Project #4 - Full Page Publication Ad

The next project in Digital File Prep is a magazine ad that will be full page. The guidelines for this project are set by the magazine we each chose to advertise in and we were told to submit our files as we would if we were actually submitting it to the magazine publisher. Our only real requirement for this project is to do a full page ad and include a Microsoft Tag. Microsoft Tag's are very similar to the QR codes that we had used in our notepad project but they are proprietary to Microsoft an require their special reader on your smart phone. One key difference with the tags is that they aren't near as ugly looking as the QR code. They can either be in black and white, 4-color CMYK or actually have an image embedded in them. In addition to this, If you are the creator of the tag, you are able to log into your account and check how many times the tag has been scanned and checked out. Very cool stuff!

Now, onto the project. I chose to advertise bikes in Men's Health. According to the specifications given by the magazine, my document size will need to be 11.22x8.46 with a bleed of .12 all the way around. My ad will contain a 4-sided bleed image that encompasses the entire page with minimal text and content to take away from the image. The content of the ad will be the image, a logo of the company, the Microsoft Tag and a tagline of "Conquer the Trails". My target audience will be men from ages 25-40 that enjoy biking in tough terrains. My call to action will be to get them to check out the bike, as well as scan in the Microsoft Tag and get more information about the product.

 

The final product

The background image I used is a Duotone image. One thing that I found challenging about this project is that the magazine I had chosen gave me their measurements in millimeters so I needed to convert them over to inches and then they didn't state exactly what the bleed, trim size and live area were. This required me to do a little math (Which I'm absolutely terrible at). Overall, I'm pleased with the final product and how it turned out in the end. 

Image of man on bike licensed under Creative Commons. Microsoft Tag is copyright Microsoft. All other images created by Jordan Frederick

Spring Break Challenge!

In Digital File Prep, We were given the challenge to take pictures of interesting things that caught our eye (for both good and bad reasons) and display them on here. I took a little mini-tour of Florida in Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa and here are my findings.

 

This was taken at Universal Studios' Island Of Adventure in the Harry Potter area. I thought this sign looked kind of cool because it was themed really well to match the Harry Potter feel.

 

Here is a marquee header for an arcade dance game in Jacksonville. I really enjoyed this one because I love the colors they used and the curvy lines and dots really really reallyyyyyy entice me.

 

I'm a giant fan of scenarios that give the feeling that things are larger than life. This was taken from the Toy Story Midway Mania (My favorite movie ever) ride in Disney's Hollywood Studio. It was the queue area leading up to the ride. Unfortunately, the ride conveniently broke down 3 minutes before the park closed after waiting in line for 40 minutes. I was super bummed to say the least.

 

Here is a sign that was for a shirt shop on Daytona Beach in Daytona Florida. Not much to say here because it's fairly explanatory but I just love that it's a monster wearing a shirt for the shirt place and they used the shirt as a logo.

 

I had no idea that they actually had Pringles vending machines but I've always been a fan of the Pringles logo. The little man gives the brand such character and life.

 

This was taken in the D-Street store at Downtown Disney. I really liked how they gave the lettering an old school feel and used the actual figures in the sign. I am addicted to the Vinylmation brand after visiting this store.  They are small vinyl characters that are all different designs and even ones you can design yourself. Very cool stuff.

 

Gem Tower was an awkward hotel right on Clearwater Beach. I thought this was a little awkward and honestly looked a little dated and old. A little cheesy as well.

 

Finally we have another arcade game called Dead Heat. What I really liked about this is that instead of using a traditional sign for the game, they actually integrated the logo into the large "pops" on top of cabinet. Not only that, the cabinet looks way cool with the blue lights.

So there you have it, A small snippet of my trip. I found more stuff that was pleasing to the eye rather than annoying but don't get me wrong, there was quite a few annoying designs I saw.