Ad Essay

As I do not get many magazines, and I no longer get the paper, I decided to look for my ad online. The one I found is an ad for a jewelry company. It struck me immediately as interesting because of the relative simplicity of its layout and design. I have posted the color version of this ad on my blog, as my printer has apparently run out of some of the color cartridges; I printed it out in black and white.
The first thing I want to mention about this ad is the scale of the image versus the text towards the bottom. Though the text is obviously meant for those actively seeking further information regarding the product and company, it still provides a nice balance to the image in the composition. The centered placement of the hands and bracelet enhance the effect of the hands actively presenting the product to the viewer. There is a definite hierarchy regarding the importance of information in this ad, with the image of the product at the top. Then the slogan “Empower yourself through others,” followed lastly by the relevant information at the bottom of the page.
The text as a separate unit display contrasting text and size with regard to their importance to the reader. As the slogan is meant to be eye-catching and noticed first, it is set off from the rest of the text. It is also much larger and has a less formal alignment, as everything else is centered, left or right aligned. The words “Yourself” and “Others” are made much larger for a stronger emphasis, whereas the word “through” was made much smaller than the rest of the slogan and put in a serif font and italics, which still makes it stand out albeit with a much softer emphasis. The next set of text in line of importance is the two logos for “green” and “Simons Jewelry Co.” and the website address for the company. These are all placed along the same line at the very bottom of the ad as a group. The web address has the same modern font as the majority of the slogan which helps to tie the groups together as mutually relevant. Now finally, if the reader is truly interested, they would read the text grouped between the slogan and the logos. This group has the smallest font size, to the point where it is almost impossible to read. This is obviously the least important information to the reader at this time.
Again I want to mention contrast in the ad. However, this time in regards to the color contrast of the black background against the highlighted skin tones in the hands and the bright color of the jewelry. The bracelet is made as the focus, being a brighter shade than anything else on the page. It has also been placed at the very center of the ad with almost nothing obstructing it.

My Art Show Ad

My main idea for this logo was to create a simple, pattern-like ad. I didn’t want to clutter the space with too much text or information. I started off my design ideas by actually looking up art show ads online and the ones I was drawn to had elements of repetition in the images they used so I wanted to move more in that direction. I took the same image of a cavalier in fighting stance that I used for the school logo and a way to tie them together. However, looking back on it I wish I’d used a different image. Maybe one that isn’t so aggressive looking, or at least that translated better into a pattern and didn’t leave so much awkward space. As far as the text goes, I wanted to create a clear distinction between the “ArtFair” information and the technical details such as date, time and place. I wanted the text for the ArtFair to look very interesting and different, and not so formal or traditional. I’m really pleased with the way it works and how it looks with the larger cavalier image in the background. In earlier layouts that I created, I actually just created a type of border with the little cavaliers that ran along only one side of the add. Then for the text, I incorporated black boxes and interchanging black and white text for the information. Looking back on it now that this version is posted, I really wish I had gone forward with my initial ideas. However, I really do like the idea of a repetitious pattern breaking up the space as is shown in an ad I found online that I posted in a previous post.

Awesome Ad

Sketches for logo

School Logo

I decided to create a new logo for my high school. Their mascot is a cavalier, so I really wanted to incorporate that idea more into the logo design. In their original logo, they only had the rapier to represent a cavalier which actually doesn't look all that bad in my opinion. However, since we had to change it I wanted to go into a different direction. I looked online for an image of a cavalier and I liked the ones I saw of them in a fighting stance, so I took one of those and created a path around it which I filled with solid black. Then I added the text in the school colors and did the shadow for each word in the inverted color. I played around with other design ideas and most of my other ones didn't incorporate images. I liked the ones with just text, but I felt that first of all they were too close to what the original logo design was and secondly I felt that the full figure cavalier was a powerful image. I realized that the multiple colors in it would create a problem and be too complex so that's why I decided on a sillouhette-type image to simplify it and hopefully create a stronger image. I stuck with a simple text because, again, I wanted to keep things simple and bold. Our school song is "The Fighting Cavaliers," so I wanted to embody that image of strength. Also, our school logo has always been simple no matter what it was, and so I wanted to stay with that idea. Hopefully this new logo turned out well.

Original School Logo

Illustrator image

Edited Self Portrait

I wasn't able to do much to my original image. It looks like I forgot to save a copy as a psd. file, so I only had the jpeg. version to work with. The first thing I did was to try and take away the black outline around the wedding photo. I used the smudge tool for this, which seemed to work pretty well. Then I used the magic wand tool to select the area between my husband and I in the wedding photo, where someone had mentioned a lamp post that was out of place. I played around with the brightness and contrast until I got an image that resembled the lighting of the background. Then I used the smudge tool again to soften the edges of my husband and I, and also to smudge the altered section so that you couldn't tell there was a lamp post in the background. I tried to do something about the blurred trees in the background, but that didn't work out so I cropped it, but I've also uploaded the before image since I'm not sure which one I like better. I also went back in both of them and made the whole image darker. I like the darker effect, and now that someone had mentioned it, I'm really glad that the lamp post is gone. I really wish I could have changed a lot more things, but for what I could do I definitely thinks it looks a little bit stronger.