How To Choose And Use Artwork For A Newspaper Ad
A newspaper ad does not have to be big to be outstanding. Eye-catching artwork creatively placed is one of the ways to draw newspaper readers to your ad, even though other ads surround it on the page. Whether you choose to completely design an ad using your favorite computer program, or provide the newspaper with a rough sketch showing the style and placement of artwork you would like, you can play an active role in creating a successful ad.
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Instructions
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Determine Ad Size and Area Available for Art
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Contact the newspaper for advertising rates. Determine the amount of ad space you can afford.
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Draw a rectangle on paper to the correct size of your ad. You might also create it in a computer program, such as Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, or one of your own choosing.
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Estimate the amount of space needed for any logo/trademark or contact information, and reserve that space within your ad.
Seek and Select Quality Artwork
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Look within product or service advertising materials from your vendors or franchise for images that you can use in whole or in part.
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Search the Internet for free stock photography or public domain images (artwork that is not under copyright law) on sites such as Burning Well or Public Domain Image, and save appropriate artwork to a computer file. Or, take your own high-resolution photographs with a camera and store them on CD.
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Select one of your pieces of artwork that you feel attracts the right customers or invokes the right feeling. Use it as the dominant art in your ad. You are not selling only products or service --- you are selling a positive emotion or benefit from the use of your products or service.
Apply Artwork to Your Ad
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Copy or trace your dominant art, or make a duplicate on your computer. Do not cut or permanently alter your original image.
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Place the image in the upper left-hand corner of your ad box because most readers look at that area first. Many images "face" in one direction or another, even if they are not images of people. Readers look at the header/headline or other information that the image "faces" or points to. Flop (or flip) your image if it does not "face" into your ad. Use your computer program, or trace the image on the backside of the paper to create a flopped image.
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Crop the image as needed, using scissors to trim the practice image or your computer program to crop it. For example, trim or crop out undesired background, or cut off part of the image at the edge of the ad to make it more interesting or to save space. Adhere image to ad if constructing by hand.
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Select any additional images needed, such as products or a photograph of yourself or business, and note for the newspaper if you would like any of them enlarged or reduced in size. Keep in mind that a newspaper designer may recommend that you eliminate one or more images, or some of your text, if you select too many images to successfully display in your ad.
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Tips & Warnings
A newspaper representative may state ad sizes in "column inches" or "picas" because newspaper space is divided into columns for editorial and ads, and pica measurements are used to determine column size. Ask for your ad size in inches too.
Limit products and text to items that you particularly want to promote at this time or that will clearly identify your type of business.
The newspaper advertising and design departments can offer advice as to whether a piece of color art can be changed successfully to black and white, or vice versa.
These instructions and tips can also be applied to magazine ads.
Do not use images already published in newspapers or from magazines, catalogs, or brochures -- not only for legal reasons, but also because they may contain a dot pattern or may otherwise be unsuitable for newspaper reproduction.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit the advertising girl image by 26kot from Fotolia.com
