Advertising is indispensable for a company and is one of the most important means of communication in marketing. Nowadays every person is confronted with thousands of advertising messages per day, which are often referred to as a multimedia sensory overload. How can your advertising attract the attention of potential customers and stand out from the flood of advertising?
In this two-part blog post, I show the essential methods of advertising design that activate the buying behaviour of customers through emotions and ultimately also influence their perception and actions.
One area of market research is advertising psychology, which deals more closely with the advertising effect and the consumer’s reasons for buying. However, most purchase decisions are made unconsciously, so that the focus of advertising psychology is often on what people think and feel when viewing an advertisement.
There are many different ways for you as an advertiser to individually design your own advertising in order to anchor the product in the minds of your customers. Typography, placement and the use of colours and music play an important role in the formal design of advertising.
Typography
Only advertising that is perceived can have an effect. There are two different typographical aspects that contribute to generating attention.
Macro-typical design features
Macro-typical design features determine the arrangement of a text and its heading. The main focus is on readability, which can be positively or negatively influenced by different line widths and spacing.
Texts written in block letters can follow your eyes more fluently than texts written in flutter letters. The headline should be interesting and short to ensure a clear message and quick absorption.
Microtypical design features
Microtypical features include font size and font type. Problems can occur with various fonts, as they do not make the text appear as coherent words or as bold and italic fonts are not suitable for highlighting words.
Typography plays an important role in advertising psychology, since fonts can create certain moods in the recipient. Have you ever noticed for yourself that round fonts look lively and modern (e.g. Comic Sans) and square fonts (e.g. Times New Roman) are more dignified and historical?
Through simplicity and a clearly defined structure of your advertising texts, you can draw the recipient’s attention to your advertising medium. Use a font that reflects your company!
Placement
When dividing and placing advertising, it is very important to keep in mind a person’s viewing path (from left to right). The text should therefore always be arranged in the usual viewing direction. The viewing of an advertisement is based on learning psychological laws of life, so that helpful behaviours should be considered as a basis for the placement of a functioning advertisement.

In addition to the reading direction, it is also crucial that advertising posters are usually arranged in Z-shape. The eye starts at the top left corner and leaves the advertising medium at the bottom right. It is therefore a good idea to place the company logo in the bottom right corner so that it remains in the mind of your potential customer.
Colour design
Colour also plays an important role in formal advertising design.
What is your favourite colour? Or are there colours you don’t like at all and therefore don’t really pay attention to? My absolute favourite colour is pink and anything that catches my eye in this colour gets my attention.
Colours arouse emotions
Colored ads are more effective than black and white ads because color advertising increases recipient recall. Colours unconsciously have an emotional effect in us. The colour red is associated with feelings such as warmth or love, while green stands for hope or the environment.
The colour design is multifunctional because it attracts attention, creates atmosphere and can emphasise certain contents.
Colours are decisive for purchasing
Everyone can find proof of the importance of colour design for themselves when shopping in the supermarket. With the numerous items on the shelves, it is impossible to take a close look at every single product for lack of time. One considers the product, which appeals to one with the fleeting overflying of the product range.
Pay attention to the signal effect of colors
Accordingly, the product packaging should have a corresponding signal effect. Warm colours are often used in the food industry, as the yellow, orange and red colours stimulate the taste buds and even increase the flow of saliva.
Organic products are often presented in shades of green and brown to create an environmentally friendly impression. For light products, “light” colours are used: for example, the low-fat curd cheese is light blue, while the curd cheese with a higher fat content has a dark blue packaging.
A colour design suitable for the product or company can therefore have a considerable influence on consumers’ purchasing decisions.