Author: chantelyounger

Just a mom working on her degree.

LEGO inspirations

Blog, Reverse Engineer

This LEGO ad is part of an advertisement series called “Pure Brainfood” I found at fontinuse.com/uses/1343/lego-pure-brainfood-ad-campaign. The campaign is a clever one showing different food layouts made with piles of LEGO bricks or constructed from LEGO bricks.

Color and Typography

The vibrant colors shown in the ad and the starkness of the white is in line with the high saturation of color that exists in LEGO bricks. The color chosen for the font is a rich black which shows contrast to the other colors on the page and the background. The font choice has a playfulness about it and keeping with the sans serif style that the LEGO logo is shown in.

Alignment

The plate of brick fish is placed in the center of the page giving focus to the toy pieces. The tagline of “Pure Brainfood” is placed at the vertical center line of the plate to keep with the center alignment without centering it over the plate.

Proximity

In the original ad for LEGO, the “Pure Brainfood” tagline is placed in close proximity to the plate of LEGO fish to indicate the direct relationship between the LEGOs and the claim that the bricks are “Brainfood.”

Repetition

There is not a great deal of repetition throughout this ad as it is very simply designed to allow the focus to be placed on the plate of LEGO bricks. However, there is repetition in the horizontal lines that can be seen on the page.

Contrast

Plenty of contrast can be seen in this ad. The blank background allows for high levels of contrast between the background and the font, the plate and the blue LEGO bricks, and the logo and the page. In addition, the drop shadow placed on the plate allows for a smaller level of contrast between the white plate and the white background and shows depth of field that would not exist without the presence of the drop shadow.

Re-Creation of LEGO advertisement

Color and Typography

This recreation of the LEGO “Brainfood” series is a photoshopped design combining a photograph I took with the LEGO logo and the same font as the original ad. The font is Chalet 1970 New York which is a thicker font than Chalet 1970 London. The attempt to keep color richness in the piece is accomplished with the same blackness of font, the saturated LEGO pieces, and the silver of the pan.

Alignment

The pan in the layout is aligned with the center of the page as is shown by the crossing of the draw over lines. The tagline of “Pure Brainfood” is in the center of the bottom of the pan in the same fashion as the original ad.

Proximity

“Pure Brainfood” is kept in close proximity to the pan of LEGO egg to keep the idea that the LEGO creation is food for your brain and for creativity in building.

Repetition

There is not a lot of repetition in this ad and it exists in the horizontal lines of the logo and the tagline.

Contrast

Contrast is shown through the bright LEGO logo on the stark white background. In addition, there is the bright silver pan, the black tagline against the white, and the colored LEGOs on the pan. There is also an added contrast (as shown in the original ad) of the drop shadow of the skillet.

The idea of LEGO creativity being “Pure Brainfood” is a great idea when shown the creative thought process combined with different food choices of the fish (as shown above), a piece of pizza, a plate of pasta, or a glass of milk. All of these other foods are part of the original ad series but not shown in this post. The new ad (while the skillet is a heavier contrast to the background than the white plate) is consistent with the idea and theme of the original ad series showing a type of food made out of a collection of LEGO building bricks.

Visiting Some -ographies

Blog, Reverse Engineer

Typography is the art and technique of type to create a written language. Photography is the art of recording images. Both are things that we look at, but how much do we see or notice the details of each? When you look at a photograph, do you look at the depth that the photographer has managed to catch in the photo or do you see the lines and the balance the photographer is showing you? When you see an article, do you see the work that went into the choice of font? When creating a layout, the choice of weight, color, and structure of the font sends a message to the reader that is almost as important as what the words say.

This layout can be found in the November 2018 issue of HGTV magazine on pages 94-95. This feature was styled by Sunday Hendrickson and photographed by Lisa Romerein.

Typefaces

The typefaces of this layout is made up of slab serif fonts and sans serif fonts. The slab serif (circled in red) can be identified by its slight thick to thin contrast in the strokes of the letters. The letters have serifs which are the projections off the side of the capital letters and the flat lines across the top or ends of the lower case letters. The other typeface used is sans serif. The group of fonts circled in orange show sans serif which can be identified with the lack of serifs and the consistent thickness of the lines.

The typefaces are different from each other which shows a contrast. However, there is also contrast within the sans serif typeface. The title Tile So Nice has contrast with the thin lines in the words Tile and Nice while the word So is a bold and thicker line. The bold is carried through to the subtitle with a contrasting blue tone in all lower case letters.

Rule of Thirds

The photographer shot the kitchen using the rule of thirds with the vertical and the horizontal lines dividing the photograph. This is shown in the following drawover with red lines.

Alternate Images

Each of the following images shows the original and the draw-over with the rule of thirds. While different than the kitchen shot in the HGTV article, these photographs use similar proportions to show use of the rule of thirds. The kitchen window and the cabinets draw the vertical lines while the counter top and the top of the cabinets show the horizontal lines.

On another side of the kitchen, the rule of thirds is shown with the sides of the cabinets surrounding the hood and the top and underside of the cabinets.

This living room shows the vertical lines running up the shelves and down through the couch while the horizontal lines are shown along the couch cushions and one of the shelf lines.

All in all…

The title of the article brings you in with the combination of the thin sans serif and the bold sans serif typefaces. When I read it, I automatically accentuate the word SO in “Tile So Nice.” The addition of the blue subtitle invites you to revisit the title again and to read it as a whole. The contrast in the title is nice, but the contrast in the body of the page adds to the readability of the piece.
The rule of thirds that is used in the photography helps draw the eye and keep the page looking balanced. The center of the kitchen and the focus of both the body of text and of the photography is the tile on the back splash and on the floor of the kitchen.

With a Little Woolite®

Blog, Reverse Engineer

Good Usage of Design in an Advertisement

Ad for Woolite detergent

In looking for an ad design for this project, I took the opportunity to step away from my computer and thumbed through some publications in my living room. The monthly “Costco Connection” magazine was one of the selections and was full of various types of ads for products carried in the store. This Woolite® ad was designed by “RB” in 2019 and placed in the January 2020 issue. I found a copy of the issue on Costco’s website and added a link to the picture.

Alignment example for Woolite ad.
Alignment examples marked in red.

There is a good usage of alignment in this Woolite® advertisement. The brand name is centered on the top of the page and immediately draws your eye. The two different groups of text are aligned first on the right of the page and then the second group is aligned left alongside the bottle of Woolite®. The alignment usage allows the eye to flow easily down the text on the advertisement and helps to make the page feel organized.

Proximity in Woolite Ad
Proximity example.

The various items and text on this page are nicely grouped together. The brand title is in a good place: centered on the top of the page and a little above the rest of the information about the product. The subtitle of “Clothes Look Like New” is grouped together with a short description of what is meant by “new.” The text is also laid out in an arc that follows the shape of the bottle. At the bottom of the page, you will find any extra important information the brand felt it was important to share with the audience.

Showing color usage in the ad
Use of color.

Woolite® detergent uses a blue gradient behind the large, white letters to make the name stand out on the page. The advertisement also pulls colors of blue, golden yellow, and white from the bottle to highlight information. The same blue gradient that is found behind the Woolite® name is used on the bottle as well as a background for the golden yellow text. The blue and yellow are complementary colors.

Marking showing the contrasting colors on the page
Contrast

As mentioned before, the advertisement uses the blue gradient behind the name of white which is brightly contrasted. In addition, the golden yellow and the blue gradient are good examples of contrast to the other white text on the page. The background of a closet of clothes, while giving a slightly muddled look, allows the detergent bottle and the text to contrast on the page. While the font is the same, contrast is used in the different sizing of the text.

Repetition of design
Repetition of color and text.

Repetition is used on the page mostly in the way the text is laid out. In the first grouping of text, the header is slightly larger than the subtext, but the subtext on both the top and bottom groupings are similar in their style and size. The rest of the repetition on the page comes from the repeated use of white, yellow, and blue.

Overall, the advertisement is clean and easy to read. Your eye is first drawn to the name of the brand and then to the benefits of using Woolite® for your washing needs. The product is appropriately displayed and the information is in easy to read colors and placement which is informative without being overwhelming. A reader of this ad will very quickly know what it is for, why they believe their product to be a good one, and also gives the consumer a few good reasons to go and look for the detergent in the laundry aisle.