Advertising
- Any paid form of communication from an identified
sponsor or source that draws attention to ideas,
goods, services, or the sponsor itself.
- It is a persuasive attempt to change or reinforce a
customer’s prior attitude and predictable behavior,
specifically to purchase or to consume more of a
particular brand of product or service.
Characteristics of Advertising
- It is an ART (creative process – writing, designing,
and producing the message) and a SCIENCE
(strategic thinking, planning and research on how
best to effectively communicate to consumers).
- It is anchored on an “appeal” – a promise of
benefit that targets the right motive that will spur
consumers to action.
- It is a collaborative and creative execution of
artistic production teams and marketing teams.
- The creative specialist or team must first dela with
the problem of drafting a concept. Then the
marketing specialist must develop a creative
strategy, determine appropriate appeals, and select
a styled of execution. The ad must then be cast into
a print, television, radio, or other format. At this
stage, copywriters generally collaborate with artistic
or production teams to create the actual
advertisements.
The Concept of Advertising Appeal
- Is anything that motivates a person to action. From
an advertising perspective, human beings are called
“bundles of wants” – a strange mix of hop,
ambitions, needs, interests, goals, etc. – referred to
as “Motives”
- An advertising appeal is nothing but a promise of a
benefit the advertised product will provide to the
buyer.
- It is the approach used in the advertisement to
attract the attention or interest of consumers and/or
influence their feelings toward the product, service,
idea of cause.
- It can be broken down into two categories0
informational/rational appeals (hard sell) and
emotional appeals (soft sell)
Anatomy of an Advertisement
Core Elements
 Visual – is the picture, image, or situation
portrayed in the advertisement. The visual also
considers the emotion, style, or look-and-feel to
be conveyed – without words.
 Headline – is generally what the viewer reads
first – i.e. the words in the largest typeface. The
headline serves as a hook for the appeal and the
projects “the offer (value)”; it should grab
attention, pique interest, and cause the viewer to
keep reading or paying attention. It might be the
voice-over of a narrator delivering the primary
message (video ads) or it might be visual (print)
 Subhead (optional) – is a smaller headline that
continues the idea introduced in the headline or
provides more information. It usually appears
blow the headline and in a smaller typeface.
 Body Copy (optional) – provides supporting
information. Generally, it appears in a standard,
readable font.
 Call To Action (CTA) – an active “verb” that
may be part of the body copy, headline of
appear elsewhere in a larger typeface or color
treatment to draw attention to itself.
 Brand Elements – these include the name of
the advertiser or brand being advertised, the
logo, a tagline, hashtag, web site link, or other
standard “branded” elements that convey brand
identity. These elements are an important way of
establishing continuity with other marketing
communications.
Ad Design
- It’s the intersection of marketing and design,
referring to the visual artwork created specifically for
advertisements.
- Its sole purpose is to sell products and services.
It banks on how well designers and marketers
understand their consumers and collaborate on
designs that best communicate the message to
consumers and has the power to bring them into
conversion.
10 Design Principles
- It’s the intersection of marketing and design,
referring to the visual artwork created specifically for
advertisements.
- Its sole purpose is to sell products and services.
- It banks on how well designers and marketers
understand their consumers and collaborate on
designs that best communicates the message to
consumers, and has the power to bring consumers
to conversion.
1. Composition & focal points
- Create an area of focus. This can be done through
use of a dominant element (image, graphic effect,
text) that is stronger than other parts of the page,
and by placing it in an area we are naturally inclined
to look.
2. Eye Path
- Determine the direction you want their sight to go
after getting the attention of the viewer. For cultures
that read left to right, and classic eye path for them
runes upper left to lower right. Its also about where
your customer’s eye goes first, then where it goes
after that. And you can control that with design,
3. Balance
- Create visual harmony and order. An unbalanced
layout creates tension. There are many factors that
contribute to balance – size, position, spacing of
elements, color compatibility or dissonance, shapes,
etc. there are no unbreakable rules
4. Color
- Is also used for impact, attention, and accent.
Attention can be drawn to bright colors that stimulate
a response. A call to action, for example, should
probably not be hidden or subdued by muted colors
that recede into the background. The challenge is for
these accents to interact harmoniously with your
brand identity.
8. Type/Text Styling
- The size, typeface family, choice of italic or roman,
normal, condensed or extended, weight, color,
leading, kerning, letter-spacing have a hug impact
on readability and perception of hierarchical
information. It can contribute to marketing
messaging success.
9. Grids & Alignment
- This helps give structure to a marketing vehicle.
Aligning elements when possible contributes to a
sense of order, and allows the eye to move
unencumbered through a layout
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10. Contrast
- Juxtaposition, duality, opposites, visual irony.
Contrast can be achieved through type styling, use
of texture and complementary colors. This allows for
engagement with the dualities in real life that all
people relate to. It breaks away from monotony and
directs viewers towards engaging energy.

5. Movement
- Line, form, shape, type choice, type size,
compositional elements, and placement all give a
piece movement.

6. White Space
- This offers relief to the viewer from the barrage of
constant information. Utilizing white space well can
extend eye engagement between viewer and an ad.
7. Familiar/repeated patterns or structure
- We are hardwired to recognize and respond
positively to symmetry, repeating patterns and
structures that intuitively feel sound. The eye will be
drawn to orderly arrangements of similar bits of
information (like links, or photo thumbnails) and will
be comfortable with, and accustomed to accessing
that information.