Advertising from the Desktop



Author: Fred Horton

Date: March, 1994

Keywords: Elaine Floyd  Lee Wilson Ventana Press design book review

Text:
     According to the American Asso-ciation of Advertising Agencies,
each day consumers are bombarded with more than 1,600 advertisements.
Only 80 are consciously noticed and only 12 create a reaction. The
trick, of course, is to design advertisements which have enough
creative punch and impact to cause potential customers to react.
          Advertising From the Desktop is a useful advertising design
reference book that could easily serve as a college text for a survey
course in principles of advertising design, or work as a tickler-file
for generating ideas into print. The authors Elaine Floyd and Lee
Wilson synthesize years of marketing and design experience into a basic
guidebook for advertising success.
          The techniques shown in the book apply to any computer
system: Mac, PC or whatever, and there is no specific equipment
requirements or level of expertise necessary to use the principles
outlined in the book. All that's needed is a good grasp of how to
operate your computer and your favorite desktop publishing or word
processing program.
          Advertising From the Desktop is brimming with illustrations,
explanations of applied concepts and packed with hundreds of
suggestions and hints that arouse curiosity, emotion and interest,
while expanding the creative efforts of its reader. Written by an
advertising agency principle and the owner of a service bureau that is
also a full color print house, the book is a potpourri of hints and
ideas presented in an interesting format that draws the reader through
the entire book.
          The authors recommend a basic shopping list for color
equipment, including: color calibration, 8 megs of RAM, a 230 meg hard
drive, a 24-bit color monitor and video card, an illustration, paint
and photo retouch program that supports color, access to a desktop
color printer for proofs and a color service bureau. But not to worry;
a pencil, paper and service bureau could make up for any lack of
equipment.
          Advertising From the Desktop is written for reader levels
from beginner to intermediate, The 426 pages of illustrated text is
divided into three sections: Concepts & Campaigns, The Real Thing and
Helpful Resources.
          The Concepts and Campaigns section presents an overview of
how design decisions are guided by your marketing plan and target
audience. Included is a survey of desktop tools, hints and ideas for
the designer with the focus on effective layouts There is a full
chapter on techniques of color applications to draw greater attention
to the advertising message.
          The Real Thing section shows how advertising concepts extend
beyond the basic and tie-in to the wider arena of signs, promotional
handouts and in-house communications. 
          The Helpful Resources section contains five resource
collections - listings of desktop publishing, illustration, clip art,
bulletin board, multimedia and other software, as well as books and
periodicals, associations, consultants, training opportunities,
catalogs, glossary and printers. The last of the resource sections is
an evaluated listing of the advertising features of the top-selling
Macintosh and PC desktop publishing programs.
          The writers of Advertising From the Desktop make their
software choices clear to the reader. They recommend software such as
CorelDraw, IdeaFisher and Adobe's Photoshop. But the debate between
users of PageMaker and Quark XPress will not be settled by reading this
book. In fact, the book contains statements where each side of this
issue could claim points, depending on which chapter one reads.
          For example one tip stated: ''If you're looking for a job at
an advertising agency, learn Quark XPress, Adobe Photoshop and
Illustrator on the Macintosh. If you're looking for a corporate job,
learn Page-Maker on the PC.'' At first sitting, this reader felt that
the authors were both Quark XPress users. But the book was created on a
Quadra 700 using PageMaker 5.0 with the page proofs printed on a
LaserWriter Pro 630 and LaserWriter IIG with the final film output from
a Linotronic 300 imagesetter. The graphic credits included Adobe
Illustrator 5.0, Adobe Photoshop, Multi-Ad Creator, PageMaker 5.0,
Aldus FreeHand and Quark XPress 3.1. The color chapter was separated
using Aldus PageMaker 5.0.
          Which of the co-authors were using PageMaker? Was it Elaine
Floyd, the owner of a successful ad agency, or was it Lee Wilson, owner
of her service bureau and four-color print shop? And who was using
Quark XPress?
          We may never know.
          But readers of Advertising From the Desktop will have learned
basic principles of putting more punch in their ads after reading their
book. Remember this is not a keyboard and mouse how-to book, it is an
idea fisher and functional primer in basic advertising concepts.
     ADVERTISING FROM THE DESKTOP: The Desktop Publisher's Guide to
Designing Ads That Work
     Elaine Floyd and Lee Wilson, Ventana Press, Chapel Hill, North

Carolina: 1993. paper, 426 pgs., $24.95 

Copyright © march, 1994 by Fred Horton