Asher - Readings

#4

Reading #4

Chapter 13 talks about designing websites that maintain a balance of functionality, interactivity, and aesthetic. People (myself included) have extremely short attention spans so its crucial that these elements remain balanced. The internet has taken over the world and you have short increments of time to make users interact. The hierarchy of logical information must be in order so that people don’t lose interest. Being able to make everything concise as possible is key.

Chapter 14 talks about designing for mobile devices. Smart phones have also taken over the world and most people become lost in them and are constantly interacting with them, (myself included.) This is a golden opportunity for advertising. R.U.L.E. is an extremely useful tip that applies to every field of design and forces one to really think of how to grab someones attention and engage them through a visual medium.

Chapter 15 is all about social media and various forms of marketing. Social media is an entirely different ball game than other types and the R.A.V.E.S. rule like R.U.L.E can also be widely applicable to all fields of design. The most interesting concept is the idea of ambient advertising, which places ads in a unique spot or context to intrigue people.  It incorporates existing spaces and structures to promote a project. Ambient advertising projects are what I would hopefully like to work on some day if I ever work in advertising.

#3

Chapter 5 talks all about how to think creatively and generate new ideas through the “Concept Generation Process” (prep stage, incubation period, illumination, verification)which logically breaks down how one can interact to come up with new ideas. This process is extremely useful and has opened up my mind a bit on how one should go about facing a creative mental block. Sometimes simply stepping away for a bit can be all that one needs. The chapter also talked about symbolism and visual analogies. Symbolism requires consumers to already know inherent information so that when they read the ad, they interact with it by feeling like they apart of something.

#2

Chapter 7 focuses on the presentation of advertisements and how to be innovative. Attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter and visual pollution is at an all time high. We are constantly bombarded with visual garbage that our minds completely skim over because it is so far off our mental radars. You’re not gonna be able to sell any products without getting anyones attention first. Chapter 8 focused mainly on typefaces and on how / when to choose them. There are endless amounts of typefaces and every miniscule little detail matters with type from the spacing to placement to tracking to kerning to leading. This was simply a reminder of the importance in advertising. Chapter 9 is all about composition and how ads should be properly structured to attract the attention of a consumer through a balanced visual hierarchy.

#1

Whether we believe it or not our lives are greatly influenced by the advertisements around us. People are always trying to sell something, at every corner and every turn. Signs, product placement, newspapers, billboards, tv, internet ads – any medium that one could possibly imagine. This book really just describes the essence of what drives designing advertisements. Landa states in the book that advertising  is “a specific message constructed to inform, persuade, promote, provoke, or motivate people on behalf of a brand or group.” The next chapter explains the six phases of an advertising project process- (overview, strategy, ideas, design, production, implementation)

A good example of product placement would be Lil Wayne’s brand Trukfit, which he created so he can rant about it in his songs and wear it in his videos to promote.