Creative Advertising Collaboration: Final Outcome

In order to finalise the designs ready for pitching the ads have been made into the correct dimensions for a ad shell, billboard and tube ad. This will allow the designs to be mocked up easily as the final outcomes are the right specification, meaning little manipulation will be needed. In relation to the designs themselves finishing touches where made to ensure consistency across adverts (see figures 1-3). Helvetica Neue Bold has been used for the main copy to allow the type to stand out whilst being easily legible at a glance (see figure 1-3). Furthermore Avenir Next has been used for the tag line and brand name as this was the closest match available to the typeface used by Shake n' Vac (see figure 1-3). Throughout each outcome the text has been right aligned to match product placement and the position of the tag line, allowing consistency to be achieved throughout (see figure 1 and 3). The only ad where this isn't the case is figure 2 however the this makes sense for the illustration used, with the position of the tagline and product staying the same creating consistency. Once these final iterations had been made I mocked the adverts up using found imagery for figures 5-6 and an online digital mockup for figure 4. The use of digital mock allowed for a more professional outcome to be presented as a high resolution image was not available for the ad shell.

Overall the final ads work well as a three due to the consistency created by the use of pastel colours and Helvetica Neue across all ads. However I feel these design lack innovation as the illustration paired with copy is a very simple approach. Due to the collaborative nature of the brief compromises had to be made as copy needed to be the main focus of the design as Lydia is a copywriter. Furthermore as Lydia wanted to the copy to be the main focus of the ads which limited the concept around the designs. Furthermore although the designs do have conceptual backing this was limited due to the collaboration within the brief, for example the use of a brighter blue within the message inspire ad is more conceptually sound however Lydia felt a more muted blue would work better which was supported by tutor feedback. Personally I would have explored the use of type more (see figure 7), making the designs appeal to students more as their was an opportunity within this brief to reinvent shake n' vac more which I feel we lost within the brief by focusing too much on making the ads fit shake n vac currently rather than creating something new. I experimented with the use of type more, incorporating product imagery in order to create a stronger link to shake n vac (see figure 7). I would have developed these further as I feel these are more appealing to students and the type and colours are more relevant to the visual language consumed by students. However the use of illustrations was preferred by Lydia which was further supported by tutor feedback, leading to the final outcomes. Although the final adverts are quite safe they effectively target students through the message of the copy with the illustrations/ad design helping communicate the tone of voice more clearly.

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Figure 5

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Figure 7