Advertising Design

3 Cardinal Sins of Crummy Ads

3 “Cardinal Sins”

1. Material to be copied is of poor reproduction quality

2. Wrong typefaces

3. Poorly designed ad

Sin 1: Material is of Poor Reproduction Quality

-Strange colored inks or papers

-Drawings with fine lines

-Already-screened photographs

-over-enlarged art

-using old newspaper ads

Sin 2: Wrong Typefaces

-The type style (font) you select for an ad helps convey the tone of an ad

You would never do a flirty, silly aD in this font. The tone of the font just doesn’t match the tone of the ad.

-Running too many typefaces or incompatible typefaces will make the ad look bad

Sin 2: Definitions• Typeface: an alphabet style and all its variations or

fonts (Arial Black, Arial Narrow, Arial)• Font: all characters in a certain size and style• Serif: type that has small ornamental lines or extra brush

strokes added to the letter. this is a serif font (times new roman). this is also a serif font (papyrus).

• Sans Serif: type that has extra brush strokes eliminated. This is a sans serif font (arial). This is also a sans serif font (tahoma).

Sin 2: Definitions

• Point: unit measuring the height of type

• Pica: unit measuring the width of type; 6 picas to the inch

• Body Copy Size: a typeface that looks good in smaller sizes (helvetica always looks good in small sizes, even this small.)

• Reverse Type: white lettering on a black background

Sin 2: Other Info• Only 1-3 typefaces should appear in a single ad (NO MORE THAN 3!!!)

So you could use Arial, and you could use Handwriting, and you could use cheers type, but that’s it.

• Use contrasting sizes of type in an ad, but not wildly contrasting

A contrast between large and small fonts creates attention.

But don’t go crazy; that creates a

distraction.

Sin 3: Poorly Designed Ad

• All ads need the 5 Essential Elements• Balance: where items are placed in relation to

the optical center of the ad, which is NOT the exact center

• Optical center is slightly to the left and slightly above the mathematical center

• Formal Balance: when the left and right-hand sides of the ad mirror each other

• Informal Balance: When the left and right-hand sides of an ad do not mirror each other

Formal Balance

Informal Balance

Sin 3: More on Balance

• Perfectly balanced things are static and boring

• Create eye movement by unequal balance either top/bottom or left/right

• Create tension by leaving white space (negative space) around type

Effective Use of White Space

Sin 3: Avoid Designing a Crummy Ad

• Simplicity: avoid crowding an ad with too many elements so the message is lost

• Overly-elaborate borders and small art clutter an ad

• Gaze Motion: How you want to person’s eyes to move across the ad

• Dominant Element: Something has to serve as the focal point for the reader’s eye (can be headline, art, or large block of copy)

Avoid Overcrowding

Effective Use of Dominant Element

Sin 3: More Info

• Borders: Ornate borders are bad. The ad’s message should attract the reader.

• The art should be the heaviest part of an ad• Headlines: should be a short, snappy sales

pitch to catch the reader’s attention (don’t have to be complete sentences; can be a single word)

• The best ads are balanced by blank space (white space) to give the ad “breathing room”

• Without white space, the elements on the page get lost

Catchy Headline