Collegio Newspaper Ad

After a little thought and a bit of inspiration from my good friends the Beatles, I decided to promote the cover band "Liverpool" with my ad. One problem that I faced while compiling the elements for the design was that I wanted the ad to say "Beatles" without alluding to the connection in a huge way. I wanted the viewer to be able to draw that conclusion from the typography in the headline. So, I proceeded to research and find out what the font was that the Beatles used for their logo. The font (called Bootle) does exist, but I ran into a problem--there is no lower case "B" glyph in the font. Also, I didn't want to run into any licensing or printing issues with using the font because it is so unusual, so I decided to trace the letters I needed with black ink, then scan that image in as my bitmap.

     I carefully outlined the demographic that I wanted to reach, first, as shown below. Since the Beatles' music has a wide appeal, the audience for the demographic proved a challenge as I designed the ad.

Demographic analysis

      I also encountered some difficulty with matching the "font" in the bitmap image with the font I used to type the information in the ad. I ended up using Formata Light, which is a sans serif that looks pretty cold and neutral, but usually works well when paired with a serif font simply because it doesn't compete.

Ad thumbnails

      My other visual cue that pointed to the band's being a Beatles cover band was the Illustrator vector graphic of a Gibson bass. It's a pretty distinctive shape as guitars go, so most of the time when someone sees that bass, that person will immediately connect that image with Beatles bassist Paul McCartney.

Ad rough

     Overall, I wanted to make the ad appealing to a very expansive demographic. I wanted to attract the older people who had, perhaps, listened to the Beatles in the 1960's in their younger years, and also attract the younger audience of listeners still devoted to the music of the British Invasion. Because this was a one-time event, my call to action was simply "show up."

Finished Ad!

          As far as design principles go, the design is fairly symmetrical. Most of the visual weight is on the black bar that extends horizontally all the way across the ad. This draws attention to the information telling the "what, when, where, how much" information concerning the event.

     In conclusion, my goal was to create an ad that would be readable in newsprint, attractive to a wide range of ages and ethnicities, and appear modern with a hint of the nostalgic.