Advertisement Design Analysis

The use of color and the 4 basic principles of design, proximity, alignment, repetition and contrast, will be used in reverse engineering this advertisement for Amber Soybean Oil.

Proximity

The designer was careful to group the related information together in close proximity. He separated the “technical” aspects of the product with the “sales pitch” or attention grabbing content. This helps the ad to appear simple and void of extra information, leading to the association that the product is also simple and void of extra contaminants.

Alignment

Although center alignment is not an ideal text alignment, it works for this ad. The center alignment echoes the shape of the hour glass and keeps the entire ad very symmetrical. The designer is also careful to keep everything vertically aligned. The bottom images align with the outside of the top text and so forth.

Repetition

The designer used repetition specifically in the shapes that he created in his ad. Each dominate space he created has the same shape repeated on the opposite side of the page. He also chose to repeat the colors that are found in the image to tie the text to the picture and create a flow throughout the page.

Contrast

The designer did not use a lot of contrast in this project, but you can see some attempts within the font sizing. Because the entire ad is very similar in shape and color, the product images at the bottom actually stand out as a contrasting feature.

Color

It is easy to see the monochromatic effect in this image. The designer used different hues of the amber color of the oil and soybeans and repeated it in the background color. ( I’m sure that it was no accident that the name of the product is “Amber”.) The only real contrast is in the actual product bottles at the bottom of the page. Although there are a variety of colors in the label, the dominant one is green. This works nicely to bring your eye to the change in color and to see the actual product. Because yellow and green are next to each other on the color wheel, it keeps the relaxing tone that has been created through out the ad.

Summary

The designer was able to use all of the principles of design in this ad to accomplish the look and feel that he was wanting. This is a good example of using the principles in an unbalanced way in order to create a certain “feel”. For example: not having a lot of contrast created a smooth and clean look, which speaks to the properties of the product. The center alignment helps to allow your eye to follow the draining of the oil and eventually end at the product information. The repetition of shapes add to the symmetry of the image. Overall I liked the simplicity of this ad, it is very clean and simple and it is easy to find the important information.