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REI’s Ad Campaign Series- Design Analysis
“I can’t make it to work today.”
REI’s “I can’t make it to work today” ad campaign uses common cliches for calling in sick to work and twists them into meaning an outdoor activity. The target audience of outdoor enthusiasts who have jobs can all relate. It makes us chuckle.
Original Ad Series
Design
Each ad in the series uses dramatic full page scenery. This gives a feeling of energy and open space. Each ad’s focal point is a person. The corner placed logo with tag line tastefully connects the REI brand with the great outdoors.
Typography
The slab serif font in slightly transparent white is both simple and dramatic. It’s a heavy font, but the transparent white lightens it. The text is generally wrapped around the person in the image. Some text may overlap the person as in this image, but at least the head and shoulders are free from text. The ad series uses square periods.
Color
The colors come from the beautiful landscape photos used in each ad. The ad specific colors are simply black and white for the logo and white for the text. This simplicity in text color contrasts with the dramatic scenery of the images.
New Ad’s Consistencies
The new ad uses all the elements listed above.
- A cliche for calling in to work sick.
- Dramatic scenery.
- Slab serif font in slightly transparent white text.
- Text wrapped around person.
- Square periods.
- Black and white logo placed in the corner.
Finish Strong – Dustpan Ad
Target Audience: Single men age 55-64 with an associate’s degree and a steady job. They aren’t high income earners, but they want quality products. I wanted to appeal to the idea that dustpans are masculine and tough. They are what you use at the end of all your projects. I chose the upright dustpan so it’s easier to use for older men. It’s jumbo sized and heavy duty because it implies strength and power.
Design Decisions: The DeWalt brand is very strong and masculine and uses the yellow and black. The background image of the warehouse floor is black and white so that it keeps with the color scheme and recedes into the background. I wanted the dustpan to stand out out on the background. The checkerboard suggests the finish line. The sawdust suggests that something was “finished”. In the first draft the dustpan was empty, but I felt like the message was stronger to have the dustpan full, so I added the saw dust. The original draft’s background seemed to be in a garage, but this final version has lumber in the background so it makes sense that the dustpan would be full of sawdust.
Blog Ad
Social Media Ad
Photos Used
I took this picture of the product at Home Depot:
I took this picture of the floor at Home Depot:
I purchased this photo from 123 rf:
I drew the checkerboard with Illustrator:
Logo
Let’s Talk Icons
I work for WooCommerce so I thought it would be fun to create some ecommerce icons with WooCommerce inspired colors. I took the blue from the WooConf logo and I used a brighter and deeper version of the WooCommerce purple.
All the icons use the same 3 colors, purple, blue and white. This gives them consistency so that they are recognizably part of a set. Icons may be used independently in various places, but the repetition of the colors and style makes it clear that they belong together. They all fit into the same size 3″ x 3″ box so they will fit interchangeably into places on the website. I rounded the corners to give a softness to the icons, except for the scissors. The scissors are supposed to be sharp.
Mobile
Let users know that your site and products are mobile ready.
Sale
Is that product on sale? Let your customers know with this sale icon.
Cart
You can’t checkout without a shopping cart. This cart has speed stripes!
Live Chat
Help guide your customers through the decision making process and let them know you can answer their questions via live chat.
Coupon
Use this to let your customers know they can use that coupon code you emailed to them for joining your distribution list!
Security
Your site is protected by SSL and you follow all the guidelines for PCI compliance so your customers can feel safe shopping with you.
Icon Images 400px x 400px
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Treasuring All Truth – Magazine Spread
Design
Truth is light. The design of the spread represents light and truth shining out of the darkness. The article Treasuring All Truth appears on the front page of lds.org, but the article is actually from the mormonnewsroom.org.
As part of the creative process, I read the article and identified the main messages and key words. I pulled out words like treasure, wired, spin, and scattered. I envisioned images of gold coins, wires and electricity. I had already sketched out ideas for the layout and had an initial layout read to go in InDesign. Next, I went shopping for images. My initial thoughts were not what I ended up with, but those searches led me to the current images which are the inspiration for the spread.
At first I inserted the earth image according to the layout that I planned. But I quickly saw that this image could be much more effective if it reached across the whole spread. The whole creative process was like that. It was a process of tweaking and adjusting. I started with an initial idea and then adapted it as I went along.
I am very pleased with the final result. The images bleed into a dark background so that there is a continuity throughout the pages even though the images are unrelated to each other. The pages are further connected with the typography color and the background color of the subheadings so that all the pages feel like they belong together. The block quote defines the message of the image, that truth is scattered across the globe. It doesn’t compete with the image for attention because it bleeds into the background of the page. The earth is what first attracts the viewer’s eye, then the quote. The quote repeats the message of the image. The two together complement each other. I intentionally centered the block quote as a contrast to the left alignment everywhere else on the page.
Photography
The first image from Justin Clark at unsplash.com shows a man grasping on to a lighted sphere. This implies embracing truth and corresponds with the title and message of treasuring all truth.
The second image from NASA at unsplash.com shows light scattered across the globe. In some areas it’s dense. In other areas it’s hardly a speck. This went so well with the article that says that truth is scattered across the globe.
Color
After selecting the images and defining the layout, I turned my attention to color and typography. The color palette of blues and creamy oranges came from using the color picker on the image of the earth on the second and third pages.
The creamy oranges bring warmth to the contrast of light and the darkness. The contrasting orange title and quote bring another layer of interest. The heavier color is appropriate for the main title and quote.
Blue gives the piece some color without detracting from the main images. It enhances without becoming a focal point in and of itself. I intentionally made sure to have blue on the first page so that the first page feels connected to the second page. Even if there were no blue subheadings on the 2nd and 3rd pages, adding something blue to the 1st page enabled a visual connection to the image of the globe with scattered lights on the ensuing pages.
Typography
Title, headings, and sub headings: Abraham Lincoln font from lostype.com (Modern)
Body text: Verdana (Sans Serif) The description for the font said “honest”. How could I not choose that font for an article about truth? 😉
Initially I had the fonts reversed, but a classmate suggested I switch and it was a good move. The text is much more readable in Verdana and the titles are much more interesting in the Modern font.
Depth, Lines, and Thirds – Exploration in Photography
Photography is an important element of media and art today. Many graphic designs are a mix of text and photographs. It’s important to be able to recognize and/or create photographs that complement the design. Understanding some of the fundamental rules of art as they apply to photography helps with that. In this post we will give examples of and analyze photos according to 3 principles: the rule of thirds, leading lines, and depth of field. The first photograph in each section is done by a professional. The next photograph in the section was taken by me on my iphone.
Rule of Thirds
Photo by: Kaboompics on Pexels
The rule of thirds is a fundamental technique that asserts that you should place the most important parts of your image along the horizontal or vertical 1/3 lines or at the intersection of those lines. This gives the composition balance and interest. In the image above the blue jar is located on the left vertical thirds line. The tray and table stretch across the bottom horizontal thirds line. This balances the composition and gives it interest.
The rule of thirds is also used in this photograph. The focal point is at the upper right intersection of the horizontal and vertical thirds lines. I had other photographs of this jar that were almost identical in layout to the image above, but I preferred the isolation of the jar from the perspective of looking down on the jar. It feels like a strong focal point. This rule could be shown even more strongly if the leaf debris extended down to the top horizontal third line.
Leading Lines
Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash.com
Our eyes follow lines in an image. Carefully placing lines to direct the viewer’s eye is important. Lines don’t have to be straight. They can be curvy or diagonal or zig zag and our eye will follow it. The lines can help to tell the story of your picture by pulling the viewer through the image as you desire. The railroad tracks in this image pull our eyes forward and give us the sense of going somewhere. It’s as though we are standing on the railroad tracks ourselves waiting to embark on a journey.
I truly was embarking on a journey when I took this picture. I just started running my first marathon in 12 years when I snapped this photo on the Silver Comet trail in Hiram, Georgia yesterday. There are no other runners because it was a “ghost” or “virtual” marathon. My race was canceled by Hurricane Irma so I ran it on my own trail and will send in my time. This image is very similar to the image above. The lines all lead to a central focal point pulling the viewer into the image. This could have been stronger if the convergence of the lines were at the top third of the image along the horizontal third line as it is in the professional image above.
Depth of Field
Photo: “The Fallen” by David Gunter as part of his article about depth.
Photography is two dimensional so it is important to convey a more three dimensional perspective so the viewer can experience the depth of the original scene. This can be done by clearly placing or focusing on images in the foreground, middle ground, or background. The viewer’s eye recognizes these layers and spaces them out. This gives the image depth.
In the image above the leaf is clearly in the foreground with the deck rail stretches into the background. You get the feeling that you’re close enough to touch the leaf but the rail continues on for several feet.
I wish I had a better camera! I tried to recreate the image above because I liked it and I have leaves and a deck rail available. It’s not the same, but I still think it gives a sense of depth. The leaf is clearly in the foreground and the other parts of the deck extend back several feet.
Three in One
While photographing the image for leading lines, I realized that this composition could easily be made to exhibit all three principles. The lines of the deck point to the focal point of the leaf whose placement follows the rule of thirds. The deck rail with the leaf and the side of the deck in the background give a sense of depth. Just thought I’d share because I thought it was cool. 😉
Summary
There are more than 3 principles for taking great photos, but these 3 are a great start. The rule of thirds, leading lines, and depth of field will help your photos to be interesting, feel balanced, and have depth. Now let’s go take some more pictures!
Typography for a Car Wash Poster
The above image was found via a Google search and traced to the poster templates section of the canva.com website.
This post is part of a project for a graphic design class. This week’s project is about the different categories of typography and how to use them effectively.
Typeface #1 Slab Serif
Slab Serif is a modern typeface with serifs, but was thickened to better meet the needs of advertisers so that their work was more readable from a distance.
This type face is characterized by the 3 elements seen in the image:
- Vertical Stress. The thick to thin transition in the curved part of a letter is reminiscent of the slant of a pen in hand lettering. In the slab serif typeface, this transition area is vertical rather than diagonal as in the Old Style typeface.
- Serifs. The serifs are thick horizontal slabs.
- Thick to Thin Transitions. The curved transition areas are thick. There is little difference in the strokes.
Typeface #2 Sans Serif
Sans Serif is a typeface without serifs on the ends of the strokes. The line width of the letter strokes remain uniform throughout the letter.
This type face is characterized by the 3 elements seen in the image:
- No Serifs.
- No Thick to Thin Transitions.
- No Stress.
Contrast
The two typefaces are almost opposite from each other. One is think, one is thin. One has serifs, one doesn’t. One has a stress, the other one doesn’t. The title in the slab serif font is the largest typeface on the page and contrasts with all the smaller typefaces. The shape of the letters contrast.
Conclusion
The contrasting typefaces create interest on the page. The exceedingly large title effectively identifies the main idea of the poster — that it is for a car wash. The simple style of the smaller sans serif typeface is easy to read. There is a flow to the typography. Hester’s at the top of the page uses sans serif. After the slab serif Car Wash the typeface goes back to sans serif and remains that way throughout the page. This provides a sense of closure. The page starts with the sans serif typeface and ends with the sans serif typeface.
The Heart of Boston- Design Analysis
These shoes from runners that ran the Boston marathon the year it was bombed were featured on the cover of the Boston Magazine as photographed by Mitch Feinberg.
Analysis
Proximity
The article title and description are grouped close together in the center of the heart. It also acts as a focal point and draws the eye to the center of the image.
Alignment
The heavy red line shows the very strong center alignment. Everything is aligned around the center, the shoes, the heart and the text. The blue line shows that the article title is aligned in the center of the page both horizontally and vertically.
The article title is more than just a title, it’s a message, “We Will Finish the Race” and it’s at the horizontal and vertical center of the whole image.
Contrast
The red boxes shows the giant title in contrast with the tiny text in the center.
The aqua markings show the contrast between full and empty. The outer heart is full of rows of shoes and creates the negative space that defines the inner “empty” heart.
Ironically it’s the small text “We Will Win the Race” that has the most important message rather than the large text. And the heart isn’t actually empty. It bears the “full” message of the image.
Repetition
The red boxes show that the white color is repeated in all the text.
The aqua lines mark the repeated rows of shoes.
The centered alignment is repeated in every row of shoes and all the text.
Color
The brightest colors are at the center of the image with the lighter more neutral colors on the outer edges. The giant text “Boston” maintains the neutral white color. The colors get progressively more colorful until the red and pink shoes form the center heart. The red/pink color is the traditional color of a heart symbolizing love and passion.
Design Projects 
