H&M FEMALE AD: FINAL

H&M Female Ad: Final

Instructions

Project 02 - Advertising Art Direction (20%)

Using what you have gained from understanding and applying the Bernbach’s principles in advertising, and the knowledge gained in understanding the role and functions of an advertising art director, execute a well crafted magazine advertisement.
Your client is H&M Fashion and it intends to wish its young female clients a Happy Merdeka via Female Magazine. Your job is to ensure, that the personality and style (voice and tone) of H&M’s brand and identity is retained in the creation of this ad whilst wishing female Malaysians a Happy Merdeka. Be careful not to use the usual Merdeka gimmicks. What ever you do, you must retain H&M’s young, hip, modern, fashionable, cool and exuberant disposition in your art direction when conveying the message.

Magazine: femaleSize: 210 (w) x 275 (h), Bleed: 216 (w) x 281 (h), text are: 185 (w) x 255 (h).

Marking Criteria

Communication (5%)
The message needs to be creative, clear and concise. The message has to be truthful and not gimmicky. The message must be unique in order to stand out from the rest of the competitors. The message must have a sense of personality that relates to, or reflects the target audience.

Visual Impact (5%)
Visual impact here refers to the overall effect of the layout and or the artwork (visual or copy) in the layout. The visual/copy must integrate well with the message for there to be impact. The visual/copy must enhance the message to create a smile in the mind. The visual/copy must relate or connect with the reader and should illicit an emotional reaction. The visual/copy must be memorable. The visual/copy must have a sense of personality that relates to, or reflects the target audience.

Art Direction (5%)
Art direction here refers to the visual and copy “style” for the overall design. The crafting of the visual and copy must reflect good composition, appropriate choice of typeface & visual, hierarchy in communication, appropriate choice of colour and a synergy of style between visual and copy. Good art direction (visual & copy style) will reflect strong proficiency in the use of relevant software to realize the style sought after. Good art direction (layout, visual & copy style) must consist of the detailing that is involved in the creation of the advertisement.

Process (5%)
There must be exploration in the form of sketches, mind maps, thoughts and epiphanies. The journey from start to finish must be methodically documented and dated. oral or written Feedback must be documented. The written reflections must be clear, concise, revealing and insightful.

Learning goal:

1. The student will understand the role of the advertising art director and apply that understanding.

Learning Outcome:

1)Writing & presenting Competencies – Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of design principles, technical processes, tools and software.
2)Critical Thinking Competencies – Use critical thinking to explore, analyze and test a diversity of conceptual ideas.
3)Creating & Documenting Competencies - Plan and execute unique creative works.
4)Appraising & Valuing Competencies – Constructively assess work by yourself and others.

Deadline:

Week 10

Ideas & Strategies:

Although I could take a picture of one of my African or Caucasian friends here in Zimbabwe, I felt that it would not resonate well in regards to an Malaysian Independence advertisement.
However, I finally managed to obtain a picture that I really liked. Another friend of mine from Sarawak who has been in contact with me this whole time assisted through Skype in inquiring on what I'm visualizing and then we worked remotely on getting the right picture. What I completely love was the colors in the shot and her attempt to dress as per H&M's style.

The price caption on the bottom was a final thought that I felt added some uniqueness.

Final:

Feedback

Mr. Vinod:

I've viewed you final work for Project 2: Art Direction (week 9). While there was effort in sourcing the image for the Ad, the benefit would have been far more substantial were you to have photographed the image yourself. Putting that aside, the image did give a sense of freedom, so visually you were on message. That message however gets watered down and less memorable when the headline “H&M wishes you a Selamat Hari Merdeka” is read. Where is the twist? You needed a twisted headline to enhance the message of freedom & merdeka. 

I have given you many-many examples from in week 6-7-8, but it appears you have not managed to crack this puzzle. 

From a design standpoint the H&M logo is disproportionally big, especially when compared to the “wishes you a... ”. The choice of font for the “wishes you a... ” could have been better. The font chosen is to ubiquitous and doesn't sit well with the H&M brand image. 

What would have made a slightly more interesting headline would have been the details of cost leading to Freedom: Priceless. Following this in small text could have been “wishes you a... ”. While this would have made the Ad slightly more memorable, it still would have lacked a bounce.

Reflection:

Experience

It's very challenging having every week's progress turned down, but I'm relieved that I've got this far and with an end product that I am happy with.

Observation

Although I'm happy with the resulting advert, I'm apprehensive as to how it will be graded.

Findings

It was interesting working with CorelDraw as it's different from Illustrator. However, I'm starting to think that I prefer it.