Placing adverts in magazines and newspapers can help you attract new customers, but if your ad isn’t very well designed it’s unlikely to appeal to anyone – or even worse, it could catch someone’s eye for the wrong reasons.
Not everyone feels they can afford to hire a designer to create their adverts though. So here are some easy tips for designing a great print advert, even if you’re not a designer.
Check the specs
The first thing you should do is contact the publication you are advertising in to check if they have any design specifications for adverts. Many will automatically send you this when you book your advert space, but if they don’t then you should ask for a copy.
Advert sizes will vary between publications – a half page ad in one magazine may not be exactly the same size as a half page ad in another magazine – so don’t assume you have the right size. If you submit an advert that’s the wrong size, it might be rejected, or the magazine may charge you if they have to fix it.
The publication may also have specific requirements about what colour mode to supply the artwork as, how much bleed should be applied to a full-page advert and what kind of file to supply the artwork as.
Get a snappy headline
Ideally your advert should have a concept behind it – you may simply be providing an overview of your services or you might want to focus on just one service or a special offer you are promoting. Decide on the purpose of the ad and try to come up with a headline to fit. Ideally it should be short – try to keep it under 10 words – and snappy to engage interest.
Sketch it out
Most designers sketch their ideas out on paper before going near a computer and it could help you too. Sketching with pen/pencil and paper lets you try out a few ideas quickly to see if they could work. Your sketches don’t have to be really detailed; try just blocky thumbnails to quickly arrange things on the page. You can always do more detailed sketched later once you have a clearer idea of what you want.
[Tweet “Get a clearer layout idea by sketching your ad design first”]
Don’t design in Word
Now that you’ve sketched out a few ideas, it’s time to start up the computer and create your artwork. It might be tempting to knock something together in Word, but please don’t. Word is, not surprisingly, for word processing, not designing and if you create your artwork using actual design software you’ll have much better control over your layout and should get a more professional-looking result.
If you have access to software like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or CorelDraw, pick one of them. If you don’t have access to them though, try downloading Gimp or Inkscape. These are free programmes which have a lot of the same functionality as Photoshop and Illustrator. You could also give Canva a go – check out this tutorial to get you started.
Use a big image
Adverts with pictures are usually more engaging than text-only ones, so try to find an image to illustrate your ad’s concept. Additionally, using one big image tends to have more impact than using several smaller ones.
Need help finding an image? These sites are good options.
Make the logo smaller
It’s tempting to place your logo right at the top of the ad and make it really big, but really the headline should be the biggest text element. Try placing your logo towards the bottom of the ad – as we read left to right, top to bottom, this means your logo will be one of the last elements of the ad to be seen and so more likely to be remembered.
Keep it brief
Many people will skip over an ad that is very text-heavy and not bother reading it, so keep it brief. Along with your bold headline, have a small amount of smaller text to provide a little more information and outline the benefits of your offering, and then make sure you include some contact details so people can actually get in touch and that’s it.
An exception to this though, is if you are promoting a technical project or product; this might require more text such as a list of specifications.
[Tweet “People skim read ads so keep your text short + snappy”]
Play with composition
An asymmetrical layout can be more visually interesting, so play around with the composition of your ad. Try dividing the page into thirds or fifths rather than splitting it in half with your image in one half and text in the other.
Try a border
If the background of your advert is white (or the same colour as the paper) it is a good idea to put a thin border around the edge. This will contain the artwork and stop the white background merging with the white of the paper it’s printed on and so will give it more impact.
Limit your fonts
Don’t go crazy using lots of different fonts. You’ll get a much more coherent and professional finish if you limit it to one or two fonts. Make sure the font/s you use fit with your branding and create the right impression of your business, for example if your advert has a serious tone don’t use a frivolous-looking font. You can find more tips for great typography here.
Leave white space
Leave white space around all the elements of your ad to give them room to “breathe”. It will improve the look of your ad and make it easier for people to read.
If you are going to spend money on advertising you want your advert to have impact and to be attractive to potential customers. If you do decide to create your own ads, these tips should hopefully help you to design great print adverts!*
*If this all sounds like hard work though, there’s no need to struggle on, you can always ask a designer to help you out – why not get in touch for a quote!
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