Today’s post is from the front lines, courtesy of our Milford store manager, Jake.
Just the other day I was working with a woman on a design for a photo of her son. It was a professional photograph and very smart-looking. Obviously, I wanted to show her something that would look amazing, and as we began looking at materials she said, “I don’t want a look that’ll take away from the photo.” When I asked her what she meant exactly, it was clear that she didn’t want to include any materials she thought were fancy. She was hesitant to do anything that wasn’t just a black frame and a white mat. So I explained a theory that I find myself sharing with customers more than any other issue regarding custom framing. I told her that a common mistake is to under dress a photo when framing it. You don’t want to undersell your picture, to discount it with a frame that isn’t deserving of what’s going into it. My favorite analogy is this: when you go to a job interview, you would never want the interviewer to remember your suit more than you. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t wear your very best suit. It’s about presentation.
If you ever find yourself noticing a frame more than the art it’s displaying, it’s not because the frame is too fancy or dramatic. It’s because the design wasn’t done well. You can do “plain” or “simple”, just make sure you’re not making it boring or dull!
For instance, one white mat is lazy. If you don’t like an accent color on your black & white photo try 2 of the same white mat, tone on tone. That’s a simple, yet very polished look. If you like plain black frames, add a black fillet on the white mat so that the entire package looks intentional and not a design that was just defaulted to.
Those extra features will make any design memorable and truly unique to you. That’s the advantage of custom framing.
