Hi everyone, what are some websites, articles, movies, videos, social media accounts etc to look up if someone wants to learn about how to design ads?
Any specific industry you have in mind, or ads in general?
For the former, gather as many magazines of that industry as possible and study the ads. The latter, well, get as many magazines as you possibly can and go over everything.
That’s only the first step. I get the impression that you’re a beginner, in which case it can be tricky. Do let us know your skill/experience levels. That way we can make a more accurate assessment.
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Do you have a background that lends itself to advertising — for example, marketing, copy editing, or design? Unfortunately, successfully designing ads normally requires some prerequisite knowledge.
As an analogy, you might be able to find good online courses for learning organic chemistry, but without the prerequisites of general chemistry, a bit of math, biology, physics, and a bunch of general science classes, that organic chemistry class might not make a lot of sense.
Perhaps if you could provide a bit more information regarding your background and what type of ads you want to design, along with why you want to do it, someone might be able to provide more targeted feedback.
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I don’t have any specific industry in mind, just ads in general. I am a beginner at this stage.
As Just-B alluded to, you will need a grounding in design first. My suggestion would always be to get yourself a good degree from an actual bricks and mortar university, in graphic design. Some courses have leanings in certain directions. When I was at your stage I went to a university I knew was general, but with a heavy leaning on typography? My cousins went to another which was weighted towards advertising. You just have to do your homework and pick a course that is right for you.
That said I wouldn’t specialise too early, as once you get into a general design course, you may find other areas interest you more.
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ah okay, thanks!
Three classic books are:
My Life in Advertising by David Ogilvy
Scientific Advertising by John Caples, and
22 Immutable Laws of Advertising by Al arrives & Jack Trout
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Should be Al Reives
I have not read any of those. Looks like I have my summer reading list cut out for me. I have read Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy. It was an interesting read.
Steve_O…, Hmmm…my copy is titled “my life in advertising” by David Ogilvy, but my copy is rather old. I suppose the title might have been changed over the years, or it could be another book altogether. Not sure about that.
Confusing the book issue even more. Amazon sells books titled My Life in Advertising" and "Scientific Advertising. The trouble is they’re both by Claude C. Hopkins instead of John Caples or David Ogilvy,
Anyway, I own a copy of the Ogilvy book that Steve mentioned, and I read the 22 Immutable Laws of Advertising several years ago. I’ve not heard of the Hopkins books until now. John Caples wrote several different books on advertising — I read one or two of them but not all of them.