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Design Review

Recently, I’ve been learning about the design principles of contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, and color. The purpose of this post is to identify how these principles were used effectively in following ad campaign for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 + Gear.

Link: https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/samsung_sleeve

Credits

  • Advertising Agency: Cheil, Canada
  • Creative Director: Jason Partridge
  • Associate Creative Director: Helene Larochelle
  • Copywriter: Brook Johnston
  • Published: October 2013

Analysis

Contrast

Contrast helps to draw the eye into the image as well as provide a focus. This ad is focused on communicating that there is a new version of the Samsung Galaxy and it can be paired with gear, or, a smart watch. The contrast is found through the color choices. The phone is lightly colored while the watch has a black screen with a bright orange wristband.

Repetition

Repetition is used to provide consistency. One way that this ad shows consistency is through repeating “Samsung” and “Note” throughout the piece. Samsung is a recognizable brand, so I liked how they chose to show the name not only at the top where they are announcing a product, but also showing it on the back of the phone. They also repeated the word note in order to help readers remember which version of the product it is. The word, note, appears three times in the ad, twice while naming the product, and once as the tagline “Take Note”.

Alignment

Alignment is used to help create cohesion, and in this ad, they chose to use a left alignment for all of their text. It looks clean, and visually appealing to the readers.

Proximity

Proximity is used to create relationships through spacing. All of the information that goes together has been grouped together so that the reader is not confused. For example, the phrase “Look what we have up our sleeve” is in two different colors, so it could be thought that they were two separate ideas. However, since the wording is all grouped together, the reader can easily know it is one continuous phrase.

Color

I really liked that the majority of the ad is black and white, but with two pops of orange. The color really draws the reader’s attention to the words up our sleeve, which then makes them look at the wristband on the smartwatch. It’s a great way to promote the “new gear” that can be paired with the Galaxy Note 3 phone.

Conclusion

Following the design principles of contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, and color really make an ad look cohesive, professional, visually appealing, and easy to understand. I really enjoyed finding this Samsung ad to analyze and was pleased to find that they followed the design principles. This was done through contrasting the color of the phone with the smart watch to draw attention to two new products, repeating the words Samsung and note for brand recognition and to instill the new product name, aligning all of the text to the left, grouping like information together to create a relationship through proximity, and adding the pop of orange to draw the reader in and inform them.

Ad Campaign Analysis

This week in my Visual Media class we chose an ad from a well known brand and created our own to accompany it. In this post I will be analyzing both ads to see how the design principles of repetition, color, and typography were followed successfully.

This is the original ad that I chose.

Link: http://creativecriminals.com/print/heinz/sliced-bottle

Credits

  • Advertising Agency: McCann, London
  • Country: United Kingdom

Analysis

Repetition

One way that they used repetition was through the words ketchup and Heinz. It’s interesting that while the word tomato and the number 57 are sliced up on the label, ketchup and Heinz are not. The words are repeated on the label and in the sentence at the bottom. I think this was a clever way to get the reader to associate ketchup with their brand Heinz.

Color

This ad utilizes complimentary colors red and green. Complimentary colors are ones that are directly across from each other on the color wheel. The red of the tomato slices compliments the green stem on top. The label also contains the green outline with red writing at the bottom of the label.

Typography

This ad uses a sans serif font in both the label and the line of text at the bottom. Sans serif means that there are no serifs on the ends of the strokes of the letters. This type also has the same thickness all the way around.

My Ad

Attribution

Repetition

I also chose to repeat the word Heinz throughout the ad by having multiple bottles of ketchup growing on a vine. Instead of just seeing the word three times like in the original ad, you can now see it five times.

I continued the use of red and green complimentary colors, but a new addition was the little tomato on the bottle. The green from the logo also compliments the red background.

My ad also uses a sans serif font. It is not the same as the original ad, but it is pretty close!

I really enjoyed this assignment because it allowed me to imagine what an ad I would make would look like to go with a well known company. I also enjoyed analyzing their design techniques and incorporating some of them into my own.

Type and Photography Make a Difference!

This week, I learned how using correct principles of typography and photography can make a piece look more professional and put together. In today’s post I will be analyzing a magazine spread and how they effectively used typography through identifying the typeface that was used and how they are identified, what elements make the typeface contrasting, and how the photographer used the principle of depth of field in their photo. Then, I will insert three photos that I took that also use depth of field and go along with the theme of the magazine spread.

cookingwjulie.com/as-seen-in

Julie Hartigan was featured in the Spring 2018 edition of Where Women Cook Magazine. Photography: Jules Roberts

Analysis

Category of Typeface

The two types of type that were used in this spread were sans serif (Engineer of Her Own Career:) and script (Julie Hartigan). Sans means “without” in french, so sans serif means without serif. Another identifying characteristic is that there is no visible thick/thin transitions in the strokes of the letters; they are the same thickness all the way around. Script is a typeface that looks like it has been hand-lettered with a calligraphy pen, brush, or sometimes with a pencil.

Contrast

There are six ways to provide contrast in type: size, weight, structure, form, direction, and color. In this magazine spread they used color to provide contrast between the two types. Not only is more visually appealing, it also helps to organize information. Having Julie’s name in white immediately let’s us know that they article is about her.

Photography

Depth of Field

The photographer utilized depth of field in this photo by focusing on the noodles while the background is blurry. This technique helps create layers and transforms the photograph from looking two-dimensional, to having depth.

My Photos


I tried to mimic the photographer’s use of depth of field by focusing on a food item and having the background be blurry. My photos could be inserted into the magazine spread because they are demonstrating cooking meals which is what Julie does for a career.

Conclusion

I was immediately drawn to this magazine spread because it was so visually appealing. Having two different typefaces really made the title stand out and having the contrasting colors helped to organize the information. Using depth of field in the photo drew my eye to the delicious looking noodles as well as made the photo more interesting by adding layers. By having the chance to practice taking my own photos, it really gave me an appreciation for the thought photographers put into their photos.

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