Working on your ads

Use today's class time to start working on recreating your ad. Be prepared to show me your ad (don't forget to bring it with you!) and tell me your plan of attack. If you are "mocking" the ad, be prepared to tell me your ideas for graphics and/or body copy.

You are expected to use class time to work on these. If you do not, your grade will suffer. Take advantage of class time to ask questions or get help with your projects or ideas.

If you work hard during class, you will also have Monday's class to work on these. If you goof off, they will be due for homework on Monday!

HOMEWORK:

• Keep working on these!

Recreating an ad using InDesign

This week we are going to brush up on our technical knowledge a little and work in Adobe InDesign. Most of the layout work you'll do as a professional will be using InDesign, so what better time to start working with it?

I want you to pick out a full-page, full-color advertisement (8.5x11) or a two-page spread (11x17) out of a magazine that you like. You will be recreating this ad using Adobe InDesign as your layout software. Be prepared to TALK about WHY you picked the advertisement you chose for this project. I want you to have some sort of connection to it. Maybe you're a photographer and the ad you chose is photography-based. Maybe you love illustration and the ad you chose requires a hand-drawn illustration. Maybe you just love Coke (yuck!)

You may use Photoshop and Illustrator to build the graphics, but you'll be turning in your final piece in InDesign. Be sure to pick an ad that has graphics you are able to reproduce! I will give you a *little* lattitude in altering your ads' content as long as it carries the same message. If you stray too far from the original idea, you'll have to do it over. You CAN mock the original ad if you would like. But it must be obvious that is your intent.

I will be checking your imported graphics to make sure they are the correct size and resolution for print. Remember, your photos or other graphics in *photoshop* MUST be 300 ppi at FINAL OUTPUT SIZE. You can't "enlarge" photos in InDesign. You must plan your ad out ahead of time and know what size they must be. Points will be deducted for images less than 300 ppi at final output size. Adobe Illustrator drawings CAN be scaled up or down in InDesign as Illustrator drawings are resolution independent.

When finished, you will be collecting all your files for output, just like you would if you were turning this job in to a print shop for professional printing. That means you'll be including all your photoshop graphics, all your illustrator files AND all of your fonts used in your final document.

Please don't take this assignment lightly. I will be tough on grading these, as I need to start seeing proficiency in all Adobe software from you, as well as responsibility in being able to turn in press-ready designs.

We will be talking about these during class on Monday, September 26th and I expect you to come to class on Wednesday, September 28th with your materials to start working on these. You are EXPECTED to work during class hours. If you are not working on them in class, you must leave the classroom. It's too distracting to other students to have conversations going on around them when they are trying to work. If you don't bring your materials on Wednesday to work, you will have one letter grade deducted from your final grade. It's responsibility time, people. I take this very seriously, and now, you must too.

HOMEWORK:

• Pick out one 8.5x11 or 11x17, full-color magazine ad to reproduce

• Start gathering images (or better yet, take your own!)

• Start working on Illustrations if needed.

• Come to class on Wednesday with your materials to start working!

Learning to Critique

We will finish off the critiques that we didn't get to on Monday during today's class. The crits on Monday were pretty weak, so I want some more class participation this time. Don't use terms like "I like this" or "that's cool" when critiquing someone's work. That doesn't help them. Explain WHAT makes it cool or WHAT doesn't work when talking critically about someone's work.

You can find a LOT of good information about What Goes Into a Well-Done Critique. (You'd better READ this link!)

A good critique should:

• Be specific in your likes/dislikes

• Provide educated reasoning to back up your comments

• Lead into design alternatives (if necessary)

• Compare the design to others for reinforcement

• Be firm and honest (but not a jackhole) when giving negative critique

• Look for the use of or lack of design elements and principles

- Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity, Color, Unity and Balance

• Respect the designer and the work

To test your critique knowledge after you've read the link above and looked over the list above, I'm going to give you a homework assignment:

HOMEWORK:

Find THREE different full-page ads in magazines. Different products and different companies. Yes, they MUST be out of magazines. (The Goodwill has lots of CHEAP magazines, if you need some.) Carefully remove the ads (no rough edges) so you can turn them in. Along with your three ads, I want you to critique each ad. I want a full page of critique for each ad. Touch on the finer points of the ads AS WELL AS tell me what you think doesn't work, or what could be done better. Tell me if you think it was an effective ad.

Take the weekend to think about these and have them ready to talk about and turn in on Monday.

Class critique of your ad campaigns

Today we will be critiquing your ad campaigns. We talked, as a class, at the beginning of these projects and offered suggestions and helpful advice. Now we will see if you stayed on track and knocked these out of the park or not. I will be leading the class in a very frank look at these campaigns and what did, and did not, work for them.

Wear your thick skin! It's about to get real!

No homework today to recover from this brutal crit! ;)

Is your ad campaign effective?

You should be finishing up your ad campaigns today and have them ready to turn in. But before you do, ask yourself this one question: is your campaign effective? Did you get your point across to your target audience? Did you ask your classmates if they "got" your creative copy? Did anyone comment on how "spot on" your campaign was?

Always remember to gather others' opinions on your advertising. What's funny, to-the-point or effective to you may not be to others. Be sure to test-market your product's idea to others before continuing.

In the meantime, have a look at 10 Principles of Effective Advertising. It will give you some insight as to what goes into creating effective advertising.

Don't forget: If your advertisement doesn't reach it's target audience or fails to "sell" your product to the correct crowd, your advertising is a failure.

Be ready to turn in your ad campaigns at the end of class today.

HOMEWORK:

NO homework today!

Ad campaigns due Wednesday

O.k., so you should be finishing up your ad campaigns this week. We will work on these during class on Monday and see where you are. They may be due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, or, if you're working hard on them and need more time, they may be due at the END of class on Wednesday. Your conduct during class will determine the time due on Wednesday.

I expect great things from these. Please ask any questions needed during class on Monday!

Finishing up your advertising campaigns

Today we will keep working on your advertising campaigns. I want to see everyone's progress individually and discuss direction. You will have all of the class period today to work on these. If your idea is already approved, continue to build your ideas on the computer. I will assess the class progress at the end of class to see how much extra time is needed. I plan on allowing Monday's class period to work on these but Wednesday may be needed as well. Keep checking here to see your final due date.