Blog post by: Emily Bangen, Baer Performance Marketing Intern
While digital advertising is growing and becoming the focus of many businesses, print advertisements in magazines and newspapers still have the ability to powerfully engage an audience and effectively communicate a message. When creating print advertisements, the layout of the design is everything.
Here are a few steps that lead to an effective print ad:
1.) Grab the readers’ attentions:
This day in age, there are so many advertisements being thrown at readers. Your ad needs to stand out. If you do not have an attention-grabbing element to your advertisement, readers will gloss over it and not remember it.
A unique photo like this catches the attention of the reader immediately keeping them engaged in your ad.
2.) Create an ad that is easy to understand:
Once you get the attention of the readers, your ad needs to be easy for them to understand. The words and the images on the advertisement need to complement each other, rather than take away from each other. Techniques such as selecting a clear type face, reverse type, and over printing can help you create an effective layout.
Trying different font types can help you find the clearest one possible for your advertisement.
3.) Focus on flow:
The flow of your ad is the final step in making an effective layout. Many readers won’t even read the body copy of an advertisement if their eyes do not flow there automatically. The amount of white space, the size and location of the company logo, and the placement of content all contribute to creating an effective or ineffective page flow.
- The picture should be the largest part of the advertisement, covering 60-70% of the ad space. Placing this picture in the middle of the page starts the flow of the ad.
- People read top to bottom and left to right—so, below the main picture should be your body copy. It should take up about 15% of the ad page.
- Next to this, in the bottom right corner of the page, should be the company logo, taking up around 5% of the page.
Placing each element in this location will create a natural reading flow for the audience—making your advertisement more effective.
An advertisement like this grabs your attention with a large photo. Then your eyes flow down to the body copy and across to the company logo. This keeps the reader engaged and allows them to take in all of the information.
These are just a few steps that need to be taken to create an effective print advertisement. Variations and personalization of these steps to each specific business or product can be used to create the ad campaign that you are hoping for.
Sources:
“AIA: Scream.” Ads of the World, 4 Sept. 2010, www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/aia_scream.
“Advertising Layout Part I: Space Allocations.” Films Media Group, 2011, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=100860&xtid=42303. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.
“Adsarchive.” Coloribus.com, Fresh Step Fresh Step Cat Litter, Sept. 2006, www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/fresh-step-cat-litter-hal-8825805/.
Strizver, Ilene. “Setting Readable Reversed Type.” CreativePro.com, Creative Pro, 2 Jan. 2018, creativepro.com/setting-readable-reversed-type/
