Color?

[GMSkarka]

Quick opinion question: We just released the first issue of Buccaneers & Bokor, our bi-monthly support ezine for Skull & Bones. It's selling pretty well, but I was wondering something.

We did the layout in black-and-white, with no extensive graphic borders. Just text, in columns, with b&w art. With the cover, we went b&w as well, going for a layout similar to the 19th-and-early-20th century dime novels which featured tales of pirates (see the above B&B link for a thumbnail).

The reason we chose this layout style was because we felt that it made things easier on folks looking to print it out.

However, looking around on RPGNow, I see 9 out of 10 products with full-color covers, and many with full-color interiors. So, it makes me wonder if color translates into more sales.

Thoughts?

GMS

 

[Dimwhit]

Personally, I think color does translate to more sales. I would guess that there is an unfortunate misconception that b/w means low bugdet. And in some cases, that can certainly be true. But b/w can also work really well.

I don't think I'd worry so much about your product, though. People who buy your magazine are most likely those already familiar with your product line and setting, so the b/w cover won't be an issue. Is that a fair statement?

The cover looks cool, IMO.

 

[Nellisir]

However, looking around on RPGNow, I see 9 out of 10 products with full-color covers, and many with full-color interiors. So, it makes me wonder if color translates into more sales.
Thoughts?

Personally, I like b&w, but I'm about as trendy as a used 8-track tape of Sonny Bono.

Honestly, I'd lean towards color covers, but leave the interior b&w.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Dana_Jorgensen]

Everything is a balance, color against cleanliness, against content. The higher the price, the less important color becomes.

With stuff like magazines or adventure modules, low cost products you can expect a lot of competition to, color is important, as you need to make your products stand out from the crowd. But as the retail price increases, color becomes less important. By the time you're doing sourcebooks, where content is extremely specialized (a sourcebook about guns really can't be considered a direct comeptitor for a sourcebook about vampires, for example), the things that matter most to buyers is good content combined with a clean layout, with or without color. And as price continues increasing, color again becomes important for the inobvious "value added" effect it applies to the product, making a buy more likely. Once again, there's also the need to stand out as well, since the high end of the SRP range usually covers core rulebooks. The more you stand out, the more sales you gain, which hopefully translates into satisfied gamers who buy other products from you.

But in the end, a full color cover is always a must, as this is where you best establish your company and product line identities. Go hit the Modern D20 category on RPGnow and you'll see what I mean. Going through the cover thumbnails, you'll be able to tell what 6 products are mine, identify at least 4 of the 5 products done by the Game Mechanics, But when you get to the RPGObject products, only the Darwin's World 2 products stand out from the 10 or so listed in the category.

 

[Mark]

I like to use color for maps in particular. I have switched to using color covers also, since the market seems to demand that. Some interior art almost needs to be in color simply because of feeling that is being conveyed but if B&W interior art can do the trick, I think that is best.

 

[Cergorach]

I think the style matters more than color vs. b&w. Skulls & Bones was presented as a b&w product, the mag should follow the main book. Although the cover of S&B was in color, it's a big book, the mag is not (with only 30ish pages), a b&w cover would look fine. Maybe a color cover would look good on a compilation of the mags. Hope that made sense...

 

[Terry Edwards]

As an artist and pdf purchaser I prefer black and white. I like to print pdfs in black and white to cut costs. Without adjustment color art does not translate well into grayscale while black and white prints flawlessly. One problem I have with pdf is the 72 dpi restriction placed on much of the art and especially the cartography.

 

[Scorpio]

I think B&BI looks great. The B&W suits the subject matter, in this case.

 

[Cergorach]

As an artist and pdf purchaser I prefer black and white. I like to print pdfs in black and white to cut costs. Without adjustment color art does not translate well into grayscale while black and white prints flawlessly. One problem I have with pdf is the 72 dpi restriction placed on much of the art and especially the cartography.

There is no 72dpi restriction, it's a choice of the pdf publisher. I prefer 150dpi )for printing and online viewing...

 

[Henry]

Color generally does translate into more sales, but it is not essential for such - Monte Cook's Malhavoc stuff being a notable exception.