Print Adverts techniques Zak harwood Media studies week 1: task 1

Colour Colour is important because it can influence our buying mood, billboards often use extremely vibrant colours or things to stand out to really capture someone's attention. An example of this is the coca cola advert I have here The bold red background grabs peoples attention then the iconic coke logo or Father Christmas is what captures there attention next. The boldness of the red represents coke and Christmas and just captures the viewers attention. So these are all ways that that particular colour grabs attention.

Repetition Repetition can be used to keep the product in the minds of consumers which will therefore lead to increased knowledge on the service or product that’s being advertised. The only problem is if its overused then consumers will get bored of constantly seeing the posters or just tune out and could even put the off the product altogether so its all about finding the right amount- keeping the product fresh in consumers minds without making them sick of it.

Direct Gaze This is one of the hardest advertising techniques to pull off as the model has to have complete confidence in the brand message in order for it to have a successful effect on consumers. For example the man in this Davidoff poster is there because he’s attractive and the posters implying you can be like him too if you buy there product then the direct gaze on top of that really engages the consumer as they feel its being aimed at them

Association Association is when we see people in an image doing something and associate the product to that activity. This is a really old method that’s been used for a while especially in the 1950’s USA where they’d often advertise with lots of smiling faces so a consumer would see that they’re happy and automatically assume it’s a good product as its making people happy.

Body language Body language is often something we don’t think about when seeing posters because it often has a subconscious effect on us, for example in this poster here everyone's stood in expensive clothing standing in what we’d associate with powerful stances so as a consumer you'd think if you bought (in this case) Dolce and Gabbana clothing that we’d be powerful and this appeals to some people in an ostentatious way.

Composition Composition is the way things on a poster are organized. They often do this to make things look more appealing to capture the consumers attention. An example of this is when M&S’s food posters as they're always symmetrical to make their food look more appealing and makes the different more vibrant.

Rule of thirds The Rule of Thirds is a basic compositional technique that is implemented by dividing an image vertically and horizontally using an imaginary grid, as seen here According to this technique, important elements should be placed at the intersections of these horizontal and vertical lines.

Vectors Vectors are created to capture a consumers attention or to create an effect. For example this Berocca poster here not only makes your eyes trace the bike to the source of the trail but also represents Berocca breaking down as its fizzing like the bike going down the hill. This is a very effective technique as marketers can be creative and make their advert look astatically pleasing while still having an effect on the effectiveness of the advert.

Focal point companies often use focal points to really make their product stand out on posters. Usually when this is used it puts all the emphasis on what’s being focused on (usually composed in the middle so our eyes are engaged on it straight away)to really imprint it on consumers minds so they’ll remember it and get more interested in the product ( if the advertising’s successful)

Symbolism Symbolism is used in advertising to represent a particular brand, company or one or more (often complex) ideas. By using symbolism, advertisers are able to link a deeper meaning or message to the selling power of a product. A good example of this is here where Evian have used this picture of their mountain to describe it as their factory. This symbolises how natural their water is that it comes from the mountains themselves. Brands and businesses use symbolism carefully as it cant be too clever to the point where consumers don’t recognize it but cant make it too obvious either otherwise it'd be boring.

Slogans Slogans an be important and highly effective in visual advertising especially because we’re living in a digital age where if someone picks up on something like for example a slogan on a poster it can really take off. An Example of this would be Nike’s print adverts used in magazines which are often inspirational. This is so people buying the products feel like if they buy Nike they’ll do great things too just as the posters say and the slogans can get famous which boosts brand popularity.