Ad Tabloid Project - Motion

[syberwolff]

Our project this week was to design a tabloid sized ad that was representative of motion or action.

NOTE: This image is NOT up to date; I don't have the up-to-date version. It's at my school and I won't be there tommorow so I wont be able to get it for a week or so.

http://img287.imageshack.us/img287/7632/maindf1.jpg

Updates since this: I removed the side-on sketch at the top,

I removed the "phantom backgrounds" from the plane images and made them slightly less transparent

Decreased text size to 12 and header size to 18

Made the white boxes thinner and slightly smaller.

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This was the original version that took me about an hour with no touchups, this is where I got before I had to leave class.
My teacher didn't really like it... she said the boxes were too big and overtook the image, the sketches looked too "cartoonish", and that the images didn't show motion/action enough...
My response:
1) Boxes too big: I disagreed but I sized them down; she says it looks 'better'; I still like original.
2) Cartoonish Sketches: I thought of them as an architectural standpoint, kind of like the original sketch when desigining the aircraft.
3) Doesn't show action; You're flying thousands of feet in the air at over 2x the speed of a car (in a single engine prop plane); that's pretty actiony to me.

Thanks for comments.

[datswhutsup]

i noticed the 2 boxes of text are not aligned, the bottom one is slighty to the left. are you working on any kind of grid?

grids are the way to go. try to keep things aligned with each other.

and information text should rarely be in italics.

good luck.

[PrintDriver]

She's right. There is no action, except perhaps for motion blur on the propeller on the one plane on the right.. The Cessna logo has more action than the poster layout.
The planes don't look like they are flying but are merely plopped over the image of mountains. The transparency doesn't help. Even if it were lessened, it has the effect of 'grounding' the planes and making them part of a solid, immobile mountain. Wings and tails embedded, those planes are going nowhere.

If you are going for the 'architectural' sketch look, study some actual plans of airplanes. You won't find isometric views too often, nor fully rendered ones. Right now you are halfway between isometric and fully rendered sketch. Go one way or the other.

The whole piece is straight-up static.

Way too much copy for an Ad. An Ad is for impact. Save the copy for the brochure. Italics for body copy - bad idea, especially when there is so much of it.

[tZ]

action and motion don't have to be literal.

A plane is not a action.

A mountain is not a action.

A plan is not a movement.

A mounatin is not a movement.

Think of things that are those descriptive words your trying to communicate.

For instance,

running is a movement

walking is a movement

or something as simple as putting your hand up could be an action. jumping is an action.

Think in the simplest of forms then try to exagerate that concept to further communciate ther concept. In this case that concept is movement or action. So perhaps have your focal point be that movement or action.

You can even look at ways to create implied movement. Dynamism is ultimatly what your after. Have a look at some sculture that create impled movement. Like Boccioni's- unique forms of countinuity in space. This scultpture captures the essence of movement and does breaking it down into the simplest of forms then creating a visual translation.

if your not into sculpture another one right off of the top of my head is a painting called man ascending staircase. Which is just meant to represent a form walking up a staircase.

I'll see if I can't find some images for you to start thinking beyond the literal and more in the conceptual realm.

*edit*

Here is unique forms of countinuity in space:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/art/20th/sculpture/boccioni02.jpg

man *descending* staircase:

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/NYG/7047~Nude-Descending-a-Staircase-No-2-1912-Posters.jpg

I'll see If I can't find the other one or remember others.

[morea]

there is rather a lot of text, and you need to be careful with that, because most of the time people won't take the time to read it if it looks like "too much work".

I would try to limit the ad copy to a few sentences, top. Just the basics, for impact. Really, the ad is to make the viewer want to know more, not to tell them everything about the product.

EC was right about the grid... those are important.

If you want to stick to planes, you might want to consider a jet with the steamy looking trails leading back across the sky, that gives it more of an illusion of movement, in my mind. Or a Lear jet. (ooh, lear jet). Or a rocket! (Ok, a rocket's not a plane, but still...)

You could also consider a pan action photo with a speed skater, or a runner, or a cheetah in motion, or a speeding train? When I think "fast", the photography part of my brain says "pan action!" ;)

I hope that helps some. I look forward to seeing your progress.

[mojoprime]

yeah, i have to agree. like mo said, you need a few sentences not eight paragraphs. the company is cesna, yet their logo is relegated to the upper left corner? if i was the client, i'd flip. your client's identity needs to be played up, and there needs to be some contact information -- "i want this cesna, how do i get it?" -- even if you make it up.

remember, the ad is no good if there isn't a call to action or even a declarative or informative statement, and if your audience can't follow up on what you're telling them in the ad, well, you've just wasted a bunch of money. ads like that don't come cheap.

it feels a little disjointed. you might try pulling in someone to help you with the copy, maybe. "business justification" is so stiff; maybe even something corny like "do you need the speed?" or something, and just use it as a bullet point. then make the other two "headlines" bullet points as well. after all, there's no way you can really explain the instrument panel in the ad so don't waste your time (and canvas) trying. grab the reader with something interesting about it ("real-time flight critical information at your fingertips...the future of flight" or something much better hopefully).

so, step back a minute. try a strong single image. i think mo is totally on target with the jet trails. you want something strong in type, but not a dissertation. less is more. and then maybe you have a series of smaller images highlighting the heads-up display. then wrap it up. logo, contact information, and leave it alone. when you give the reader so much to see and decipher, like mo said, studies have shown that most, if not all, won't give the ad the time of day. if you don't hook them, and then make it worth their while to stop and read your copy (even if all they get is the website), then you haven't got it right.

keep trying. you'll get it.

[emmerse]

I can only build on what has already been mentioned...

WAY. TOO. MUCH. COPY.

trim it down to just a couple sentences. study any really effective magazine ad and you'll find one dominant image and a call to action somewhere else. mimic that and make it your own.

my take on this ad would be too see only the tail end of one of their plane heading off the page to the right. maybe with a dash of motion blur to get the "man, these planes are so fast, they are flying off the ad before I have a chance to see them" feeling.

cesna has an established brand. you can say, "I fly a cesna" and people know what you're talking about. So this ad doesn't have to be about what the plane is, but why you NEED this plan. play up on the freedom of owning one, the ease of travel plans, anything to establish the need.

to recap: find a great, strong image, write just a little copy to elaborate the message within the image, elegently drop in a logo and call to action and bada bing, you have yourself a starting point for a really great ad.