Dos and Don’ts for Designing your own Screen Ad
Rarely do we stop and think about how we see graphic design all around us every day. Every advertisement, brand logo, those are all designs that impact us. Some designs stand out more than the rest. They grab your attention and hold it. The goal for the design is to captivate and inform the viewer. DO use clean and modern fonts so that your typeface is easy to read. DON’T use too many fonts in one design. The viewer may lose interest or get overwhelmed if the design is flooded with a mess of fonts.
- DO venture into using more stylized fonts. Maybe you’re looking to have a funkier design, or a clean font may not go well with the message you are trying to get across.
- DON’T use comic sans or crazy fonts that end up being hard to read. Remember you are a designer, and you want to be taken seriously.
- DO implement images into your design. The image can stand out in most cases and will grab the attention of the passerby.
- DON’T overload your design with too many images. You want to make sure your design is conveying a clear message and you aren’t taking away from the message with a multitude of images.
- DO use stock photos. There are tons of websites out there that have an image for anything you can think of. Some websites such as shutterstock.com offer a pay as you go option if you don’t want to shell out a ton of money for a subscription.
- DON’T use Google images! First off, you don’t own the rights to those images. Second, often the images aren’t that great of quality. You want to make sure you have a professional looking image that you can alter and resize without pixelation, remember your screen ads are very large.
- DO take time to choose your color scheme. Giving the colors the attention, they need will serve you well. Are you unsure about a color scheme or need some additional inspiration? You can use a variety of different colors working together. You can also flip through magazine pages or promotional materials laying around and use those as reference materials for color combinations.
- DON’T slap colors together that don’t make sense with the type of piece you are designing. Different colors spark different emotions in people. So, it is important to pay attention to what emotions the colors you are using give off. For example, if you are creating an ad for a company’s event with an Autumn theme, you wouldn’t use a color scheme consisting of pink and green pastels. That would give off a spring vibe rather than a fall vibe.
- DO pay attention to how much white space is between your letters. You want to make sure that the words are easily readable so the viewer can understand the message.
- DON’T space your letters so far apart that you could almost fit another letter in between. On the other end of the spectrum, don’t make your letters so close together that the word could be mistaken for something else. If you are using kerning to take up space, look for an alternative such as making the font a larger size.
- DO remember that you’re the client, not the designer. That is why you are hiring us. It is important to give clear details on what you want in the design and what is expected. However, it is also important for both of us to understand that the end goal needs to be realistic for us both. With that, we will only accept quality artwork because you are representing Street Level Billboards.
- DON’T send a design that is unflattering and is not complementary to your product. Presentation matters. Always present top of the line completed projects. You want to make sure that every client you work with has a pleasant experience. We hope that this list will help you improve your designs for Street Level Billboards, and for even more handy information, visit our social media platforms.
