Let's design an ad for our site

Question

In 2016 there were a lot of Community Promotion Ads for Literature SE on various other sites around the network, which a few of us posted up during the Definition stage of the Area 51 proposal. Now that the new cycle of CPAs has started for 2017, I've reposted many of these ads in the hope that they will again reach the required score of 6 in order to appear on the front page of the respective sites. Each one currently displays the default image supplied by Area 51:

But now that we're in public beta and the site is accessible to everyone even without going through Area 51, it would be nice to have a less generic image and use something which really gives off the idea of 'literature'. Since we already have five Community Promotion Ads in place, all that's required is to edit in a new image to each one - and of course to have an image to use in the first place.

Thus this meta post. I've already asked @BESW, a qualified professional in graphic design, if he'd be willing to make the image for us, but even those of us who lack the skill to make a nice image can still discuss ideas for it. (If anyone else has the skill to make one, that'd be great too, of course.)

What should a Community Promotion Ad for Literature look like?

When people see the image, what do we want them to think? What immediate impression are we hoping to give them of our site and community? What particular aspects of the rather broad field of 'literature' do we want to emphasise? What message, if any, are we trying to convey?

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Progress so far:

• Science Fiction & Fantasy: DONE (ad designed by @CreationEdge and posted by @Mithrandir)
• English Language & Usage: DONE (ad mostly designed by @BESW)
• Worldbuilding: DONE (ad designed by @BESW)
• Movies & TV: DONE (ad mostly designed by @BESW)
• Role-Playing Games: DONE (ad mostly designed by @BESW and posted by @Riker)
• Anime & Manga: ad (posted by @Torisuda) has enough upvotes but still needs a fancy design

Update for 2018: I've reposted ads for Literature on SFF, M&TV, Worldbuilding, and ELU. Someone else needs to do A&M and RPG, since I don't have accounts there.

Answer 1

Before we think about visuals or text, we need to have a message. "Message" doesn't mean an elevator pitch or an ad blurb--that comes later. First we need to know what we have to offer and who we're offering it to. It's a feeling, a service, an invitation, an atmosphere. Why should people join our community, what can they expect, and what will be expected of them?

I'm starting by thinking in terms of what kind of physical space lit.se would be, if it were a physical space. Seems to me we should be aiming for a sort of "comfy cafe" or "friendly local used bookstore" atmosphere. This means lit.se's a casual place with room for serious conversation. We have no real claim to the ivory tower of academia, but we have aspirations to insight beyond just casually liking to read stuff.

Our target audience, at least now, isn't really professional academics--we'd like to have 'em, but I think we need to grow into that over time. So our audience is the deep reader, the amateur analyst. We want lit.se to be a place where people who think carefully about books talk to each other. So that's the message I propose we convey: a place to think and talk carefully about books, at whatever intensity and depth that means for each user.

What might this look like? A bookish (clean, serif) typeface and a handwritten (but neat and legible) typeface. Visuals should be kept minimal to avoid being cramped or busy, and probably simple illustrations rather than photographs. Possibilities include an open book, or a pile of books; a comfy reading chair; eyeglasses. Colors--I'd start with warm leather-and-coffee-nook with Stack Exchange Blue accents.

This doesn't address what the text should say. I'm not sure much is needed, especially if we've got a solid visual, but I'm open to suggestions. I expect that as others post their ideas in contrast to mine, more useful text will float out of the discussion.

Answer 2

@CreationEdge created this image for me, over in Mos Eisley:

Note: This is specifically for SFF. The other sites will have their own.

This has been posted over at meta.sff.

Answer 3

Based on my thoughts shared last week, here's an ad! The text version uses handwriting kindly contributed by our own kristan.

And a blank version for folks to customise with their own tagline:

(Click through each ad to get a double-size version.)

Answer 4

How about something with famous literary quotations in it?

A sample, which took me about 5 minutes and should probably not be considered "finished":

Answer 5

A close up of a well-studied book.

I'm imagining a tight close-up of a book, with all signs that somebody has been studying it and marking it up -- a highlighted passage; a note scribbled in the margin, a bookmark. (I'm not finding an attributed image I can copy here, but maybe an angled, close-uppier version of something like this.)

I think that would convey the tone we're aiming for really well.. We're not here just reading books; the joy of curling up with a good novel is awesome, but that's not what the site is about. We're here discussing them - digging deep, discovering secrets and neat connections. I think that would show the value and character we want the site to have, and be more attractive to those who will appreciate analysis, theories, and examination.

Answer 6

How about this quote by Neil Gaiman:

A book is a dream that you hold in your hands

It even has a nice matching image:

_{Click for full resolution}

I learned about this quote from Did Neil Gaiman say “A book is a dream you hold in your hand”?

Pros:

• It's Neil Gaiman
• It's Sandman
• It's about books

Cons:

• This quote is everywhere, like Ubik. There is no inspirational image or a postcard that hasn't been printed with this quote. It's even been adapted to tattoos.

  
  _{Click for full resolution}

  Using it may make us look like some hipsters. I'm not saying we shouldn't use it, but still.

I'm not saying we use this particular image, because it's probably copyrighted either to American Library Association, or Vertigo, or P. Craig Russel himself; but the quote is nice, and there are other quotes by Gaiman here. Some examples:

Picking five favourite books is like picking the five body parts you’d most like not to lose

Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.

_{Or maybe lend that one to Libraries and Information Science? :D}