Typophile

Rules of Advertising Design

Jason Pagura

There are a lot of these, aren’t there? Certainly many one can learn at design school, but some only through experience. A dear friend of mine regularly violates the following:

  1. Do not include specific religious symbols unless the business or product has a specifically religious nature or clientele.
  2. Do not include photos of hot chicks, unless the product is intended for use by, or are in themselves, hot chicks, or you intend to imply the customer’s enhanced sexual attraction by association with the product.
  3. It is not necessary to display all the products in the business’s catalog on the first page of the ad.

I swear If I see one more ad for industrial water pumps with a Jesus fish and three bikini clad babes amongst hundreds of tiny pumps, with the copy lettered in Comic Sans and five other fonts, I think I might stab something.

Are there any other rules you would add to the list?

‹ Hevetica vs. Univers Display face suggesting Duchamp ›
Hrant H Papazian

Where’s the type?

hhp

blank

Never underestimate the number of goobers in this country who can be won over by low-class advertising. If Head-On taught me anything, it’s that a commercial need not be slick, expensive, or well-produced, it just needs to get attention. When one’s target audience chews tobacco, watches Nascar, and reads Hustler just make an ad with a hot chick, an American flag, and the phrase ”God Bless America.” Then promptly cash the check and move on. Good design need not be pretty if something quick and dirty can get the job done.

ChuckGroth

”...there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy...”
where do the butterflies fit in? butterflies and smiling children and THEN bring on the hot chicks and nascar...

garyw

4. Make the logo bigger.

Captured from web.archive.org on 13 Nov 2007. view this capture