Opinions please?

jen_23

Hey guys sorry if i'm posting this in the wrong area but i'm wondering if all ye experts could give me yere honest opinions.
I've put together an advert for a show magazine and i'm between 2 formats.
So what do ye think? Do ye prefer the one with the red and black clouds in the background or the plainer one? Or would ye change it altogether?

Thanks a mil!


Red clouds



Plain red.

ETA: Just to add that this will be a full page advert in a newspaper style magazine. Specs are 262mm W x 370mm H

magicbastarder

i'd change it altogether. both backgrounds are too messy.
also, i'd go for a plainer font for the smaller text; it would be easier to read.

Fajitas!

Keep it far simpler, plain text, plain background, well presented photos, it's a bit of a visual hemorrhage as it is I'm afraid.

Try putting the text as;

Dogs Name
Details
Awards
Contact Details

And in vertical order, there's no real need to have it spread out like that imo.

eas

Have you considered asking a designer to have a look at this for you? Not sure how much you're spending on the ad, but if you want to look professional it would help to employ one.

At the moment I have no idea what the ad is for, this may or may not be a problem in a trade magazine.

One thing I do think is that cutting your show dog in half (bottom right of sample 1) should probably be avoided.

Diabhal_Glas

Totally agree, the colours are way too intense.

The photo of the dog with the plaque is also cropped very very tight, you could probably improve on the crops of all the photos.

jen_23

Cool thanks a mil guys -

Eas the advert is for a Dog show magazine it's just literally show casing your dog - it's not selling anything. Does that make sense? Most of the adverts going in would be similar in format as in giving the dogs name and achievments.

Just to give you an idea of the ad styles you can find some by flicking through this online magazine of our dogs ireland http://www.mpldigital.com/our-dogs/our-dogs-ireland (not the magazine i'm advertising in but would have similar adverts)

The magazine do the advert for you if you want - it's included in the price but I just wanted to give it a go myself first!

I'll give it another go anyway and hopefully can come up with something more professional looking.

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

smelltheglove

Youve used my favourite font so I cant complain there.

I dont like the background, I think overall it looks simple and dated. I would be more inclined to go for a more subtle background, I would also introduce drop shadown on the main text and possibly the images also.

magicbastarder

speaking of fonts, i think the blue 3D effect on the dog's name is a bit incongruous looking.