PP for print ads:
Download Designing a Print Advertisement
Three important Principles to Rember about Print Ads:
Print ads generally have a single, 8.5″ by 11″ page to get across their message. This means that the message needs to be simple enough to explain in just a sentence or two. The best print ads deliver this message in a clever or interesting shell, but they all revolve around a single idea. If the ad is not focused, then you run the risk of confusing or alienating your audience. What does this mean for a website? It means don’t abuse the unlimited space that the net affords you. Think of every page as an 8.5″ by 11″ piece of paper (or maybe a 1024 x 768 screen – the lowest common resolution people still use), and place content appropriately. If you have a killer picture or headline, place it at the top, and make sure the rest of the content supports your lead. Avoid the temptation of adding a second or third or fourth idea to the page. If they are important, give them their own page. Otherwise, drop them. There are a lot of good ideas; it is the great ones which stand out.
(From http://dailyseotip.com/5-marketing-lessons-learned-from-print-ads/1192/
If there is a common denominator in all good print ads, it is that they are aesthetically pleasing. It’s not enough to have an idea, you have to package it in an attractive package. From layout to font to pictures, every visual aspect of a print ad is chosen carefully. It is meant to be enjoyed, and eye-catching.
There are a variety of good design principles one can apply here from print ads: use white space, keep headlines seven words or shorter, decide on a dominant element. Ask yourself: is this attractive? Would I buy something from here?
In print this is generally combated by placing the company’s logo or a picture of the product in the bottom right of the page. This placement means that it is usually the last thing that readers see before leaving the page, since we read top to bottom, and left to right, here in the West. Make sure your brand is always prominently displayed somewhere on every page, and the more consistent the placement the better.
