SO angry with myself...Now I need opinions.

[fatafelice]

Let me preface this post with the aknowledgement that this is a minute wedding detail that no one other than me will likely care about. I am frustrated nonetheless, and I would really appreciate some feedback other than FI''s.

I decided to have the magnets for my STDs made so that I wouldn''t have to deal with the hassle of printing and cutting them myself. Found a place on line, sent my image, and received the proof via email. Great, right?

Well, I aparently didn''t pay enought attention to the proof. I had the company re-center some text, but other than that, it looked great to me, so I told them to proceed. What I didn''t realize was that they had added a black border around the image. I guess I thought it was just background or something. The magnets arrived today, and at first I was pissed, but after I checked the email, I saw that it had in fact been my mistake for not noticing on the proof.

Now I am faced with having to decide to live with them as is or go through and cut all of the borders off. I know it would be easy to say, "Just deal with the borders!" The problem is that I really wanted the magnets to look like real postcards, as the original image is a vintage one, and I collect vintage postcards. I am planning on attaching the magnet to the front of a card with photo corners so that it looks like a real postcard in a scrapbook. So the border REALLY bugs me. Plus, the border isn''t even the same thickness on all the sides, which possibly bugs me even more (can you say OCD?).

So what would you do? Leave the border or cut it off (of about 100 magnets)?

Here''s the image I sent (only a much lower resolution):

 

[fatafelice]

Here''s the proof they sent:

 

[Mara]

i'd leave it. to me they don't look that different. plus for me if it's a 'magnet' it doesn't really scream vintage anyway...hehee.

but if you are totally bugged and wanted it specifically that way and it bugs you, then cut them off. make yourself happy...!

 

[decodelighted]

Don''t beat yourself up .. stuff like that happens with printing all the time. Especially with an image that doesn''t have "bleed" room. When designers create a new image for printing they make it bigger than it will be cropped, because cropping isn''t precise & varies ... I''m sure that''s why they did it on a background to begin with .. if they''d blown the whole image up to overflow enough for bleed, the edges would have gotten cut off some etc etc.

ANYHOO -- I''m a little OCD too. If I had access to a big ol'' marketing dept slicer dealie ... I''d sit there and slice all 100. Only, I wonder how easy that''ll be .. magnets are thick & they might not turn out perfectly ANYWAY, after all that work!!

Why not try a few & see how it goes?

 

[Dee*Jay]

I don't think the border looks bad at all. It even kind of ties the whole thing together with the wording and the other dark details in the picture. Honestly, I would leave it.

 

[poptart]

I am VERY OCD about straight edges and borders, so if it were me I would cut them off, but I doubt others would notice. If you can use one of those big cutters you could do more than one at a time and still keep the edges straight. But this is coming from a girl who hates to hang pictures on the wall because I HAVE to straighten them even if they are a centimeter off (and yes I CAN tell when it is that much off, haha)!

*M*

 

[cara]

So as an image, I actually like to bordered one better - it makes the black in the castle pop more.
It does look slightly less vintagy, but your original wasn't screaming vintage to me, and the castle drama is still there.

As for the border width discrepancy, I was really anal trying to fix that on a border on an invite, and my FI reassured me that horizontal and vertical borders dont have to be the same. It looks really wrong when left and right are different, or top and bottom are different, but lf/rt can be different from top/bottom and it looks OK. Would you have intentially done that, probably not, but... now that its done...

My call would be just mail them. There will be many more opportunities to perfect the invites! If you woln't/can't be happy with it, then just reprint them and chalk it up to proofing lesson learned. Hopefully thats not too expensive.

 

[JulieN]

I''m nt sure how many people would get that it''s a postcard, anyway.

 

[sumbride]

It doesn''t look bad, but I recognize it isn''t what you want.

I''d probably attempt to trim one using a paper cuttter, but there''s a really good chance you''ll mess up at least a few using that method. Do you have extra? Do you have a lot of free time?

Honestly, I think it is fine as is, but if it really bugs you, fix it... but ask yourself this... will it still bug you in a year? If not, think about leaving it.

 

[fatafelice]

Date: 12/6/2006 6:30:06 PM
Author: Mara
i''d leave it. to me they don''t look that different. plus for me if it''s a ''magnet'' it doesn''t really scream vintage anyway...hehee.

but if you are totally bugged and wanted it specifically that way and it bugs you, then cut them off. make yourself happy...!

Good point, Mara!

I decided to do the magnets because FSIL just did cards that look like postcards last May, so I wanted to be a little different.


At any rate, I did try cutting the border off of one, and I just used regular scissors. If I were doing all of them, I would try to use my paper cutter, or even an exacto and a straight edge. Even with a quick(somewhat messy) trim, I think I like the one sans border better, but I took some pics to see what you guys think...

Here they are on the cards... (picture the photo corners, as I was too lazy to get them out)

 

[fatafelice]

here they are on the fridge...

(note: I''m not so happy about how dark the "white" parts came out either, and I don''t think the proof reflects that, but oh well)

 

[JulieN]

I think the one with the border looks more vintage.

 

[decodelighted]

Uh oh .. remember that Mary Poppins "Chim-chim-cherrieee"? Trim-trim-trimmeee!

 

[TravelingGal]

maybe I''m weird, but I actually like the one with the border better.

 

[fatafelice]

See, this is what I needed! FI just isn''t very helpful. (Though, for the record, he likes the borderless one better.)

I do have plenty extra to experiement with cutting, since I had to order 125 and I only need about 85-90. Though the whole point in ordering them was supposed to be that I didn''t have to do it myself, as originally I planned to do.

For those that like the border for visual/design reasons, I actually agree. But since the original is from the era of "white border" postcards, I just want to maintain that look.

Also, you can''t tell in the pics, but the border really looks like it is *behind* the postcard, not all-in-one, if that makes sense. FI''s comment is that it looks like the postcard was laminated onto a black backing, as the pc is scanned, complete with creases, etc., and the black is just graphics. Does that make sense? I don''t know, it''s odd.

Thanks for all the responses so far!!! I think I am going to sleep on this for a night or two and then see how I feel, even though I need to have had these things out like 3 months ago. I probably wouldn''t be able to work on them until the weekend anyway...

 

[poptart]

I like the one without the border.

P.S. the right and left borders aren''t even. I TOLD you I was OCD!

*M*

 

[fatafelice]

Date: 12/6/2006 7:03:06 PM
Author: poptart
I like the one without the border.

P.S. the right and left borders aren''t even. I TOLD you I was OCD!

*M*

The top and the botton aren''t either...

One day, I am SO going to need to be medicated...It runs in the family!

 

[poptart]

Date: 12/6/2006 7:05:07 PM
Author: fatafelice

Date: 12/6/2006 7:03:06 PM
Author: poptart
I like the one without the border.

P.S. the right and left borders aren''t even. I TOLD you I was OCD!

*M*

The top and the botton aren''t either...

One day, I am SO going to need to be medicated...It runs in the family!

Yea, I know what you mean! My friends all bring me in to level their pictures because they can''t tell when it''s half an inch off, but I sure can! Today at school they were hanging a wreath and it wasn''t centered, I couldn''t stop STARING at it. I needed it to be fixed.... the just LEFT it that way!!

 

[WTNLVR]

I like the one with the border better, makes the image pop. You are right, noone will ever notice. If it bugs you and you have the time cut off the borders. However, I would think it would be really time consuming getting straight edges, even with a paper cutter.

 

[Minny]

I''ll admit, at first I thought you were being a little obsessive and both looked just fine...but now that I see both versions......I like it better without the border!! Definitely looks more like a postcard this way.



sorry.

I do really like the idea though, and I truly think nobody else will care and/or notice except you! Do whatever makes you feel the best about it.

 

[qtiekiki]

I think the one with border looks like vintage too, like vintage prints. Unless you plan to take a lot of time to cut each one perfectly, I would just leave it as it. Because the unevenly cutted edges with leftover border look bad to me. Just MHO.

 

[FireGoddess]

On that paper background, I think it looks better without the border. On an actual fridge though, I think the border looks better.

 

[Mara]

i still like it better with border i think!!! esp sinnce on the fridge you can see that some of the border wasn''t really cut off? so you will have to be REALLY anal about cutting off all the border.

 

[havernell]

I think the magnet company may have added the black border/background because the vintage postcard image itself didn''t have totally straight/even borders. You could kind of see that in your photo of the one you cut yourself- the old card itself is not a perfect rectangle (as tends to happen as postcards get older and get worn down unevenly).

So, would you rather have a magent that is a perfect rectangle w/ the black border or one that is not a perfect rectangle w/o the border. Personally, I think it would look more weird to have a magnet that is not straight since you clearly had them professionally done. The non-straight lines would look to me like the company cut them incorrectly...

Gook luck with the final decision!

 

[Jaders731]

Ok.. after spending four years with my now FI, who is an architect, I have learned to be somewhat of a stickler for details.
I really like the one without the border. My suggestion would be to get a cutting mat (I believe Fiskars makes them) and either a cutting wheel or exacto knife. Do them one at a time.. and just have a cutting party. it shouldnt take you too long.. but I think you would be happier with the end result. I really think if you are going to take the time to cut off the borders, that you should also invest in the correct tools to do it!

Good Luck!

 

[dtnyc]

I agree w/ havernell- they must have put the border there for a reason.

I think that it looks great with the border- I think the color reproduction was great on it, and think of it this way- if people have a black fridge they won''t even notice the border.

It''s not the type of thing anyone will notice. If it makes you feel better I know someone who sent out engagement party invites w/ their photos on them (the kind everyone puts on the fridge) and they misspelled engagement.

 

[CrownJewel]

I understand 100% how you feel fatafelice. I would practice cutting off the borders on the extras, and if it''s easy and it turns out nice and even, then do the rest of them. I think they look nicer without the border. But I have to say I also agree with JulieN, many people won''t notice that it should look like a vintage postcard. So if the cutting of the borders becomes too difficult, then leave it. The de-bordering is mostly for your own satisfaction. (I''d do it too!)

 

[CrownJewel]

P.S. The magnets look beautiful by the way, with or without border!

 

[Christa]

I like it better with the border--looks more "finished" and ties in the lettering so it looks like it belongs there.

 

[VRBeauty]

I just tried Jader's suggestion -- rotary cutter, mat, clear plastic quilter's ruler, and an old refrigerater magnet. The rotary cutter cut through the magnet very easily. You can get all of this stuff at anyplace that sells quilters' supplies. There's no telling how long the blade will hold up on the magent material, so you might want to get an extra or allow time for a trip back to the store.
Rotary cutters and clear plastic rulers were made for OCDs!