Best way to go is with Photoshop. You may be able to use it or get a copy from your local library. Otherwise, its kind of expensive. But you can layer the two images and erase elements of each so that the other image comes through. Plus it has a lot of other great features.

Mike, that’s EXACTLY what I did for all five of my ideas. As I went along, the process became easier and my creativity really began to flow. I surprised myself with what I did. The images I created, combining images already online, look so real.

They’re also called “One Sheets.”

I did most of my work in Microsoft Paint/Excel. Really simple to use.

I use PowerPoint and Photoshop for my presentation sheets.

You can see some of the sheets I used to get my ideas licnesed on my profile. Go to the photos section. Take a look at the final products on my website http://www.rogerbrown.net

I sure will. I wish I could share mine.

Hey Roger…just looked at your website. Some of those ideas are mine…mine, mine, mine. I’m suing for infringement AND throwing rocks through your windows! Just kidding…nice website, impressed. I saw your other one but not this one. Ron Komorowski Inventor of Handi-Straps www.handi-straps.com

Hey Charles, I would be very interested to know how you used Excel to do your “One Sheets”. I live on Excel and I don’t want to spend the $$$ on photoshop software if I don’t have to.

Patrice, it’s so easy. I believe I read you’re in Finance. I am too. I use Excel to construct it, then MS Paint to give it a finished look. I copy and paste images from Google and the like. Alter them in Paint to what I need them to look like. Paste them into Excel for text and alignment, then back into Paint for finishing.

Very cool Charles. I will have to try that in my spare time! I am in finance and I am getting no work done because I’m having trouble with my Essbase retrieves when bringing in my rev #’s for June. I have to explain act vs plan. Anyway, Do you have any particular sites from Google that you found were most helpful to you?

Sell sheets seem to work really well. I got the idea from a few people on www.inventorspot.com. They said concise all of your ideas so that it can fit on one sheet of paper. I used Fireworks for the graphics. Printed on a sheet of glossy picture paper. Then during the presentation, handed a few of them out to the judges while I was speaking.

The judges spent a good amount of time referring to the sheet.

Thanks, if any of you guys are the ones that posted that on Inventorspot

What is Fireworks? Is that a software?

Macromedia(now Adobe) Fireworks

Yes it’s software, much like Photoshop. You could use free tools like Gimp and Paint.net.

Patrice, I mostly go to Google and choose “images.” But, let’s says your invention is an improvement on a screw driver. I would type “screw drivers,” in the search window and see what images come that I can use there. We can talk about this again when you get started. Good luck with your analysis. I’m finishing up several recs. Don’t want any of this looming into next week.

Ben, I discovered Sell/One Sheets about 6 months ago. I agree they are great. The idea is to be as concise, as possible. Having to explain your idea on one piece of paper, images and all, really makes you do that.

Thanks Ben and Charles. I want to have a nice looking presentation because that means everything but I don’t want to pay tons of $$$ for the software. I will try your method Charles. I like the sound of “free”.

Nice, market is up two days in a row and you guys have given me some great advice on how to create my own little Frankenphoto. Things are looking up.

Thanks!

Charles, check out the presentation/sells sheets on my profile page under the photos section to see how I set some of them up.
Ben, The presentation/sells sheets on inventorspot are mine. I have been trying to help Inventors before this site got started.

I sure will. Thanks Roger.

Roger, they are great! I have 5. I wish I could share them. I know the one I used at my in-person presentation, with EE, really helped convey my idea. I actually gave all the judges, at both phases, copies to look at while I presented. I let them all keep the copies to stay in their minds.

Roger, if I hadn’t seen Stephen Key’s stuff and heard his reasoning, I would have been shocked that something as simple as your sell sheets got it done! It really emphasizes the need to approach the right person at the right company, and to do it professionally.

I thought it interesting that S Key doesn’t identify himself as an inventor, but a product developer when he calls companies. Says that “inventor” conjures up too many bad associations, but “product developer” is something they understand and can relate to. Any similar thoughts?

Mike, I use Inventor or Product Developer depending on the company I am contacting. If they have any refernces to Inventors on their site or in articles then I use Inventor. If I see they have a department head for Product Development I use that.
Charles, and anyone else interested. take a look at my profile page and the photos section. I just added three new presenation sheets . If you look at the first one that is the original and only thing I sent them. Based on that drawing and further discussion we decided to revamp my idea and make it more action oriented. Then we revamped it again to the final design, which I think works best.
This is my arguement about people rushing for a patent. If you look at the first one and the final product the patent would not have covered it. I would be spending more money to fit the new design. It is what I call" What started out a dog ends up a cat" syndrome. When a company looks at your idea you don’t need to be married to that idea because it will most likely change from the original to the shelf.

Roger: Nice job on the sells sheets…It is always helpful to see real examples. I had a hard time conceptualizing how to condense all the pertinent info onto one page until I saw yours. Direct and easy to comprehend!

Glad they are helpful. You don’t have to go broke having a good looking presentation to get your point across. The best way to set them up is make a list of what you feel are the most important points and work from there.

I’ve come a long way, baby! I’ve got my first one done….and I might give it a C+, but hey I did it. I used Google Docs- the presentation format. Let’s you bring in images from anywhere, add comments, etc.

I even figured out how to convert to pdf and them email it to my own account!

Now I’m on to prioritizing the companies to contact and getting the names and phone #’s.

Cool Mike. I need to get doing this too. My problem is that I wish I knew how to use photoshop to make a visual of my idea, instead of the msPaint graphics I have.

Jason,
If you are better at sketching than photoshopping, you might consider sketching the idea first, then scanning it in and using photoshop or mspaint for color and text. That’s my plan, when I don’t go 3D that is.

mark- I know that tip wasnt for me, but thank you, it’s a helpful one!

Jason, If you have photoshop installed – just
play around with it. It’s really not hard.
I do my whole website with photoshop – If I
could do it, anyone can do it.
Check out my site – cafepress.com/zoozooz

Mark, when you scan a document and you want to make changes to it, do you have to be in photoshop to make changes? I don’t have photoshop and I want to alter this scanned document like cutting and pasting. Can you do that in other MS programs?

Patrice- you can scan into ms paint or photo impressions and then make some changes from there

I found my way into ms paint.

I’m glad you found it Patrice,
Sorry I was away and couldn’t answer. I didn’t know anyway, I use Photoimpact.

I still couldn’t alter the scanned copy the way I wanted to. I want to cut a piece of the document out and past it on a different sheet.

Did you try making a complete copy of it on the other sheet, then cropping to just the part you want?

I’m not sure what you mean. I just scanned the document and saved it on my c drive. Then when I choose to edit it, it brings me into ms paint but I can’t cut words out and paste them on a different sheet.

Sorry Patrice, I missunderstood.

I don’t use the same software as you but I think they will be very similar. I scan and clarify and crop and color in my graphics software (PhotoImpact) then save as a jpeg. Then I open my word processor (Openoffice) and insert the jpeg as a picture. There I size it and add text and arrows with the draw menu.
I hope this helps.

Does anyone else have any sell sheets for items they have marketed they can share with the community? Only post ones that can shown without giving you any issues for disclosure. I think everyone here would benefit from seeing the different styles that can be done. Since you can not post them here I put mine in the Photos section of my profile page. They show up nicely.

Here is my issue with selling.If you have to sell,you’re talking to the wrong person.

you can try to do it using the free version of photoshop…or the ‘trial’ version, i’m not sure how extensive it lets you get.

Adam, can you clarify what you mean by “Here is my issue with selling.If you have to sell,you’re talking to the wrong person.”

Selling is a large part of inventing if you plan on getting it to market. You have to sell yourself and your idea to the company you are pitching. Granted, not every Inventor is as good pitching as they are inventing. That is a stumbling block for the success of many Inventors.

Roger.I have to mow the lawn before it rains-I’ll be back

My statement was crass,Roger.You,as an experienced and knowledgeable person,could have nuked that.You didn’t,because you are a knowledgeable experienced person,and do not react to the obvious.
If I was to start selling you something,you would probably tell me to stop selling and tell you direct,give you the information,giving you time to interact,explore conversationally.You’ve either got something or you dont.As an inventor,you have to make sure you have.The onus is on both parties to understand what is on offer,it’s that serious.
It’s not a wine and cheese party.
The market is hungry,and the competition is on your heels.

I’ve been trolling on AbsolutelyNew (which somebody told me was an invention scam company, changing names whenever the temp rises) but they have a TON of sell sheets you can look at here:

http://www.absolutelynew.com/manufacturers/products.php

Please note, I’m NOT saying they’re all great—some are obviously just quick & dirty, but some are pretty good. Every one has a “BENEFITS/FEATURES” area.

As far as graphics programs, there are a few options (I do interactive/graphics professionally, and if anybody wants, maybe we can start a thread to share graphics/design info.) Adobe has Photoshop Elements, which is a fraction of the cost of the full Photoshop but has most of its features. I don’t think it does CMYK, but if you’re just doing DTP on an inkjet, it doesn’t matter. Always print to glossy (photo) stock, try to keep your images to at least 300DPI.

There are a bunch of desktop publishing options to the $1300 Adobe CS3. Ready Set Go was actually around long BEFORE even Quark Xpress, and it’s been rejuvenated (not sure about the PC version).

If you want FREE hi-res photos, go here:

http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml

If you want many more choices and other options, go here:

http://istockphoto.com/index.php

Those are all the secrets I’m prepared to divulge today ;-)

Another thing: try to have a face on your sell sheet. The human face is a powerful visual magnet. Preferably pretty, or young, or smiling. Or all three.

Thanks Bradley. Great info. Fun to look at all those sell sheets. I have seen a few of those products on the market, like the reindeer antlers for your car :).

Thanks, Bradley. That’s some great stuff for me to dig into!

Or a real ugly face Brad, one they won’t forget
and maybe get a laugh out of it. LOL

great info Bradley, thanks!!!

Great Stuff!

I’ve created two sell sheets in the last week. They need some work, but I’m improving.