Living Large

http://yeswework.com/print-design/manfrotto-digi-ad/

I ran across this web page that featured the ad and an alternative image for the ad space.  I found this interesting.  First of all the ad is for a tripod, so we would expect that the images used would be very good images.  The audience are photographers so you would want to speak to them and demonstrate what great images you can get if you use this expensive tripod.  Both photos are very good quality. 
The top image uses a framing technique where the outer edges are darkened in order to draw focus to the center.    It also strongly uses the rule of thirds to place the woman and the tripod.  The bottom image is slightly off for a true use of the rule of thirds. 
In the top image the woman and tripod is bigger than life. In the second image, the woman and tripod is smaller than life. I can see why they didn't use the second image.  You don't want someone to associate your product with making you small unless you are a weight loss company.  The product should make you think you are "living large" if you use the product.  Even though the image at the top may technically be a better image for the reasons outlined above, it is better because it has an appropriate message. The one thing that bothers me about the top image is that the tripod leg looks broken where it goes through the cloud.  It did however make me look to figure it out.
The ad itself has a strong use of white space above the logo. 

The White House Uses Infographics

On Facebook this morning, the White House released a new infographic about the troops levels.  I thought it was a little cluttered and contained too much information.  It does show me in a glance that he has reduced troop levels but I think the information could have been reduced.  The emphasis however is on showing that the troop levels have been reduced. 

I wanted to compare it to a graph that caught my attention and resonated with me when it was released a few years ago.  The second graph is simple.  The colors show when Bush was in office and when Obama was in office and the number of job losses. I think the simplicity in the graph that tells a story is what resonated for me. 

Of course, I view the information that is presented with a cynical eye because figures don't lie but liars can figure but I liked the second graph because it was simple.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/12/business/facebook-privacy.html#

I think that these infographic were fascinating.  Although the image at the top is very confusing, I think it demonstrates the point of the image.  All the options that are available on Facebook to protect your privacy are available if you can figure it out.  The same can be said about the graphic.  I am not sure about the wisdom of showing confusion.  One of the comments in the class discussion was that they couldn't understand it. Maybe it is only me that took as confusing on purpose but also informative. 

The illustration of the length of the privacy policies show how long it has increased over time.  Instead of a bar chart, they chose to use an image of a document and I think it helped to visualize what they were saying.  The circles nicely show the number of words in privacy policies and then compare it to the US constitution.

Banner Ads and White Space

This banner ad caught my eye.  I think I have been trained to ignore what looks like a banner ad but this one caught my eye.  What first caught my eye was the tag line "the cutting edge of cinema".  It seems counter-intuitive to say "cutting edge of cinema" because movie theaters are so 'old school'.  It made me look at the rest of the ad.  Why did that small part of the ad catch my eye?

First, my daughter works for a local cinema, so maybe I am just predisposed to look at ads about movie theaters.  Second, I think that the white space surrounding the tag line drew my eye to it.  Everything else on the ad is fairly filled up, so initially I ignored it because it is typical of a banner ad. I find it interesting that what caught my eye was in all lower case compared to the larger, all capitalized "Regal Movie Gift Cards" which is what I think I noticed last.

The only color on the ad is the snacks and a small part of the logo.  That was the second thing I noticed and I find that interesting that they chose color for those elements because that is where they make the most (they don't make much on tickets at all).  I didn't note the graduated fill of the background color but maybe subconsciously it helped to draw my eye.  I am convinced that it was the white space that drew my eye the most.

Logo Quiz from Lecture

Scroll down for answers

From Logo Lecture

Open Arms

I thought that this movie poster was interesting.  First, the design is fairly simple.  We see the actor's name and the word 'YES' with an image of the actor with open arms.  We see in the bottom corner that the name of the movie is "Yes Man" so the poster is a kind of rebus puzzle.   The posture of Jim Carrey and the setting kind of reminds me of the "Sound of Music".   The colors are simple also. The warm and cool colors play on each other with the cool blue receding in the background and the warm green coming forward just as they do in nature.  The top and the bottom are fairly dark and toward the center, the background is low key.  The font used is a sans serif font and is simple and to the point. 

I think what caught my eye with this poster is a recent experience that my daughter told me about.  She was at a car dealership waiting for her car to be serviced.  In the showroom they were holding a salesman training session.  One of the main points that she got from it was that they were told to make sure that their arms were open when dealing with customers.  The body language of open arms makes people comfortable and they feel welcome.  From this poster we get the feeling he is feeling great and free but on another level, we feel like we could go up and talk to him because he is open.  His arm and leg that is pulled behind him also lead the eye to the upper corner and the bottom corner.  His pose tells and does a lot. 
http://www.reelmovienews.com/gallery/yes-man-poster/

Colors that pop!

 

I found this ad interesting because of the colors.  The cool blues and white recede into the background while the warm yellow that is saturated advances.  The blue also sends the message that it is high tech even though it is just a diner scene and the blue and yellow are directly across from each other on the color wheel.  The splash of red on both yellow areas draws your attention to the object.  I don't think that the font was appropriate however and it was not big enough to read even when the image was full size. 

The subject of the ad was a bit confusing however.  It took me awhile to figure out that the ad was for a book or magazine with 1000 cult objects.  That is not good.  However, the design caught my attention and made me stop and figure out what it was about. 

Canada Ad Uses Imagery to Lead the Eye

 

I found this ad interesting for several reasons.   As I was flipping through the magazine, this image caught my eye.  The statement in the middle of the photo is not very noticeable because it lacks significant contrast and size.  Instead the image leads the eye directly to the statement. In this size it is hard to see but there is a person standing at the top of the rock on uppermost rock.  Although I did not notice the person right away, I think it helped to lead my eye to the blurb. The image uses the rule of thirds.  The bottom left has content and the rocks send the eye around and up to the blurb which are also in the rule of thirds area.  I did not note the sun when I first viewed the image but I wonder if it helped to bring my eye down to the bottom left in order for my eye to float up and right.

Here is the low contrast, relatively small print statement:

 

 The Flat Earth Society? After I read the statement, I had to read the small print to figure out what it meant. 

 

It was only then that I discovered it was a tourism ad.  I thought it was quite clever because it forced the viewer to discover what it was about and relied on image to point to the blurb instead of large print with high contrast.  I also found it interesting that the blurb made me curious to read more.  

Source: Smithsonian Magazine. May 2011 pg. 29.