Trinity vs. Southwestern: The IH-35 Showdown

 

For my Poster Design project, I created an ad that calls on viewers to watch the Trinity men's soccer team's game against Southwestern live on the Tiger Network. This has been one of my favorite projects throughout my collegiate experience because it has allowed me to gain a new perspective that I had never before had the opportunity to position myself in. Taking on the role as an ad producer taught me a lot about what goes on in the decision making process that is creating an efficient ad. I was able to learn firsthand how difficult it is to accommodate and include as many design principles as possible into one ad.  

This is also the main difference between taking on the role of a media content producer and just being a media content consumer. When you are the producer, you have the responsibility of taking into account so many different elements that could impact the influence that your poster ad has on its audience. You are no longer just enjoying or ignoring the content, you are now the one responsible for the result of your audience either enjoying or ignoring the content and how effective the call to action will prove to be. This is the reason why the implementation of design principles and semiotics is vital to your final poster design outcome. 

I decided to incorporate a singular large focal point by using the rule of thirds which we covered in our class readings. This worked very well as it is the first thing that people turn their eyes to when they look at this ad, grabbing the initial attention of the viewers. Followed by this, is the clear direction of eye flow that is being presented in two different ways. Firstly, the hand of the focal point subject is reaching out and pointing towards the call to action which is where the audience is intended to look next. In addition to this, the break in the transition of background colors where the white turns to maroon, creates a pointed arrow leading to the call to action as well. This was another element that worked well for me in my design process and outcome. My uses of color were also contributing factors to the efficacy of my ad, as the maroon background for the light gray colored lettering worked great to display visibility and readability, while also creating contrast.

If I could change anything about the design of my poster ad, it would have to be the photoshop work that was done on the image of the soccer player that makes up the focal point. I think using a real photoshopping application software on my laptop would have proven to be a better method than the one I used to crop out the picture of the player from the original image in the first place. Having cleaner cut edges, along with an actual round circumference of the soccer ball would have made the ad look more clean and legitimate and could improve the efficacy of my ad.