Wordy Ads

The above is an ad for the Proton Exora that was featured in an issue of The Sun. Just looking at it it has too many words, explanations, elaborations and whatnot. This ad also best describes many print ads for different companies around Malaysia; at least it is from what I see. Simply put, text based information crammed into a print ad taking over the main role of visuals.

This design module for many Malaysian ads or any ads at all is quite ineffective. Advertising's main game is to sell a product but does it by drawing your interest, by tickling your feelings and make you desire. Once an ad has hooked your interest then it's job is done; it just has to show you where to find any additional information via websites or service centers location. After all, if one is interested in something, they will be motivated to find out more about it on their own, making all those facts and figures not just a waste but weakening the advertising effort as well.

Another thing is that the ad above is not that attractive. The thing about text is that one would actually have to be imaginative to have it have an impact; like reading a book. That's why typography is so important in advertising design as well, bland text just won't do. Ads need to sell quick and sell hard and that's where attractive visuals do well over boring old text; removing the need for any imaginative effort and screams out "look at me, I'm awesome and you know it".

What you do with things

There is potential for art everywhere, on any surface with any tool. Something as simple as a toothpick htat can be turned into a work of art, if only we can see how it could.

This is an elegant sculpture made of cut up toothpicks that are arranged and glues together to make up a smooth and interesting angles and curves.

I suppose this can be seen as a sculpture made of toothpicks in raw form. Unbroken and in its' fullest, the toothpicks are melded together to form a star or energy burst.

Shrinking in size, this is a bridge made out of a single toothpick. The toothpick is cut, carved and shaped with delicate skill to build what resembles the Golden Gate Bridge.
Adding some color to the work, this little alien is carved out from a toothpick.

What these few examples show is that it does not matter what tools we have. We can have the most expensive paints, highest quality pencils or the best design software, but if we don't know what to do with it it remains useless. An active imagination is needed to see the potential for art.