Advertising Concept: Opening page

Posted on July 5, 2012 by eskokumpunen

Display advertising displayed on top of regular layout such as rich media ads must subside in given amount of time. Squeezing elements into limited screen space results in crowded layouts. Banner ads are notorious for their poor performance. Good isn’t enough—Banner ads must be downright awesome for more than 1 per cent of the viewers to click on them.

Opening page concept in practice, Design by ad agency

In collaboration with our sales department I modified the concept of the ’Opening page’ for their product portfolio.

Demo page (check out the subtle CSS hover-effects)

If you can’t change it, make a feature of it

Journalists may see ads as necessary evil, but younger consumers usually feel more relaxed towards advertising. The are ad-literate, they realize commercials are out there to manipulate them—And They are OK with it. High end magazines realize this and have embraced advertising for years. Readers welcome Cosmo and Vogue for the ads as well as the stories.

Play with an open hand and present ads for what they are—commercial content. When user interface behaves as expected, nobody will mind.

: Opening page Flow chart

: Ad element placement

: Opening page concept in practice, Design by ad agency

Like button will give the campaign points, and winners are recognized with Best Pixels of the Month -award.

…but you still need the creative to run a successful campaign.

Don’t give in to the Dark side

Advertising is tricky. Everybody understands that advertising’s primary objective is to manipulate people’s behavior in to consuming products X and Y. However, people are ad-literate and manipulative behavior will quickly earn you a stigma. An interesting collection of User Interface designs to trick people are demonstrated among the Dark patterns. Don’t give in to the rage–Don’t go on to the Dark Side. Consumers do not care whether you will fill your quota or not, and anxious mindset will only earn you negative results.

Don’t be afraid to step on my toes

Posted on June 8, 2012 by eskokumpunen

Business owners might choose to work with external agencies instead of in-house design department. It might be the in-house design team is lacking the necessary design talent, or projects extend beyond their skill set. It might also be just that the schedule is too tight

And you know what? I’m ok with it, but whatever the reason to get hired help, don’t be afraid to include me or another in-house designer in any project in a consultative role. I need to be there to question changes and conflicts to the house style, to find if they are justified and necessary. We will improve speed, and get the project to goal. We will communicate with agency designers the nitty-gritty of brand elements and house style.

I will not steel your credit. I will not get carried away in artistic self expression, or apply bland house style.

I expect design agency to

Present high quality creative work
Present the message in a way suitable for the media. Communicate emotional and qualitative arguments and appeal
Create an immediate emotional response with the recipient

As in-house designer I must:

Understand effectiveness and productivity
Have realistic vision of company strategy and financial status
Supervise design and production stages
Manage the brand
Communicate within design team and between other teams.

Or else…

Lack of design management may result in problems such as:

Design guides the product – the final design may be in style and zeitgeist, and yet off brand and short-lived the same time.
Personal visions lobbing
Us–them thinking instead of teamplay
Values vacuum – failure to understand how this project correlates with the company’s previous & next project.

I have witnessed wag-the-dog situations resulting from alien design affecting much larger processes that were originally intended. It is not realistic to expect that an external designer could be able to self-consult themselves with your brand elements. In any design products there are several choices and I will help you and our team to find the best ones.

What’s wrong with this poster?

Posted on May 6, 2012 by eskokumpunen

I apologize, but I’m going to be critical now. I love old toys and this exhibition has been promoted a lot, but the poster does not appeal to me at all. I have been seeing this poster around town ever since the exhibition opened in Helsinki Art Museum, but haven’t been there yet—due to the fact that the poster bugs me so.

Helsinki Art Museum poster

The bad:

Typography is like being hit in the head with a blunt object
It’s not evident that the bears head is actually a bear-mask the freaky doll is holding
Why pick two dolls for the poster, when exhibiting all kinds of toys, instead of just dolls?
Besides, dolls are quite similar and from almost the same era
Who is the poster for? Isn’t there anything for designers, little boys, or little boys inside grown men (like myself)?

The good:

This design concept is simple—aiming for toy museum rather than a toy store

What kind of poster would have gotten me up off my butt then? Perhaps a simpler, clean design had done it. Finnish name of the exhibition ‘Lelun lumo’ translates to enchantment or fascination. This arouses some very interesting design ideas.

What went wrong?

I’m thinking of the design process—Did the designer offer a simpler, clean design with just the classic doll. I tend to think this might have been what the designer was aiming for, and they’d have nailed it had they succeeded. Was this overruled by a committee of city officials? Did the designer finally grab the check and give up? I don’t know, I just guessing here. Clean design is a delicate issue, and easily torn apart by Lets-fill-up-the-empty-spaces -monster. If this was the case, my heart goes out to you. I’ve been there myself.

Alternate route

If a client is dreading empty spaces, a less elegant, fuller design, or even a photo wall might have worked. I think an enchanting poster could have done with just one photo. There would have been plenty to choose from: All of the toys below appear in the exhibition.