties, microbes, and dinosaurs! Yay!

2) medium sellers: love robots (quickly rising on the charts with valentine's days), and scientists (which might also be rising...if I wasn't sold out of them...)

3) mild sellers: woodland creatures, thumbs up yetis, and sea creatures. *I still love you guys!*

(Oh, I've also got my little pink promo pin in the corner up there - but I don't sell him. He's just a bonus for special buyers.)

So what have I learned from all this? Not much. I still have no clue what designs are best but I certainly have fun creating and selling them anyways! And as an added bonus (for you and me) you have the opportunity to suggest ideas for button sets! Not that the opportunity wasn't there before... now I'm just offering extra encouragement with free pins to design winners! Woo! Plus I'll even give you a list of what I'm sort of looking for to increase your chances!

I like button designs that:

• are geeky! The geekier the better even!
• I'm actually able to draw (I have a degree in science...not fine art...)
• look good in 1" button form (not too overly complicated - and can fit in a circle)
• have an underlying science theme. I am "scientific culture" after all - keep that in mind.
• are ascetically pleasing and awesome
  
• will keep up with the sweet etsy trends for spring/summer/2010
  
• can be anthropomorphic and adorable! (Not actually that difficult - tutorial here)
• are great in a set of three (I'd love to know what each of the pins in the set would be too!)
  
• make you want to buy and wear them!!! (that is the plan after all...)

So I know trying to hit all of those list points is a little over achiever-y (not to discourage or anything) but just keep them in mind when you're submitting button set design ideas. So get brainstorming and commenting!!! Good luck!