Ad Analysis

I had to do an ad analysis for a school assignment, and it was right up my alley. I love this kind of thing.  I thought I would post it here because it's really quite similar to the stuff I like to write on my blog about design analysis!  The categories were taken from a textbook, and each category in the textbook had specific questions and things to consider.  The information underneath each heading are my responses to the questions asked in the textbook.  Feel free to read if this is something you are interested.  Or you can just skim the headings if you want to get a general feel for what I did.

The ad I chose was for a Tamron camera lens, and here it is.

About the Creators/Authors
The creators of this ad are clearly representatives from the Tamron company, and their goal is naturally to get people to buy their lenses. They seem to be striving for an almost awed response from their would-be customers, going on the professional look of the ad. In addition, they want to appeal to a wide variety of audiences (both serious professionals and more laid back photographers) because of the mix of professionalism and fun in the ad (at the bottom of the page, the second paragraph of white text in the blue box takes on a more carefree tone). The creator(s) of the ad seem to take the visuals of the ad seriously, especially the placement of the photos. They took great care to make the photos take up a large percentage of the page.

About the Medium
Words and images are used in this ad. The images are photos as well as graphic design elements such as the logo, an insignia for an award the company has earned, and graphics symbolizing various features of the camera lens. The message and effectiveness of the ad would be very much compromised if not nonexistent if it weren’t for the visual aspects of the ad. No one would really want to buy a camera lens without seeing what it looked like and what types of pictures it takes. So the images and even the graphic elements have a huge impact on the usefulness of the ad. Even such things as color blocks and fonts say a lot about the product – they are very sleek and professional-looking, which is the image the company probably wants to put forward about the lens.

About Viewers/Readers
The ad assumes that most of the readers have some experience with photography, even SLR photography, and know enough to realize that a wide zoom range, especially with no motion blur, is a very desirable thing. However, they do provide information about why this type of thing would be useful, which seems to say that they are essentially “dumbing down” the ad so that amateurs who may not have experience in the professional photography industry would still understand and be interested in purchasing the lens. The pictures given as examples will probably have a big impact on the readers and their reactions to the ad – they are equally crisp and clear, even though one was taken at a much greater level of zoom. The sheer quality of the photos is a selling tool – if the creators can convince customers that the lens will help them take great pictures like that, there just might be some people buying this lens.

About Content and Purpose
The ad is definitely designed to sell something, and I think it tries to appeal to the desire for two things, 1) to be great at something and 2) to do something easily. The ad explains or alludes to the fact that this lens will help you take great pictures, causing you to be a more skilled photographer, and it also says how handy this lens will be because it will allow you to zoom so much. Thus, readers can be convinced almost instantaneously that this product will save them effort and make them great.

About Design
My eye is drawn first to the “Zoomed. Not Shaken.” text in the top left. This is a good choice on the part of the designer because the eye tends to read from left to right anyway, and because the statement itself is a little cryptic and makes you want to keep reading the ad so that you can understand what exactly it means. The de-emphasized, gray text on the right is also a significant part of the design. It just gives the specs of the lens, and turns the focus away from what exactly the product is and onto what it does and why you need it. I think that was a conscious design and marketing choice. The pictures are placed in such a way that they also attract the viewer’s attention, and I think that’s on purpose, as well. Color is also used purposefully in the ad – the colors in the design are the same as the colors in the photos, making everything blend and flow cohesively. This also enhances the professional look of the ad. One other focal point in the ad is the picture of the lens. The way it is placed and the way it looks against the white background makes it really stick out, which is important because it’s the actual product the ad is trying to sell.

Now, what do you all think of this ad?  What components of it have what effects?  Do you have any other thoughts or opinions?  I'd love to hear.

P.S. I started playing around with headers and stuff yesterday... and one thing led to another and I ended up re-designing a lot of things on my blog.  What do you all think of the new look?  Also, I've changed my portfolio link to a Tumblr page as opposed to a page on my blog.  I thought a 2-page grid format might be more practical than the long list I had before.  You can check out my new portfolio page here, or you can click the "portfolio" tab up top.  I'm going to try Tumblr out for awhile and see if I like it... I might end up going back to a normal page after awhile, but I wanted to give something else a try.