What are the main points to remember when designing an advertisement?

Hi Amber

You didn't say where you are in school, but I'm hoping if you are in high school or middle school you are taking some art classes. Good advertising design is good art design, so even basic art classes will help you in terms of learning strategies for catching a viewer's eye, color schemes, composition, and the use of all the elements and principles of design. You'll also need to be familiar with Adobe photoshop and other computer graphics programs (I'm not sure what the latest are), so look into computer graphics classes. I would also talk to your current art teachers for ideas on what skills they think you would need in advertising design.

There is a lot of advertising to see! Here is an assignment I used to do with my students. Flip through your favorite magazine and see which advertisements catch your eye. Look at the ones you really notice and try to analyze the ad....what was it that caught your eye? Was it the overall design, the colors, how well whatever it is selling is presented, the words, the size of the words, the typeface of the words and so on. Do this whenever you see an ad that you like; analyze it, and see what you can learn from the ad.

If you are in high school or middle school, you could get some practice in advertising by working with the various clubs and helping out with their posters. As a start, pick a club you might be interested in, or are a member of already, and volunteer to come up with posters, either hand done or on the computer.

Best wishes!

I work in TV advertising and the important thing to remember is that you are selling products and services. You can create something that's extremely creative and artistic, but if it doesn't do the goal of clicking on the ad, getting people to call, or walking in the door, well then it has no purpose. So here are some pointers:

1. know your client. What there business is. How they operate. Who buys there products/services? What challenges do they face? What are they looking to a complish. Whatever strategy you think of, do they have the resources on the back end to follow it theough and convert it into a sale?
2. Know your audience. Who's buying what your selling? What are there like and interests? What would make them want your client's products/services? Knowing you audience will dictate the strategy and art direction. Young teens may want something with faster edits, or brighter colors. However middle aged moms maybe interested in value.
3. know the medium! You would never put a print ad on tv or a tv ad on the radio. Social media platforms have their own unique methods as well.
4. Story and emotion! If you look at most successful ads today there's usually some sort of emotional hook used to grab the viewer's attention. What advertisers face today is the challenge of cutting through the noise. When I was a kid, there were 4 channels in the tv to choose from. Now there are hundreds if not thousands if you can include online sources. Good ads start with a hook of some sort to draw people in on an emotional level. Maybe they want to spend less so their family can have more, maybe its a touching story of someone overcoming something, sometimes it just giving them a laugh, giving them solid information, or even entertaining them... hoping you gave them something in return for their time. However sometimes the straight sell works best. A lot of my legal clients for example have found the best ads where they offer results for certain types of cases.
5. in advertising repetition is key. In tv and radio the general rule is to mention the client at least 3 times. Case in point AFLAC. Their AFLAC duck campaign has been one of the most successful ad campaigns ever. The goal was to make AFLAC a household name. This rule of repetition also applies for other mediums. You can have the best tv or online ad, but if it airs only once, it might as well not even air. People need to see it at least 3 times before it even registers with them.
6. Don't clutter the message! Cant stress this enough. The best ads communicate 1 thing, but no more than 3! The more copy points you stick in there, the more people tune out. When it comes to advertising, remember this: No one cares about all the hard work you put into something. At best they are only half watching it. It just because how saturated the market is with information. So if you keep this in mind, and make something that conveys some sort of point even if they only see half your ad, you're already doing better. Most people, when and if they watch tv, have a phone or tablet nearby. Hopefully you got a creative hook to keep them focused on you. In the end, keep ypur copy simple.
7. effective ads sometimes offer some sort of value to the consumer for their time. Online nowadays is the concept of establishing a brand as a trusted advisor. That you give your customer the information and time they need to reach a decision. This approach also works well in b2b applications, as you set yourself up to establish longterm relationships with clients who return for repeat business. Sometimes this means sacrificing in short term knowing they'll be with you longterm.
8. Now the part about execution. Creating the creative part, the fun part. Well you got to take all the above and apply it to a company. I recommend getting Gary Vaynerchuck's book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. He has lots of effective illustrations on different types of ads used in social media campaigns and how they were used effectively. He talks about design, execution, and tailoring each ad type to each social media medium. The title equates to give, give, give, sell. Meaning giving people value first, so that when you make a pitch for sales, they feel comfortable buying.
9. The other thing you will want to study if you go to art school type design and color theory. As certain colors have an emotional meaning. If you want ot learn to edit, learn the art of story telling.