Users: The users are high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, ages 15-18 that should all be at, or about at grade reading level. Students will have most likely heard of the terms headline, copy, illustration, and signature, but most likely not in the context of advertising.
Why Will These Work?: I could easily relate to this chapter about white space because I teach about it in my marketing class! White space is used to “divide text and graphics.” (Lohr, 2008, pg. 272). According to the Marketing Essentials textbook, an advertisement “should make a generous use of white or unused space for a clean look.” It also “helps to make the copy legible and creates an “eye flow” for the ad” (Farese, Kimbrell, & Woloszyk, 2012, pg. 478). For my graphic, I decided to created a print advertisement that shows good use of white space. I chose to use an asymmetrical balance which means that “the elements appear to be off balance…which tends to create more visual interest” (Lohr, 2008, pg. 275). I also added in the four different elements of a print ad with arrows showing each part. If I were actually teaching this in class, I would point out the white space and how it makes the ad look well organized and gives it a clean look, directing the customers to through the text and illustrations.
User Test/Changes: Originally, I did not have the dotted lines above and below the copy and the background was a darker gray. After the user test, my friend suggested that I add something around the copy text to make it look better visually. She also suggested a lighter gray for the background for better contrast. All changes have been updated, please let me know if you have any further feedback.
Farese, L.S., Kimbrell, G., & Woloszyk C.A. (2012). Marketing essentials. New York, NY: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.
Lohr, L. (2008). Creating graphics for learning and performance (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.