From the course: Graphic Design Tips & Tricks
Designing a small-space advertisement
From the course: Graphic Design Tips & Tricks
Designing a small-space advertisement
- Hi, everyone, John McWade. Today we're looking at a company called Mad About Mud. Dirt bikes, ATVs, trucks, buggies, ground-shaking, bone-jarring motorized outdoor fun stuff. Problem is, their graphics look like they were done in church, and we need to get them looking more like mud. Common design problem, think less about layout and more about making your design look like what it is. Let's have a look. It's a simple ad, clearly presented. Logo at the top, great photo, obvious offer, everything clean, centered, buttoned up. The data's here, but what's missing is pretty obvious. It's that sweaty, growly, mud-slinging vitality. It's too clean. The photo's the muddy part, but it's so small you can't feel that, and all that white around it just puts a hush on everything. Even the logo is too clean. Sharp edges, very neat, so let's get some energy into this thing. Best thing we have is a great photo, so throw everything aside, turn the page sideways, and fill it with photo wall to wall, and just like that, it's transformed. It's in our face, it's rattling our teeth, we're there, we're on the ground in the scene. Next thing, we need a typeface that feels like mud. Mud is all about texture, cracks, bumps, splatters, irregularities. A lot of typefaces fit this description. We're going to use one called Sabotage. It's muddy, it's oozy, and it's condensed. Condensing your type intensifies it. Here it is in nice mud colors. Next step, we're going to need a face for the small type, and for this we'll use Trade Gothic. It has clean edges that I just complained about, but that's a trade off for its readability in small sizes, which you can see here. It's condensed, but much less than Sabotage, so when it gets small, which you can see here on the outside, it's more readable. Besides, by the time we're done, it'll be covered in mud, so we're fine. Next step, we need a place for that type, so I'm going to mark a horizon like this and delete the background except for the flying mud. I'll sample a mud color from the tire and build a background with it. This gives us a smooth field for our type, but it keeps the mud, and it keeps that coming over the horizon feel to the buggy. Now, set in place the offer. This is Sabotage, question is how big. This is going to be up to you. It's usually an issue of how much emphasis you want to give it. Here it is much bigger. Send it behind the mud layer, and we're getting pretty intense and dirty, but at this size it's too big for the other things we have to fit there, so let's split the difference like this. Still big enough to have lots of rumble. Add the logo back in along the margin. We're not going to change it, it is the logo, but the mud splatters help, and the angle helps keep it energized. Last step is to add color, both of which are sampled from the photo. The small type, which looked clean a few screens ago but is plenty muddy here is at 20% tint of the background color. And there ya go. Grubby, earthy, same data, full of energy. Before, after. To review, get your image big, big equals engagement. Rather than viewing it politely from a distance, get your type big and dense to sustain the intensity, and use the off-kilter quality of the image to drive the off-kilter placement of everything else. And that's your design for today, seeya next time.
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Contents
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Design a modern cover: Think simple, clean, and angular3m 22s
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Transform a product sheet: Put your words here, not there3m 1s
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Design a business card: Make it look like what it says4m 40s
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Double your artwork for free: Use the same picture twice3m 49s
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Design a ghosted logo: A picture always goes with itself5m 39s
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Design a business card using repetitive shape4m 38s
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Why round letters are bigger than straight ones1m 49s
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Design a powerful poster: Work with your photo, not against it7m 13s
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Design stationery that’s almost a brochure: Picture your product, not your logo7m 42s
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Alignment: Your ruler’s good only for regular things4m 32s
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Logo design: Think simple3m 40s
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Your design needs a focal point: Dramatic photo anchors a strong makeover8m 5s
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Chart your data with images2m 26s
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Make a beautiful logo with off-the-shelf type3m 30s
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How to transfer your look to a new format13m 55s
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Angles4m 52s
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The (very!) versatile art of the silhouette8m 14s
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Easy, functional one-line design6m 30s
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Signage: Consistency makes the brand7m 59s
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Elementals: How black, white, and gray make depth2m 43s
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A beautiful desk calendar you can make yourself9m 28s
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Lesson of the counterintuitive logo5m 24s
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How to design visual instructions5m 42s
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Design a beautiful CD package9m 7s
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Simple brochure presents your face to the public2m 37s
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Soften the edge2m 49s
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Small layout packs a big punch6m 59s
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Shape it: Part one6m 52s
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Shape it: Part two4m
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A logo makeover: Part one5m 3s
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A logo makeover: Part two5m 22s
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Grid collage3m 8s
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People in a group on a grid5m 24s
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Magazine cover redesign4m 33s
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Designing cards with type alone7m 7s
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Designing a small-space advertisement4m 11s
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Designing a business card for a photographer5m 17s
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Designing names with type and basic shapes4m 17s
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Review of an outdoor sign logo7m 58s
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Creating a small multipage brochure9m 21s
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Designing with black, white, and gray5m 19s
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Gestalt techniques: Isomorphism6m 40s
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Redesigning a business card7m 48s
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How to put motion on a static page11m 59s
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The color wheel6m 36s
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Layout decision points5m 3s
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Designing a tiny brochure3m 53s
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Panoramic spacing3m 23s
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Multi-use format for a business card7m 57s
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The boring book cover challenge: Part 17m 31s
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The boring book cover challenge: Part 24m 21s
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The single space practice5m 1s
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Incorporating hairlines into your design4m 22s
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Close enough with color choice4m 39s
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More design techniques with grids4m 35s
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Lanzarote calendar assignment4m 11s
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Foreground focal point2m 58s
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Stop, look, observe3m 50s
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Working with a rule of thumb (dynamic) grid8m 24s
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The humble power of negative space9m 37s
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Go with the flow9m 52s
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Learning by doing11m 43s
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For the love of design!4m 7s
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The boring book cover challenge, part 35m 50s
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Bold moves5m 6s
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Simply beautiful4m 51s
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Common but versatile looks5m 37s
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Audacious philanthropy5m 50s
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Simple slides12m 48s
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Every face has a place5m 8s
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Those little extras1m 53s
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Seeing sight lines13m 34s
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Swiss style grids, part 15m 26s
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Swiss style grids, part 26m 54s
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Poetic type5m 20s
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Visual continuity4m 53s
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Find your balance5m 25s
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Procrastiworking with album covers10m 21s
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Looking around: Why it works4m 17s
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Don't fake it2m 3s
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Find the focal point6m 5s
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Tooth and texture8m 35s
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Small and simple5m 37s
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Design challenge: Dino Water3m 36s
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Looking around: Address the audience2m 52s
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Experimenting with borders5m 20s
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Magazine layout triple threat5m 48s
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Product ad comparison4m 5s
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Lanzarote calendar assignment: Revisited5m 24s
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Rewind: Simply beautiful4m 59s
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Rewind: Seeing sight lines13m 33s
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Find your center with typefaces4m 59s
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Maki poster, part 15m 40s
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Maki poster, part 26m 35s
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Quick look: Decoded wallet case1m 2s
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A type of luxury2m 32s
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Quick look: Saltwater restaurant1m 15s
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Quick look: Nick's Cove1m 1s
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Less is more: Book covers5m 22s
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Less is more: Notices5m 25s
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Less is more: Posters4m 44s
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Movement in design4m 16s
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The British Academy: Logo4m 36s
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The British Academy: Type3m 48s
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The British Academy: Grid4m 45s
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Quick look: Teavana rock sugar53s
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Ask John: Authentic advice2m 33s
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Blue Note: Donald Byrd album cover3m 50s
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Blue Note: Caddy Daddy, Part 14m 45s
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Blue Note: Caddy Daddy, Part 24m 28s
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Blue Note: Caddy Daddy, Part 33m 56s
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Ask John: Finding your passion2m 41s
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It's all in the details: Lineweights1m 49s
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Paper flyer redesign4m 6s
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Set a headline with Gossamer3m 54s
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Ask John: New business logo1m 52s
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A new type: Helvetica Now5m 48s
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In detail: Line values2m
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Typographic silence6m 46s
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Rebranded: Uber4m 6s
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Capture connection with authenticity5m 27s
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