In typical fashion, I put off the more involved assignment until the last minute. However, my kids are leaving tomorrow to visit their mom out of state and I wanted to spend some time with them before they left. I decided to take them on a short trip over the weekend. Now I’m home, exhausted, and running out of time. I did get some pictures of advertisements that I can use, and hopefully, I’ll be able to put into writing what I have in my sleep deprived head.
It was a busy weekend, but I was able to take some pictures while running around today. This week we were learning about the different elements of design, so I looked for different ads that incorporated color, typography, metaphors/symbols, minimalism & use of space, form/function/message, balance, rhythm, proportion, dominance, and unity. Below are a few of the ads I found that incorporated some of these design principles.
Typography
In this Cava ad, a woman is pouring sauce into a bowl of food. The caption at the bottom says, “Boldly Mediterranean” in all capital letters with each word appearing on a separate line. The word “boldly” is significantly larger than “Mediterranean.” The designer used typography to make “Bolder” literally appear bolder than than anything else in the ad.
Dominance
This Goodyear ad uses dominance to emphasize the strength and power of its tires. The ad shows a Mustang with Goodyear tires and the words “Power Through” underneath. The camera angle looks up at the car from the ground, making the car appear even larger and the front tire as the focal point. The blue car takes up the top two thirds of the ad. The bottom third of the ad is even a reflection of the car (specifically, the tire), which makes it even more dominant (and powerful).
Proportion
This Goodyear ad shows the Goodyear blimp hovering over a red car on a runway. The ad makes good use of proportion between the blimp and the car. While the blimp is larger than the car in the ad, in reality, the blimp is substantially larger than it appears in the ad. To accomplish this effect, the car is much closer to the camera in the foreground.
Minimalism
In this Chipotle ad, the new Pollo Asado meal appears on a white background with the name of the dish written underneath, along with the words “New” and “Bright, Flavorful, and Uniquely Chipotle.” This ad is an example of minimalism because each of the elements in it are important to the design. It uses white space to draw attention to the dish, which is the only colorful item in the ad, except for the red text saying, “New.” If the picture of the food was in black and white, this ad would not be effective because it wouldn’t visualize how “bright” and “flavorful” it is.
