I’m working at the media agency as a UX UI Designer and creative production designer.
As I work in the media agency, I’ve been experiencing how the ads targeted to a specific audience. And I found out the ads can be targeted through different regions, time, gender, awareness of the brand, etc. In media agency, we call these ads as creatives, and there are display ads, animated ads, and social ads. Display ads and animated banners mostly appear news, weather forecasts, etc. Social ads appear on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
There are specific rules that I have to follow to build these ads. Even though many use adblockers, I want you to know that there are people who care about promoting their brand.
For display ads and animated ads, there are seven most popular sizes. 300x250, 300x600, 300x50, 320x50, 728x90, and 970x250px. These ads must have the same look and feel as the brand guideline. Because they all have different sizes, the font size, image, logo, and CTA (Call to Action) must be proportionate.
Also, due to different sizes, the layout must look like it’s responsive. For example, if the logo locates on the top right corner on 300x250px, then the logo must be at the same place as 720x90px. It’s okay if it’s not ideally look alike, but they must look like it’s the same brand.
There are many ways to build banners. But unfortunately, clients I’ve met, they all wanted the file in PSD because it’s what everyone has. Not Sketch or illustrator. Using Photoshop means I have to create a layer and group them in a particular folder individually.
This is how my layer and group looks like in Photoshop. And when I name a file, I use ClientName_Q#_CampaignName_[Size]_
Sometimes, clients ask for the PSD so they can use it for different design assets. But when we export the ads, we export as jpegs. The file must not exceed 299kb, even the animated banners. Unless if the client wants to pay extra for exceeding files.
Some brands have their own set rule of building out these banners. But it doesn’t work as they assist because brand guidelines don’t contain a REAL copy. And the clients want to say a lot of things in tiny banners.
For social ads, especially for Facebook. They used to have a 20% rule. This means the size of the text must not exceed 20% of the image. They have a link where you can check your ad exceed 20% or not. Nowadays, the trend in social ads is less text in the image itself, even the logo. I crop an image to 1080x1080 or 1200x1200px that I’ve used for display, and copy does the rest.
When I’m building different layouts of banners, it’s a good practice of making different layouts for different platforms. When I design for mobile and desktop, they have to be responsive and work seamlessly. Display ads work the same as these platforms. Except they are smaller.
In conclusion, the Ads are something that people can easily ignore. But, because of the ads, Google, Amazon, and other online retail stores can succeed. The increase of conversion rate and revenue is from ads that you see and click.
