Hello :) For this blog, I am going to demonstrate how to create an ad by blending multiple photos together. In one of my classes this semester we used a generator to help us find the product that we would be advertising. My product is highlighters from the Sharpie company. My audience for this advertisement is for men and women who are in a relationship between the ages of 45-54.
Taking in these factors, I began to think of what people their age would be doing in life. One thing that came to my mind was bucket lists. Although in this age group, most couples would be having children and working, I decided to make it a point that they don’t have to give up on their dreams while they are still kind of young in life. I figured that many of the things that people would write down on their bucket lists would be to travel somewhere they haven’t been. As you will see later in my example, this is the perspective that I took.
Once finding my ideas, I made a list of the key components and jotted down ideas and thoughts that made me think of them. For example, one of my keywords was travel. I then thought and wrote down words that related to traveling and some of the words I thought of included, plane; airplane ticket; car; road; destination, etc.
After gathering my thoughts and doing some sketches, I began to use Google to help me find images from different websites. All of the images that I found are shown below (attached with links):
After finding all of the photos that I needed, I was ready to create my ad. For my advertisement, I used Adobe’s Photoshop program. When arranging the photos to represent your message, it is always important to keep in mind the principles of design and making sure you apply them. Proximity and alignment is a big priority because it will help to appeal to your audience. No one likes looking at something and having the sense of it being off balance. Typography is another key to a good advertisement. Although it is fun to do fancy lettering, it can also be a distraction to your message.
Once the images were set in place, I had to come up with a slogan and a ‘call to action’ statement. In this class, I learned that it is important to make sure that your slogans and ‘call to action’ statements are short and to the point, otherwise you lose the reader. After thinking a while about what I wanted the message to be, I came up with some cheesy phrases to grab the audience. My slogan was, “Life is short. Turn your dreams into the highlights of your life,” and my ‘call to action’ statement was, “Don’t miss out on making these moments stand out, grab your favorite sharpie and highlight today”. Both of these statements are great examples because it grabs the reader and tells them exactly what you want them to do after reading the advertisement.
Below is my advertisement and I hope this blog has helped you in the process of making your own ad.
Katherine Moots 