Ancillary Task 2 - Radio Advert - Final Product

https://soundcloud.com/pol2405/radio-advert-finished-30-secs 

Here is a link to my finished radio advert!

I decided to use a boat horn sound at the beginning of my advert, as a tool to alert my target demographic and grab their attention immediately. I chose to use a boat horn specifically because I felt that it suited the area which my newspaper was aiming to appeal for; being the residents of Portishead, a marina-side location. For the background noise of my advert, I decided to have the sound of gentle waves crashing with the sound of seagulls over it. I chose this sound instead of music so not to make my newspaper radio advert too overwhelming or unclear for my audience. The voice on my radio advert was actually my mum, who I asked to record for me as I felt she perfectly fitted the medium age for people in my target demographic of people aged 24-50. 

Ancillary Task 2 - Newspaper Radio Advert - Planning

Concept for my Radio Advert


As my newspaper is a local newspaper for Portishead area, which is a coastal town located  on the Severn Estuary and is well known for it's marina, I have opted to go for a theme based on a seaside type town. I chose to do this as I thought it would give my target demographic an appropriate impression of the area, and would understand the fact that the sounds inspired by the sea relate with the fact that my newspaper is based in Portishead.

Bearing this in mind, I have thought about which sounds would fit into this theme, for example:

Seagulls

Sound of waves crashing

Boat sounds - boat horns

Wind/rain sounds

Upbeat seaside music

Here are some examples of music that I think would be suitable for the radio advert I aim to create:

• http://www.soundsnap.com/seagulls_squawk_constantly_in_the_distance - This is an example of some of the seagull/bird sounds that I may wish to include in my radio advert. I thought using these kinds of sounds would help build up an impression of a seaside sort of town and would suitably relate to my newspaper setting.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyA5c-ajXyg - This is another example, although this sound effect includes the sounds of seagulls and the ocean waves crashing in the background.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sle3d8GllMI - Here is an example of a boat horn sound effect I found on youtube, which I thought would be a very effective sort of sound to include at the opening of my radio advert, in order to immediately hold people listening to the radio's attention and make them alert to what they will then hear in the radio advert.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjZyZ8IuSzw - Here I even decided to include some Hawaiian style music to give a sense of the theme I will be trying to put across. However, I don't plan on using music as slow as this, and as my newspaper is based in England I have decided not to have such sunny-sounding music in my advert as it will not suit the setting of my newspaper. 

Script for my Radio Advert

"Do you want to read important stories from your local area of Portishead?
Then look no further!
Gordano Express is the local newspaper for you.
It has tonnes of interesting stories, all about local people and local events. 
So come on, don't wait any longer.
Grab your copy, today!"

Ancillary Task 2 - Newspaper Radio Advert - Research

Radio is mainly seen as an entertainment source for primarily driving, and background noise at work. These are two key times to bear in mind when creating an advertisement, as you want to taylor the ad to suit those sorts of times and environments. For example, using loud, intrusive, fast music, people may not take in the information if they happened to be sat in a quiet, working office environment. 

If you buy any radio advertising, it is useful to be aired during drive time, as this is prime opportunity to catch people's attention when they have nothing else to focus on apart from driving. 

At home, radio use decreases as people these days can use iPods and computers to listen to the music they enjoy without necessarily needing to tune into a radio show. This way they can avoid commercial interruption. 

The radio industry understands that many people don't want to be interrupted with advertising while trying to listen to music. Many times radio stations use this fact in order to promote themselves by offering "more music, less commercials". 

However, there are many good reasons to advertise on radio to, such as the following:

1. "Research proves that radio regularly reaches consumers within 2 hours of their largest purchase of the day." It is convenient to advertise to these consumers when they are on their way to the shops in their cars!
2. Radio has the potential to be played anywhere, at home, work or at play. This means products have a good chance of being advertised to the right person at the right time.
3. Radio sells with intimacy - some could argue that without the flashy images and bright text used in some television or newspaper adverts, radio allows the message to be put across more gently, making people more inclined to purchase certain items.
4. Sounds on radio adverts can evoke emotion from the audience, as they have the ability to use their imaginations when picturing the images suggested by the sounds a company or product manufacturer chooses to put in their advertisement. For example, a child laughing or a large band playing.
5. Radio devotes less than 1/5 of it's time to advertising, or roughly 10 minutes of advertising per hour. So it is less cluttered with information, less adverts will make the target demographic pay more attention and memory to each advert individually.
6. The costs to advertise via radio grow less than any other form of advertising.
7. Newspapers and TV are 'reach' media, which means they reach large varying numbers of people. Which is obviously a very useful thing when trying to advertise a product. However, psychologists say that "consumers need to be exposed to an advert or a message at least 3 times before the information begins to penetrate". This is made easier by radio advertising, as this way smaller companies can afford to do get enough frequency to effectively sell their product.  
8. Radio allows you to place your advert in a place where your target demographic are likely to hear it. Radio's targeting ability based on music genre and type of radio station can save companies money.
9. Only 1 advert can be played and listened to at once on the radio! So when you pay for advertising space, the time in which your advert is played, all the attention is simply one the company's one product. Unlike in newspapers or magazines perhaps, where 10 different adverts can all appear on the same page at the same time. 

Also, as part of my radio advert research, I decided to have a look at some existing radio adverts that I have heard in the past, and analyse what music, sound effects and voices they used in their adverts so I could use some of these ideas in my own work. I also thought by doing this I could begin to get an understanding of what makes an effective radio advert. 

 

The first radio advert I chose to analyse was for The Medical Foundation and it was called 'Future'. This advert begins with just a man speaking, and he has a fairly humorous voice and is speaking about what he wants to happen after he dies. "I want hundreds of people in inconsolable tears!" he says about his funeral, (in a jokey way). This is a clever way of attracting people's attention as they might be initially quite surprised at this man's opinion's on his own funeral! By having a middle aged man's voice, this suggests that this is the sort of age that this radio advert is aiming to appeal for. It would be inappropraite for example to have a child's voice talking about their own funeral, and people may take more offence if this was the case! After listening to this radio advert, I have began to consider what sort of age I wish to have speaking over my radio advert. I will opt to have someone older, with a more mature voice as my target demographic is for people aged 24-50, so having someone young speak over my advert may not be entirely appropriate when aiming to reach my audience. It also includes some more serious facts about the foundation, to balance out the advert after hearing the man speak humorously about his own funeral. This advert has no music over it whatsoever, and I think this is effective in this case so not to detract from the the information the man is trying to get across. Before listening to this advert, I had not considered not using any music at all over my advert, but after hearing this I think I will think more carefully about whether music is entirely necessary for my own work, or whether this will just make it difficult to understand and make out the information. I will experiment with Garage-band and Audacity when it comes to creating my own product to see which way works best.

The second radio advert I chose to analyse was for The Carphone Warehouse and is called 'It's a Miracle'. This advert again, like the advert for The Medical Foundation, has no music playing over the top of the man speaking. Again however, I think it works very well and is effective in making sure that the information in the radio advert is put across to the target demographic Carphone Warehouse is trying to appeal to. I like the conversational style of this advert, where there is a clear dialogue between the man who owns the phone, and the voice representing his 'poorly' or broken phone. Again like the advert before, there is an element of humour to this advert and I have found in my research that this is a very common feature of radio adverts, as it helps make the advert stick in people's heads without the help of visual aids that one might achieve from using television or magazine advertising perhaps. This advert again used a man's voice, but I think in my own advert I may opt for using a female voice to go against the conventions of a lot of adverts using male voices.

Here is my third radio advert I chose to analyse for Thames Water, which is called 'Puddle'. This advert differs slightly from the previous two, because there is a soft, jazz-type music playing quietly in the background behind the man's speaking voice. This upbeat sound is effective because it makes the advert seem more exciting and may make it stick in people's heads more effectively. Again, this advert has chosen to use a male narrator so for my own advert I am going to use a female speaker to challenge this convention. In the background, the voice for the man's wife comes through but quite softly, suggesting she is perhaps in another room calling to him. This gives the advert the feeling that it's recorded in someone's home, which is a clever technique used to suggest that the people speaking in the advert are just like the people they are aiming to appeal for, making the target audience feel that they can relate with these people and therefore will follow their instructions to try and save water for the better for everyone. Out of the three adverts I have analysed so far, this one is my preferred one because I think the use of two people of both genders is more effective in addressing an audience. However in my own advert, I don't plan on using the conversational technique used by many other companies. I may just use one, female voice to speak my entire advert to make it clear and easy to understand, with no distractions. Like I said before though, I will have to wait until I've experimented with Garage-band and Audacity, the programmes I plan on using to create my final radio advert. 

Ancillary Task 1 - Newspaper Poster - Final Product

This is my final newspaper poster which I created on InDesign. 

I used the tagline: "Grab your copy today!" because I felt like it suited my image of a hand 'grabbing' the newspaper and made it clear what  my poster was advertising. 

I edited my photograph using Photoshop, and decided to cut around the outline of my image of a hand holding a copy of my newspaper in order to layer it on top of a plain white background. 

Looking at my final product, if I were to make this poster again I would use perhaps a grey background so the text wouldn't appear to be 'floating' around my image. I think by using a darker coloured background my poster would be easier to make out and recognise as a poster. 

Ancillary Task 1 - Newspaper Poster - Planning

For my own newspaper poster, I have chosen to base my ideas on this poster for The Sun newspaper which I included in my research: 

Before I began planning my own newspaper poster, I thought about the key elements of design that I would have to keep in mind in the creation of my publication:

 

• I thought about what style of photography I would be using, and felt it would be important to use an actual photograph of my newspaper itself, instead of using metaphorical photography like some of the other newspapers used in my research, for example The Daily Mail used a high heeled shoe to represent women's interest as a topic in their newspaper.
 
• I also considered whether I would be using colour on my poster, and decided that this would be a good feature to have, in order to attract my target demographic's attention an compete amongst other publication's posters. I also found in my research that most other newspaper posters featured colour on them, allowing me to recognise this as a positive decision for my own work.
 
• Additionally, I thought about whether I was going to feature any text on my newspaper poster. Initially I planned not to include any, but then decided against this idea in order to make my newspaper poster as clear as possible.

 

I have chosen to select this poster (pictured above) to base the creation of my own design on as I think this is an effective use of photography  used to advertise this specific newspaper. This poster makes it easy to decipher what newspaper is being advertised, in this case The Sun. In my own newspaper poster, I will specifically position my newspaper in my model's hand so the masthead can be easily read by my target demographic. 
I will use a colour photograph, because I plan on having either a white or a grey background and I aim to make the hand holding the newspaper stand out over this background.

 

I intend on using Photoshop to edit my image, and use the select tool to cut out the section of my newspaper in the hand, so I can then lay it on either a white background or a grey background. I will test to see which of these look better, and plan on justifying each decision I make in the process. 

Ancillary Task 1 - Newspaper Poster - Research

Our next task we are required to do, is to create a poster advertising our newspaper that we created. Before I begin to think about the planning for my own poster, I have decided to base some of my research on existing newspaper posters, and the styles, colour scheme and images they have used. 

Here is a vintage type example of a newspaper poster advertisement that was found in 1896 for The Sun newspaper. Illustrative style posters such as this could be used in modern day advertising as well however, to give a sense that the newspaper has been running for a long time, and give it a traditional British feel. 

By picturing a woman skating across the ice could suggest it to be winter time during the time this poster would have been found. Her clothing is another key indication towards the time in which this poster would have been found, however you could argue that the image is slightly irrelevant to the newspaper or articles found in this newspaper, but this would be hard to tell if this would be the case based on this poster in particular because there is no hint to what could be found in that edition. 

Here is a poster advert again for The Sun newspaper, however this one has not used the same illustrative style as the previous poster. This decision to use a simple photograph of a man's hand grasping the newspaper is simple yet effective, as the meaning behind what they are trying to advertise is clear, even though there has been no text featured on the advert besides the masthead already printed on the newspaper.

This is an effective use of photography as a copy of the newspaper itself is featured, with a person (presumably within the target demographic bracket) holding the publication. The rolled up style of this copy allows the audience to read the masthead of the paper clearly, meaning this is all the information necessary on this ad. I may experiment with using a similar style perhaps for my own ancillary task, to see if it would be as effective with my newspaper layout design.

This is another newspaper poster advert that I have chosen to focus on in my ancillary research, in this case advertising The Daily Mail. 

 The fact that The Daily Mail is a very well known publication has meant that in this case, the title of the paper has not needed to be included at all in this poster, because the font used for the words "Indulge Daily" is recognisable enough to the target audience for them to gain an understanding of what is being advertised without great amount of text included. 

A high heeled shoe has been used as the main image on this poster, with a lipstick put in the place of the heel. These two items being generic, stereotypical items related with women that suggest that there will be content found within this newspaper that is suited to females. The word "indulge" is in red which is the same colour as the lipstick, giving this advert a sort of colour scheme. Red being a good colour when advertising to women, as it connotes ideas of power, female beauty and seduction. One feature I think is interesting about this poster in particular is the background, as it gives the effect that a light is being shone behind the shoe, further suggesting luxury and highlights the shoe itself. I also like the mirror reflection effect placed under the high heel, because it gives the impression the shoe is placed on glass further connoting an idea of female vanity and want for luxury. I may decide to use a similar effect on my own poster, if I choose to focus on the female angle to my newspaper which may not be a good design technique in my case as I have already made my poster very gender neutral. 

This is another advert for The Daily Mail, but this one is advertising the 'weekend' television listings magazine that often comes with the newspaper itself. The back ground is similar to the advert for The Daily Mail itself pictured above, in terms of the background being in a similar style with lighter colouring behind the publication and fading darker as it moves out. 
There is also a similar 'mirroring' reflection effect underneath the main image of the front cover of this accompanying publication, however this time it appears to be more faded, and less crisp than in the image above clearly directed at a female audience. This may be because this poster is not aiming to seem as dramatic as the poster above, and aim for this poster to be more gender neutral and 'friendly'.  

The text along the bottom of this poster in blue lettering is in the same font as the recognisable font for the expected masthead of The Daily Mail allowing the target audience to understand what the poster is for. This is a technique that can only be used with certain newspapers though, because if a masthead is commonly known amongst the public then this technique would lead to confusion and misguidance. 

Here is another example of a poster advertising a newspaper. This one is for 'The Irish News', and has used a similar image style to the advert I have previously used in my research for 'The Sun' newspaper's advert, in that they have also used a picture of a rolled up newspaper to advertise. 
I think I may decide to use this in my own advert, because my masthead is positioned in an appropriate place along the top of my front page, so it would show up well on my poster if positioned in this way, in order to allow my audience to clearly understand the poster.
The shadowing effect used below the newspaper on this advert is effective as it makes the image appear more 3D, and this is an effect I plan to take full advantage of using Photoshop.
"True to our words" appears to be the slogan for this newspaper, and has been written above the image in white lettering. I will also position my newspaper's tagline somewhere on my poster, "At the head and heart of our community".

Newspaper - Final Product!

My Newspaper Photographs - Before & After Editing

In this blog post I have decided to show my chosen newspaper images, documenting the before and after stages of editing, to show how I made changes to my photographs in order to create effective advertisements.

Front Page

Holiday Advertisement: 

Here is my image before I made any changes to it. I chose to use a photograph of sunglasses on a beach, as these are recognisable, stereotypical things that can be related to holidays. I thought that by using a pair of sunglasses, the reader would be able to tell that a hot destination was being advertised. I also felt the image needed to be brightened up in order for it to catch the attention of my target demographic, and to really highlight the quality of the layout of this photograph. The red and blue prominent colours in this photograph were good features to begin with, as blue is the colour I later chose to feature on my front page. 

This is my photograph after I edited it on Photoshop. I decided to increase the brightness and the contrast of my image, in order to define the colours and brighten up the overall effect of my advert. I used an eraser tool with blurred edges to change the shape of my image, and to allow me to later have my text surrounding the new curved edge. I was pleased with the way the curve worked with the image, as the person's figure in the background was still able to remain visible with the sunglasses on the towel which added an extra element of interest to my picture. 

Houses for Sale Advertisement:

This is my photograph of a house for my advertisement for houses for sale in the local area before editing. I decided to feature a plain, modern house, and chose to capture my image standing straight in front of it to eliminate any uneven shadowing that may mean my image looked unclear.  I was pleased with the timing I chose to take the photograph, as there was clear blue skies making lighting easy to control by standing in certain directions away from the sun. As the image was captured on a clear day, I did not have to spend too much extra time editing clouds or other weather-related obstacles out of my image.

This is my selected image after editing on Photoshop. 

I firstly cropped my image, so to get rid of the road and pavement that was detracting attention from the house itself. I then also changed level of brightness and contrast in order to make the outlines stand out further, and make the image easy to see from a further distance, which I felt was important if it was to be pictured small along the top of my newspaper.

By choosing a semi-detached house on the end of a row of houses, I was able to use an eraser tool to blur out the edge of my photograph without cutting out parts of other houses joint onto the house in my image.



Marina Boat Trips Advertisement:

This is my photograph of Portishead Marina before I did any editing. I wanted to create a vanishing point in my photograph and this helped when later layering my text over the top because I was able to have the writing tiered to get thinner as the boats became further away. I used a high quality photograph that I planned on not making too many changes to later on, as I felt it was already crisp and clear, with the water seeming still and peaceful. This was to connote an idea of calm luxury to the boat trips on offer, instead of the expected choppy nature of the sea that is usually incorporated in adverts for boat trip companies such as the one I am aiming to advertise for.


Here is my finished advert after editing on Photoshop. I used the eraser tool to rub out some of the masts over the sky of the boats, so my text could be layered over a plain white sky background without anything obscuring the text. It was important that the text was made as clear as possible, as I planned on using thin lettering to go with the classy, luxurious theme I wanted to apply to these kinds of boat trips I wanted to advertise for. 



Car Specialist Advertisement:

This is the photograph of a car I used in my advert for a local car specialist before any editing took place. I thought carefully about what position the sun should be in, in order for the car to have even shadows on it to make the paintwork as even as possible. 







Here is my finished advert for a local car specialist company after editing. 
Firstly I cropped around the outline of the car, so I could get rid of the car park background and make the vehicle my main focus amongst the text on this image. I left the brightness and contrast the same on this image, as I felt my photograph was of a high quality that didn't need to be altered in that sense. 

Rough Draft of my Newpaper Layout

Here are my second two rough drafts of my two pages of my newspaper. I have changed the layout of my front page slightly by moving the masthead down so there was space along the top of this page to put offers inside the newspaper, one being a chance to "Win a holiday" and the other being houses for sale within the area.

Adverts for my Newspaper Publication

In the creation of our newspaper publications, we are required to design and make our own adverts for these pages. I chose to do adverts advertising the following things: a local photographer, a Marina boat trip company, a local hair and beauty salon and a local PR company. I felt it was important to advertise companies that would appeal to my target demographic, and have enough to appeal to both genders.

Pictured below are each of my own adverts and an explanation as to why I chose to use the images I did, and the adverts I took inspiration from in order to create my own outcomes. 

Local PR Company

Here on the left is the advertisement I focused on when looking for ideas and features to use on my own design for a local PR company. The white background is effective on this advert because it keeps it simple and allows the text to be easily read. On this particular advert I think using the orange colour scheme is useful in order to allow the association to seem vibrant and interesting, and attract people to research further into what it is this association can offer them personally. I took my inspiration for the layout of my own PR company's advert from this ad, and positioned my lines of colour in similar widths at the top and bottom of the ad to frame the information effectively. 

Pictured here on the right is my own advert I have created for an online PR association. I used a very similar style of ad in that I decided to use bands of colour framing it to make it have an overall professional look. However I used a pale shade of pink for my own work as I felt it looked modern and would still attract people's attention without being too bright. For my own design, I also used small icons of the Facebook, Twitter and commonly recognised telephone sign as this is a common feature I have noticed on many newspaper or even magazine adverts in the past. I wanted to keep my PR advert plain and simple in order to abide by the terms of the expected professional print advertisement, and I was pleased with the result.

Local Photography Advert

Here is the existing advert for photographer Mike Clarke's photography company "Planet Photon". I chose this advert to base my own outcome on because I liked the bright contrasting colours used in this image, and thought it would give a modern feel to my newspaper. I took features of this advert with my own creation but tried to exaggerate them for example having thicker black outlines around the text on my advert for "Galactic Imagery". 

This is the advert I created for a local photography company, based on an existing advert for Planet Photon. When capturing the right image for this advert, I was focusing on creating the effect of movement through colour in my photography. I selected this particular image because I liked the blue highlights over the male figure, as it acted as almost a shadow-like effect and I felt was eye catching and interesting enough to come across as an example of a photography company's work. For my choice of text I decided to use white lettering as I felt it stood out over the predominantly dark background of the image, and to make these letters clearer to read I gave them a black outline. The font itself was chosen because it gave the ad a more art-like feel as the black speckles on the letters reminded me of paint splats. 











Local Car Specialist Advert

Here is the car specialist advert I used to base my own newspaper advert on. I chose to focus on this one out of the examples I found because I thought there was a good amount of text featured on the ad to give their target demographic the right amount of information, without cramming too much text in one small space. I also thought the use of a photograph of a nice car would be a good feature to use when creating my own newspaper advert because it allows people to instantly recognise what is being advertised before reading any text. 

Pictured on the right is my own car specialist advert, which I created mainly using Photoshop. To begin with, when creating this advert, I took photographs of some cars trying to get the right amount of light in order not to get shadows appearing on the cars, to make my end photograph as effective as possible in making whichever car I chose to look attractive. Then on Photoshop, I cut out around the outline of the car in order to give me allowance to place the car on a plain white background, so the text would be easily read and not lost on the background of the carpark it was parked in. For the bullet points of text on this advert I used the font Arial Black as out of the fonts I tried out this one was the easiest to read when I zoomed out, and I felt this was extremely important if the ad was to be appearing small on my newspaper page. The small pink box in the bottom left hand corner of my advert is an effect I used to look like a sticker or post-it-note as this feature was used on the Dents8 ad, however in that case was a circle, not square. Overall I was pleased with the car specialist advert I created however if I were to create it again I would include some grey shadowing behind the photograph of the car in a more similar style to Dents8.

Existing Advertisement Analysis

In order to give me the inspiration I need to create my own newspaper adverts I have chosen to analyse some existing adverts to give me some ideas as to how they are designed and what the layouts consist of. 

I have focused on colours, use of text, chosen images/photographs, style of font, and general impression given off from the advert itself. 

I have analysed 3 different adverts of each genre of the adverts I will be creating:

Adverts for Photographers

Here is one example of an advert used by a professional photography company, "Dirk van der Werff Professional Wedding Photography". It has used a dark, black background which gives the advert a dramatic effect and could suggest to their target audience that they aim to take impressive, breathtaking photographs. On this advert in particular, the company has chosen to show several different examples of their photography, 14 in total, in order to entice people and illustrate a range of the styles they are capable of. On my own advert for a local photographer, I am going to have one single photograph as my background in contrast to this layout. I will layer my text over this image like I have shown in my blogpost on my own photographs. The font used at the top of this page is in a sort of handwriting style, written in white lettering. The colour white could have been used to connote purity, which is often related with the idea of a perfect wedding and the bride's clean white wedding dress, which for wedding photography is obviously very relevant. 

Here is another example of an advertisement for a photography company. This advert has also used a dark background and again this could be used to symbolise dramatic, interesting forms of photography that the company aims to produce. However, in contrast to the advert I analysed first, this design does not include any photograph taken by the company. This is an interesting choice of design for an advert for a photography company and could be interpreted as an informed decision to keep an air of mystery about the type of photos the customer could expect. The design and layout of this ad is very simplistic, using only 3 colours of dark grey (almost black), white and yellow. The simple outline of a cliff edge could have been made yellow to suggest bright and positive photography that the company produces. This could entice people to research and find what they may expect from a company like this. In my own design for my photography advert, I have completely gone against this sort of ad as I believe it is more effective to show a good example of the sort of images you produce in order to attract people to that particular company. I also think my use of a bright image as the background will look attractive on my newspaper page and catch the reader's eye effectively. 

This is an example of a photographer's advert which differs from the two above that I have analysed, as it does not use dark colours as the background. This ad appears more bright and family orientated than the two ads pictured above as there are light colours used of beige and light, grey-ish shade of blue. These colours could be seen as quite plain day-to-day colours which could illustrate an idea of normal family life and pictures to reflect this designed to  appeal to families. Two images are used on this advert in particular, which is most similar to mine out of the three compared to one using no images at all to one using a total of 14. By using two images it can attract the reader's eye and showcase the photographer's skills without the images being lost amongst a wide range of images that the audience may not pay as much attention to individually.

Adverts for Small Businesses

(My own ad will be for a local PR company, but I have focused on small businesses in my research that use writing in their ads)

This is an advert for a small accounting company called Inglis. I have used this as an example in my research because the advert uses mainly text which is something I'll be looking to replicate in my own work. However, I don't think this advert is as effective as it could be, because there is not a clear enough colour scheme, which I believe is crucial if there is not going to be an image to attract the reader's attention. When designing my own advert for a small PR agency, I will use the same sort of amount of text however I will have my text centered, and more symmetrical.

I prefer the style of this advert compared with the one pictured above because there is a more clear colour scheme of purple. Purple is a good choice of colour for an advert such as this, as it it not gender exclusive, so the tutoring could apply to anyone. It is also a colour connoted with passion and wealth which could give the impression to people that maths tutition could lead them to success. The image matches the theme of the advert well, as it's a man in a suit which is a proffessional, businesslike image that suits the theme of education. I may take elements of this design in my own advert for a local PR company, for example the telephone, message and facebook icons towards the bottom left of the ad. Another aspect I think is effective in an ad such as this is the name of the person and service of the company is put in large lettering; in fact the largest lettering on the page, which helps make it clear what the advert is advertising.

Here is an advert for an insurance company named belmont international, which uses a clear colour scheme of dark pink and green. This advert has rougly the same amount of text as the other two adverts, but I don't think this one is an effective as the others. This is because I don't believe the information is laid out clearly enough to allow the reader to know exactly where to look. I think having the information in clear lines to seperate it out makes it easier and clearer. There are also no images again on this advert, which may well be a feature I use on my own advert because this seems to be somewhat conventional for adverts for small businesses such as these.

Adverts for Boat Trips 

Here is an advert for a company who specialises in boat trips called Sea Searcher. I like the layout of this advert and the fact that they have created it in a long horizontal box as a photograph of the boat is used for the background. However, I think they could have used a much more high quality image for the background of this advert. The text is also not made to stand out as much as it perhaps should be. By making the text white in a plain, sans serif type font it makes it too plain, especially as the sea behind the image appears light in colour due to the reflection of the pale white sky.

This is advertising Beans Boat Trips, and has used a more effective image for the backgroud I think, compared with the ad pictured above. Bright orange,bold lettering is used for the masthead to capture the reader's eye and make it clear what is being advertised. The phone number is also in this colour, making it easy for the reader to know how to get in contact. This ad also uses three other photographs as well as the one used for the background. These allow people to see other aspects of the boat trip, and can further entice them to come enjoy the experience and make the offer seem more appealing. For an advert such as this I think just the correct amount of text has been used to let the reader know the information they require, without giving away too much.

Fred Olsen cruises is a worldwide firm, as it clearly states on the advert itself but I chose to analyse it despite this, as I think the main image used is very effective to attract an audience. The more dramatic effect differs to both the other adverts I have previously analysed as it does not picture the boat in question, but the view to be seen or perhaps the experience to be had on such a boat trip. However I do not believe the colour of the blue band for text at the top of the advert is neccessarily in keeping with the image, as the colours do not abide by the same colour scheme. However blue is a colour that connotes bright blue skies, sunshine and the ocean, so I can be understood why such a colour would be used. Three pictures are placed along the bottom of the advert, all picturing the cruise ship itself which advertises the scale of the impressive boat and it looking it's best to further excite people by the prospect of a grand scale cruise ship.

Adverts for Car Specialists

This car advert for a company called Kars Automotive Specialists uses only black and white for it's main colours in the colour scheme. This is not a feature I wish to replecate in my own advert creation as I don't think it will effectively attract people's attention on a newspaper page which will already have a lot of black and white on it. I do however think this advert is effective in the amount of text used in the form of bullet points on the right hand side of the ad. By clearly listing what the company offers, the reader can immediately recognise whether they require the services of the company, saving time for the company and potential customers.

Here is an another car specialist advert named Crofton Auto Service. This advert also lacks colour, which is an element I won't choose to feature in my own work. On this ad, the black and white seems to go with a old-fashioned theme they have chosen to create this ad in the style of. In between the words "Auto" and "Service" the company's logo is situated, with a cartoon man fixing a car. It is effective in letting people know what the advert is advertising but in my opinion is too detailed for a car specialist logo. On my own ad, I will have an actual photograph of a car, with a light coloured background and text layered over it.

Out of the three car specialist adverts, I think this one would be most effective in a newspaper because it has some colour on it, which could make it stand out amongst the text on the page. By using the colour red, it connotes ideas of power and speed which is relates well to cars and repairs in order to keep them that way. This advert is the most similar to the design I had in mind for my own advert creation, as there is a small photograph of a car which I plan to have on my own advert. It also has a similar amount of text to the conventional type of car specialist ad, which I will be abiding by.

Adverts for Hair & Beauty Salons

This is an advert for a hair and beauty salon called "KCUK Hair & Beauty Day Spa", which uses bright, feminine colours in order to connote an idea of beauty and the types of services the company (spa in this case) provides. There is a lot of text on this particular advert, which I don't believe is appropriate for a newspaper ad, as it needs to be short and to the point so the reader quickly has a chance to gather all the information necessary. The photograph is very small on this advert, and not very clear. In my own work, I am planning on featuring a photograph of a girl with her hair and make up done, with the text either layered over the top of this image most likely created on Photoshop, or positioned next to the female image. 

This advert for "16th Ave Hair Salon" uses royal blue for the main colour of their colour scheme, which could be seen as unconventional because pink is seen as a more traditionally feminine colour. Therefore this advert goes against the expected type of hair and beauty salon advertisement  which could connote individuality and cutting edge style. The contact information and company title are in larger letters which I think is a helpful feature to make it simple and easy to contact them. Bullet points are another feature I may well take into my own advert designs because they are a short way to get as much information across as easily as possible. 

This advertisement is the most similar to the design I had planned for my own hair and beauty advert. By having the text and image clearly set apart, the reader can find out what they need to know and does not detract the attention from the high quality image of the result of the hair and beauty salon's work. The colour scheme is violet and white, with grey faded background behind the female image. Violet is a dramatic shade, which connotes pleasure and indulgence, two key elements of many of the services offered in a hair and beauty salon. This is definitely the most effective hair and beauty salon advert in my opinion that I have analysed, due to the layout, choice of image and colour scheme. I will aim to base many aspects of my own advert on this design. However I may include bullet points to space out my information, and have the contact information and company name in larger letters to make them stand out properly.