Lesson 13 — Activity 2: Visual Techniques
Completion requirements
Lesson 13 — Activity 2:
Visual Techniques
As you learned in Theme 1, many messages are communicated visually as well as through spoken and written words. This is certainly true of advertising. Much thought and money is put into the visual presentation of ads.
There are several aspects to consider when analyzing the visual content of ads:
There are several aspects to consider when analyzing the visual content of ads:
Advertising Tips!
- Images: Advertisers want us to associate their product with positive feelings, so they choose their models, scenery, and other images carefully.
- Colour: Vivid colours are more likely to attract our attention than black and white. We associate various colours with various feelings. Blue makes us feel calmer, yellow makes us feel more cheerful and energetic, red makes us feel more powerful, orange makes us feel like eating, and so on. We also pay more attention to light colours than to dark colours.
- Logos: Companies want to be recognized by consumers, so logos often are prominent features of ads.
- Size: The easier the ad is to see, the more likely the product will be noticed and remembered. Often products are shown larger than they really are.
- Print: Ads have a very short time to catch our attention, so advertisers usually limit the amount of reading in an ad and let the images sell the product.
- Layout:
Advertisers place print in the shape of a "Z" with something to attract
our attention at the top left-hand side, something interesting in the
middle, and a logo or message toward the bottom right-hand side