Step #1: Keep The Message Clear. Despite what some have been led to believe, no-one is in the business of spending a fortune to sell acres of white space or pretty pictures to art-starved consumers. Your mission is to make a sale. Dont cut sales copy for massive margins, vast areas of empty white space or ponderous photographs. Youre just asking for trouble and, quite possibly, you could blow the sale. Step #2: Great artwork doesnt always sell. This isnt about art. Its about business. Specifically, its about selling a product or service. Art is subjective. Certain techniques have been proven over many years to be more effective at generating attention, readership and response than others. The first lesson that great designers have learned is that design does NOT sell products. Copy sells the product. Great design helps the copy do its job. Bad design gets in the way of the sale. You only have a limited amount of space in each promotion. Every element that gets through to final draft displaces something that didnt. Every unnecessary graphic element you add means crucial sales copy has to be smaller, shorter or worse, cut altogether. That means you sell less. Bottom line. Step #3: Recognize that your design only has to accomplish two, simple but essential tasks. Graphic designers first job is to help the copy grab the prospects attention. Do this one thing well and yes, that usually means big, ugly headline and deck type and youre 60% of the way there. Their second job is to convert that attention to readership and to help keep the prospect reading until he responds. Do these 3 simple things well, and youll create more responsive ads and bigger winners, more often! |
