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What is going on outside?
This has happened to me before: I see something cool and my initial reaction is, "Wow!" I analyze it and wonder to myself, "How did they do that?" Then I 'm remined by similar examples... "Hey, I came up with that before!" But if something hits me like this, I enjoy and learn from it. All the activity seen in much of the Graphic Design media is giving us information about the styles that are kicking ass. But what is this media about and how can you use it for that great idea you just came up with?
The purpose of mass media advertising is to reach as many people as possible with a single message. What is really interesting in certain instances is how the abstraction of a complex concept is implied in the simple process of communication: author-message-audience, as long as the message is clear enough of course! I admit that I probably should have stayed awake longer in my Semiotics courses at school... but for those who stayed awake, for those who didn't, and for those who have no clue what this is, the bottomline is that you can captivate your audience, because if it does it to you, it will do it to them. Actually we are all part of some marketing program strategy. As an audience we experience on a daily basis a lot of information outside that often makes us say, "Now I know what I want! Sure, those bills can wait!" All this personal feedback and the research of "what is going on outside" leads us to be more creative with the advertising media usage. Important examples of this media are:
Getting The Message
Recently, I pulled my car over just to contemplate a billboard for a few minutes. Then, I decided to keep going because I didn't get it! It is just a huge white area with three figures: one square, a circle and a triangle. Not a single character, no logo, no recognizable corporate color either, no optical illusion, no nothing! Now, what the heck is it? We will know in the next episode... Precisely! That was the graphic artist's strategy: to create expectation and to draw a line of sequence in the audience. Believe me, it worked because I kept driving down the road waiting for what's next. So far this is clever because, whatever it is, it will hardly be unperceived by the audience, in contrast to all those that we don't even bother to read -- particularly the kind of billboards that display a whole paragraph of information when people have no more than three seconds (in regular flow) to get a whole message. It is also not a good idea to place an entire story in a magazine or newspaper ad, especially if you want your audience to keep reading until the logo spot. Not always does simplicity omit details or is vague in content. In fact, with creativity, it can contain lines of unnecessary text, and highlight important features. Personally a good strategy is to try to see things as your target audience would, knowing more about their expectations, putting that great idea in a way that they would easily understand, and try to reach them with messages of genuine interest for their needs. Not to mention that if possible, even entertain them with a curious display of creativity. Don't miss finding out what that billboard was about in the next issue... hopefully.
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