Attention-grabbing graphics tool

It’s back!

Over a decade ago, my computer at the time (a Mac clone) sported a very useful, but underused, peripheral: a Wacom graphics tablet. While I used the tablet some of the time, it really ended up not getting the use it deserved (and I donated it to a very excited student several years later).

To help create Direct Response projects, I’ve just purchased a new Wacom… which will help me with adding “graphic grabbers” to help draw attention to particular elements in my copy. So instead of using my mouse and hand-editing paths in Illustrator, the tablet and pen will give me a more natural platform to create the elements I need.

Wacom Bamboo medium graphics tablet

Things like asterisks, lines, boxes, comments, punctuation, bullets, numbers… elements to help guide the reader through a project such as a sales letter (both through grabbing attention and highlighted the personalised nature of the communication).

In terms of creating realistic hand-written elements, the tablet is an easier and better solution than having to rely on hand-drawing and scanning, or using a mouse as input.

Of course, I’ll combine the output I create from the tablet with hand-written style fonts, scanned elements and some mouse-drawn graphics — taking advantage of all four options to give me the ideal combination of attention-grabbing graphics to retain attention.

Graphic grabber sample

Now — as you can see from my first attempt after installing the tablet again — I’ve just got to get used to the stylus and feel of it all! It looks hand-created… because it is hand-created!