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Chapter 11: Visual Communication

Chapter 11

VISUAL COMMUNICATION

CHAPTER CONTENT

KEY OBJECTIVES

1. Define the role of visual communication.

2. Explain the basics of design.

3. Name the essentials of production for print media.

4. Identify the essentials of video production.

5. Describe basic web design considerations.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

This chapter is about the visuals used in promotional communication, both how they are

designed and what they contribute to the meaning of the brand. First, we review some

basic ideas about visual impact, both in print and video, and the role of the art director.

Then we consider print art production, video production, and end with a discussion of the

design of internet advertising.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION?

Visual Impact

 In effective advertising, both print and television, it’s not just the words that need to

communicate the message – the visuals need to communicate, too. Visuals do some

things better than words, such as demonstrate something.

 Even radio can evoke mental pictures through suggestive or descriptive language and

sound effects. The effective use of visuals in advertising can be related to a number of

the effects we have outlined in our Facets Model of Effects.

2. Stick in memory. Visuals persist in the mind because people generally remember

3. Cement belief. Seeing is believing. Visuals that demonstrate add credibility to a

Chapter 11: Visual Communication

4. Tell interesting stories. Visual storytelling is engaging and maintains interest.

6. Anchor associations. To distinguish undifferentiated products with low inherent

interest, advertisers often link the product with visual associations representing

lifestyles and types of users.

 In general, print designers have found that a picture in a print ad captures more than

twice as many readers as a headline does. Furthermore, the bigger the illustration, the

more the message grabs consumers’ attention. Layouts with pictures also tend to pull

more readers into the body copy. Initial attention is more likely to turn to interest with

a strong visual.

Brand Image and Position

 Marketing communication plays an important role in the creation of brand images.

Much of that contribution comes from the visual elements—the symbolic images

associated with the brand and the elements that define the brand, such as the

trademark and logo.

 A logo, which is the imprint used for immediate identification of a brand or company,

is an interesting design project because it utilizes typography, illustration, and layout

to create a distinctive and memorable image that identifies the brand.

 Package design is another area where brand image is front and center. The package

design accommodates strategic elements with positioning statements, flags that

reference current campaigns, recipes, and pricing announcements, as well as

economic and popular cultural events.

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Visual Storytelling

 In visual storytelling, the image sets up a narrative that has to be constructed by the

reader or viewer. Art directors design images that tell stories and create brand

impressions.

Emotion and Visual Persuasion

 We’ve talked about the visual impact and the power of visual storytelling. Both come

together in persuasive messages that are designed to touch the emotions and ‘move’

the consumer to respond favorably to the brand. We know that emotional responses

can be linked to moving visual images. Humor can also be used to bind consumers

with a brand.

 In many situations, emotion is the key driver of a prospect being ‘turned on’ to a

message. In the A Matter of Principle feature, a professor explores why emotionally

loaded visuals are particularly useful in certain types of environmental messages.

WHAT ARE THE BASICS OF DESIGN?

 The person most responsible for creating visual impact, as well as brand identification

elements, is the art director. The art director is in charge of the visual look of the

advertisement, both in print and TV, and how it communicates mood, product

qualities, and psychological appeals. The art director and copywriter team usually

work together to come up with the Big Idea, but the art director is responsible for

bringing the visual side of the idea to life.

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 Specifically, art directors make decisions about whether to use art or photography in

print and film or animation in television and what type of artistic style to use. They

are trained in graphic design, including art, photography, typography, the use of

color, and computer design software.

 Although art directors generally design the ad, they may or may not create the

finished art. If they need an illustration, they hire an artist. Newspaper and Web

advertising visuals are often clip art or click art, images from collections of

The Designer’s Toolkit

 One of the most difficult problems that art directors and those who work on the

creative side of advertising face is to transform a concept into words and pictures.

During the brainstorming process, both copywriters and art directors are engaged in

visualization, which means they are imagining what the finished ad might look like.

Illustrations and Photos

 When art directors use the word “art,” they usually mean photographs and

illustrations, each of which serves different purposes in ads. Photography has an

authenticity and credibility that make it powerful, since most people believe that

pictures don’t lie (even though they can be altered).

 The decision to use a photograph or an illustration is usually determined by the

advertising strategy and its need for either realism or fanciful images. Generally, a

photograph is more realistic and an illustration is more fanciful. Illustrations, by

Chapter 11: Visual Communication

 It is also possible to manipulate a photograph and turn it into art, a technique that

brought recognition to Andy Warhol, among others. These practices have become

popular with the advent of the internet and the availability of easy-to-find digital

images, some of which are copyrighted.

Color

 In addition to photos and illustrations, another important visual element that art

directors manipulate is color. Color attracts attention, provides realism, establishes

moods, and builds brand identity. Art directors know that print ads with color,

particularly those in newspapers, get more attention than ads without color. Most ads

– print, broadcast, and internet – are in full color, especially when art directors use

photographs.

 Color is particularly important in branding. In print, some designers use spot color in

which a second color in addition to black is used to highlight important elements. The

use of spot color is highly attention-getting, particularly in newspaper ads.

Typography

 Not only do art directors carefully choose colors, but they also specify the ad’s

typography, which is the appearance of the ad’s printed matter. In most cases, good

typesetting does not call attention to itself because its primary role is functional. Type

or lettering has an aesthetic role, and the type selection can, in a subtle or not so

subtle way, contribute to the impact and mood of the message.

Chapter 11: Visual Communication

 Typeface variations that come from manipulating the shape of the letterform.

 The edges of the type block and its column width.

 The size in which the type is set (vertical height).

 Legibility or how easy it is to perceive the letters.

Design Principles, Layout, and Styles

 The arrangement of the pieces in a print ad or video shot is called a layout, and it is

governed by basic principles of design. The design of an ad has both functional and

aesthetic needs. The functional side of a layout makes the message easy to perceive;

the aesthetic side makes it attractive and pleasing to the eye.

 These design principles guide the eye by creating a visual path that helps the viewer

scan the elements. How all of the elements come together is a function of the unity

and balance of the design. Direction or movement is the way the elements are

positioned to lead the eye through the arrangement.

 Simplicity is also a design principle, one that is in opposition to visual clutter. In

general, the fewer the elements, the stronger the impact—an idea expressed in the

phrase “less is more.” Another saying is KISS, which stands for “Keep It Simple,

Stupid.”

 For print advertising, once art directors have chosen the images and typographic

elements, they manipulate all of the visual elements on paper to produce a layout.

A layout is a plan that imposes order and at the same time creates an arrangement

that is aesthetically pleasing.

Chapter 11: Visual Communication

 Panel or grid. This layout uses a number of visuals of matched or proportional

sizes. If there are multiple panels all of the same size, the layout can look like a

window pane or comic strip panel.

 Dominant type or all copy. Occasionally, you will see layouts that emphasize the

type rather than the art or even an all-copy advertisement in which the headline is

treated as type art. A copy-dominant ad may have art, but it is either embedded in

the copy or placed in a subordinate position, such as at the bottom of the layout.

 These layout categories are functional, but there are also stylistic categories that

designers will sometimes use to refer to their approach. Designers working with a

layout problem that calls for a historical feel, for example, might use design aesthetics

from such periods as art nouveau, art deco, or modern or moderne.

 Other styles include postmodern, which is an eclectic primarily architectural design

style that incorporates assemblages of elements from previous periods. Grunge

design, which appeared in the 1990s, was a rejection of the niceties of traditional

design. Its most recent reincarnation is a contemporary style referred to as ‘Beautiful

Messy.’

 The stages in the normal development of a print ad may vary from agency to agency

or from client to client. Figure 11.1 shows the six-stage development of a poster. This

Composition

 Layout describes how the elements in print ads are arranged. Composition refers to

the way the elements in a picture are arranged or framed through a camera lens.

Photographers and videographers handle composition in two ways: 1) they may be

able to place or arrange the elements in front of their cameras and 2) they may have to

compose the image by manipulating their own point of view if the elements can’t be

moved.

Chapter 11: Visual Communication

 Similar to the way layouts are developed by using sketches, video images are also

drawn and presented as storyboards, which are sketches of the scenes and key shots

in a commercial. The art director imagines the characters and setting as well as how

Environmental Design

 Think about the last time you went to a sit-down restaurant versus your experiences in

fast-food places. What is the difference in the way these spaces are designed both

inside and outside? What do these design features say about the personality of the

restaurant?

ESSENTIALS OF PRODUCTION FOR PRINT

 Art directors need to understand print media requirements and the technical side of

production because these aspects affect both the look of the printed piece and its

costs.

Print Media Requirements

 Different media put different demands on the design, as well as the production, of

advertising. Newspapers and directories are printed at high speed on an inexpensive,

rough-surfaced, spongy paper called newsprint that quickly absorbs ink on contact.

 Most newspapers offer color to advertisers, but because of the limitations of the

printing process, the color may not be perfectly in registration, i.e., all of the colored

inks may not be aligned exactly, creating a somewhat blurred image.

Chapter 11: Visual Communication

 Out-of-home advertising takes many forms. The most dominant forms are posters and

outdoor boards. Because billboards must make a quick and lasting impression from

far away, their layout should be compact with a simple visual path. Here are some

design tips:

 Graphics. Make the illustration an eye-stopper.

 Size. Images in billboards are huge—a 25-foot-long pencil or a 43-foot pointing

finger. The product or the brand label can be hundreds of times larger than life.

 Colors. Use bold, bright colors. The greatest impact is created by maximum

contrast between two colors such as dark colors against white or yellow.

 Product identification. Focus attention on the product by reproducing the label or

package at a huge size.

 Extensions. Extend the frame of the billboard to expand the scale and break away

from the limits of the long rectangle.

Print Art Reproduction

 There are two general types of printed images: line art and halftones. A drawing or

illustration is called line art because the image is solid lines on a white page.

Photographs, referred to as continuous tone or halftone, are much more complicated

to reproduce because they have a range of gray tones between the black and white, as

shown in Figure 11.2.

Chapter 11: Visual Communication

 Screens are also used to create various tint blocks, which can either be shades of gray

in black-and-white printing or shades of color. A block of color can be printed solid

or it can be screened back to create a shade.

 Full-color images are reproduced using four distinctive shades of ink called process

colors, in a process called four-color printing. These colors are magenta, cyan,

Digitization

 If an ad is going to run in a number of publications, there has to be some way to

distribute a reproducible duplicate of the ad to all of them. The duplicate material for

offset printing is a slick proof of the original mechanical. More recently, digitization

of images is used to distribute reproducible images. This is also how computers now

handle the color reproduction process. These digitized images can then be transmitted

electronically to printers or by satellite. Agencies also use this method for

transmitting ad proofs within the agency network and to clients.

Binding and Finishing

Art directors can enhance their ads and other printed materials by using a number of

special printing effects. Mechanical techniques include:

 Die-cutting. A sharp-edged stamp or die is used to cut out unusual shapes. A common

die-cut shape you are familiar with is the tab on a file folder.

 Embossing or debossing. The application of pressure to create a raised surface

(embossing) or depressed image (debossing) in paper.

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3-D Printing

 The latest printing technology innovation which began making headlines in 2013 is 3-

D printing. Experts predict a new Industrial Revolution from this developing

technology.

ESSENTIALS OF VIDEO PRODUCTION

 Where does an art director start when putting together a video for a commercial, a

video news release, or some other kind of corporate film or video? Obviously, the

first consideration is the nature of the image. The art director can arrange for filming

on a constructed set or in a real location. The image is composed through the lens of

the camera, just as in still pictures, but the challenge lies in the way the moving image

takes shape.

 Another option is to use stock footage, which is previously recorded images—either

video, still slides, or moving film. Animation, stop motion, and 3-D are other film

production techniques that can be used instead of stock footage or live filming.

 The big change has been the move from film to digital images. Sophisticated

computer graphic systems pioneered the making of artistic film and video. Computer

graphic artists brag that they can now do anything with an image. They can look at an

object from any angle or even inside out. One creative video technique is called

morphing, in which one object gradually changes into another. Photographs of real

objects can change into art or animation and then return to life.

Filming and Editing

 Most local retail commercials are simple and inexpensive, and are shot and taped at

the local station. The sales representative for the station may work with the advertiser

to write the script, and the station’s director handles the taping of the commercial.

 Creating a national TV commercial is more complex and requires a number of people

with specialized skills. The ad agency crew usually includes the copywriter, art

Chapter 11: Visual Communication

 The producer and the director make up the core of the production team. The

commercial’s effectiveness depends on their shared vision of the final commercial

The Process of Producing Videos and Commercials

 Digital technology has replaced the analog process. With modern filmmaking, images

are recorded on hard drives, eliminating the use of film or videotape. Art directors

Filming Techniques

 Animation is a filming technique that is often used in commercials. The technique of

animation traditionally meant drawing images on film and then recording the images

one frame at a time. Low-budget animation uses fewer drawings, so the motion looks

jerky. The introduction of computers has accelerated the process and eliminated a lot

of tedious handwork.

 Animation is similar to illustration in print in that it abstracts images and adds a touch

of fantasy and/or mood to the image. Animation effects can also be used to combine

animated characters, such as the little green Geico gecko, with live action figures, or

 Another type of animation is stop motion, a technique used to film inanimate objects

like the Pillsbury Doughboy, which is a puppet. The little character is moved a bit at a

time and filmed frame by frame. The same technique is used in claymation, which

 3-D is a type of film production that creates the illusion of depth using a special

motion picture camera and projection hardware. Viewers also have to wear special

glasses. The 3-D technique has been around for many years.

Music and Action