EOC Week 8: Really Good Example of Chapter 8

The theme of this week’s chapter in our book was design and typography. The design of an advertisement is ultimately what sells the product. This blog comes from an assignment of searching in magazines for an ad that is a very good example of what the chapter taught us. After looking through a few magazines and picking from different advertisements I chose an ad for the production of the Phantom at the Venetian hotel here in Las Vegas.

Almost everyone in the world has heard of a little play known as the Phantom of the Opera and even though Las Vegas isn’t Broadway it offers many show productions like this for locals and tourists alike. The Venetian placing an advertisement for this production in Las Vegas magazine we can see who the audience this ad is for. “The cardinal rule: know your audience.”(Advertising by Design, Robin Landa, page 142) The audience for this ad might be a local resident bored with Las Vegas Blvd. Or even a tourist intent on seeing plenty of shows while here in Las Vegas. Alright so we know the audience, let us move onto design.

The layout of this ad is definitely what I love. The black background makes it seem much classier but darker than other productions on the Strip, it matches with the story of Phantom. But layout and a simple picture wouldn’t be the only thing that makes this ad great, font plays a big role in advertisements.

As Michael Sickinger of Firmenich in New Jersey says, “Incorporating images into ascenders and descenders can sometimes work well for logos and headlines.” He also states that, “Using pictographic images in place of letters can be provocative.” (Advertising by Design, Robin Landa, page 163) The font in this ad is easy to read, it seems like a regular classic font, but when you see the logo it becomes interesting because of the Phantom’s mask replacing the ‘O’ in a broken Phantom. Personally I love this ad because it is not overwhelming, you know what it’s for because of the picture and text, and finally because it is simply enticing. They had me at “Be Seduced.”