Visual Features used in Advertising Colour Size and Positioning of Objects Symbols (objects/body language/clothing) Shapes Texture

USE OF COLOUR

RED Red, the single most dynamic and passionate colour symbolizes: love, rage and courage. Demanding attention, red has great emotional impact.

BLUE The colour of tranquility, blue is: Cool soothing and orderly. The colour of royalty, blue brings comfort and serenity to our lives.

WHITE White suggests: Goodness Purity innocence.

GREEN Green is the color of: Life and represents freshness security and tranquility. Green creates an atmosphere that is calm and restful, and characterizes the intense power of nature.

GREY Grey keeps it: foreign, remote and distant.

YELLOW Yellow is truly joyous and virtuous in its purest form. Yellow exudes warmth, inspiration and vitality, and is the happiest of all colors. Yellow signifies communication, enlightenment, sunlight and spirituality.

USE of Symbols

Symbols through OBJECTS Many objects have both an obvious meaning and a hidden meaning. For example if we look at a picture of a lion we see a magnificent animal, but we also see a symbol of power.

Symbols through BODY LANGUAGE Many images get their message across because they show people expressing feelings through their body language. We can often show how we feel without speaking a single word. Instead we communicate through:

Posture Distance from other people Hand gestures Facial expressions

Symbols through CLOTHING The clothes we wear reflect our personality, and can also be a symbol. We wear certain clothing to show the rest of the world what we think of ourselves. Clothing is also a symbol of belonging to a particular group.

SIZE and POSITION of Objects Convention dictates that an important object is large and FOREGROUNDED in the picture. Conversely, small objects in the background can be seen as less important. The position of objects, shapes, people/animals influence the reading of an image and aid in positioning the viewer. Where they are in the foreground, background, close together or far apart, influence how we read images.

SHAPES Shapes may be defined as the outlines of objects, or they may be composed from parts of different adjacent objects, they can exist as gaps, or negative shapes between objects. The square can be read as dull, straight forward or stable. The triangle as action, conflict and tension. Circular shapes suggest warmth, security, continuity.

TEXTURE Texture refers to the apparent feel of the surface depicted in the image. Texture is achieved by manipulating line and colour.

LINE For illustrated images, line is very important. Variations in line length, thickness, strength or heaviness create varying moods and feelings.