Project Requirements
Single page, four-color ad, 8x10". Required to use client logo and at least one photo of the product packaging.

Client Name and Description
Crayola Crayons--a well-established art supply company that mostly appeals to children.

Client's Objective
To increase sales of washable crayons, a product that washes easily off of walls and cloth.

Target Audience
Mothers of any income level, probably within an age range of twenty to late thirties, having young children. The focus of the ads will be to appeal to the mothers, who want to give their children an artistic outlet while preventing their walls and upholstery from being damaged. For best exposure, this ad will be run in magazines catering to housekeeping and family-oriented activities.

How My Solution Works
This project was purposely built with a thick white border around it, which is probably not easily seen against the white page background. This allowed me to keep all the images involved in the ad contained in a neat box, with the exception of the Crayola logo in the lower right corner. This image has a greater emphasis as a result of its location outside the main body of the ad.

The childlike, scribbled text in the background results in an abstract pattern that unifies the ad, since it flows behind everything. The blue splash of water across the bottom half of the ad dims the scribble pattern to represent how the product washes away so easily; this also creates a place where the pattern is not so strong, allowing the smaller block of text to be more readable when placed over top of it. Two crayons serve as "arrows" to direct the eye down from the second line of the headline to the first line of the body copy. The beginning of the body text is also made more noticeable by the addition of an oversized initial capital letter, which is drawn in the same style as the patterned background text. The actual product is shown at an angle to give the impression that it was washed in on the puddle of water; this positioning also gives more visual interest than a more formal placement would. Otherwise, the box requires little additional emphasis--the majority of the ad is blue, so the yellow box stands out well against the background.

The font chosen for the headline and body copy is a rather generic serif style. I did this purposely in order to give the type a very "ordinary" feel, which would hopefully allow the largest number of people possible to feel comfortable with the overall presentation of the ad.

Programs Used
Illustrator 9.0, Photoshop 6.0 (for rasterizing the background).