In the age of high-tech digital marketing, magazine and print media banner advertising is alive and well. Today’s critique is on my magazine ad design for AzaMax, an organic insecticide.
For starters, knowing the limited dimensions I have to work with is always key in print media design. For this project the limit was 300×300. Some graphic designers might look at those dimensions as very restrictive, but in actuality you just have to be smart with the space allotted.
Visual Design Cues
The company has a message that goes along with their product. It’s an organic insecticide that protects your plants yet is safe to all kinds of life including honey bees (whose numbers have been in sharp decline), house pets and even humans. Those ideas are illustrated throughout the design.
The Victim
The plants being protected in this advertisement are sunflowers. In steps the product!
The Defender
The imagery of a shield is known to be one of power and defense stopping all threats. I branded a custom designed shield with the company name which steps in to repel all insect attacks.
The Selling Point
Keeping in mind that the product is safe for insect life, so it wouldn’t be correct to depict the ad killing pests left and right! Instead, I designed it with a swarm of different pests heading toward the flowers, only to be repelled for their efforts. This shows buyers that the product is effective and safe for insect life.
Atmosphere
Of course plants needing insecticide are outdoors, but the setting of the scene needs to look inviting. You don’t want a dreary, rainy day in your advertisement. It’s a turn off. Instead, I staged the design as a bright sunny day with big white puffy clouds! Why? Sunny days and blue skies subconsciously trigger a feeling of happiness and calm. Knowing that bit of psychology makes the advertisement more inviting by triggering happy emotions with a simple use of colors.
Using the grass as not only a means to make the scene look more believable, I decided to use is at my baseline for all the action. Doing this allows me to keep the action above and separate from the product information. I blended the grass in with the dirt below for an earthy background that will make written text pop!
Logo Design and Tagline
A nice logo design is great for any company’s image. This logo in particular has plant leaves as imagery which is fitting given the product. The tagline itself makes a strong message about the product: the Proactive Protection for your Plants. This reinforces the active scene of the insects attacking and the product (the shield) stepping in and fending them off, safely.
Fonts and Text
For the ad’s tagline I used a large, bold and easy to read font to backup the idea of strength. I used the two main colors of white (for cleanliness and make the scene brighter) and green (because of the eco-friendly impact of the product).
The product details are written “underground” with the same orange hue that exists in the logo for some harmony. It shows well on the simulated dirt. I use a slender yet readable font for the info. This type of font is extremely easy to read in very small sizes. Remember 300×300 is our image size, and 200×200 is the possible final print size, so use of space is extremely important. Complete with enough room for a clearly readable URL, this banner design wrapped up nicely!
