As I was looking for a carnival ad, I came across this. I would have to say that this is probably the most boring carnival ad i have ever seen. It is so plain, black and white, and that itself just yells out "Come to this unexciting event".

But looking at it closely, it looks as if it

is a really old ad, from the 20s or something. The quality looks old.

http://torontoist.com/attachments/toronto_kevinp/2009_03_14CarnivalAdStarMarch4-1935.jpg

Here is more of the ideal I was looking for:

Although it is not an ad for the typical carnival, this instantly caught my eye on what looks to be fun, exciting, and young. Color definitely ads to the fun mood. As you look into the typography, you can see that it looks like as if metal is bolted into the word. That triggered my memory of what carnivals usually have- stands and rides that have plates of metal bolted into them.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2668/3680319032_e78d2bbc44_o.jpg

Absolut Colors

Absolut Mandarin

Everyday, people are bombarded with ads- whether it be through T.V., Facebook, magazines, newspapers- every single source of media.

The people that work behind advertising, I feel like, are not much appreciated for their work, nor will they ever be. You see, the people that are bombarded with ads can either really look at the ad, or just pass by it.

Now, for those people who are really looking into the ad, they aren't thinking, "Wow, look at that color scheme- great work". Instead they think, "Man, I should really get that [product]". It is hard for people to appreciate the artwork that advertisers put so much hard work and thinking into. And it is supposed to be that way.

I am going to be one of those very few people who look into this ad analyzing it, instead of being lured into wanting it.

The color scheme works well- the advertiser, or artist, used the complementary scheme, where two colors are used directly opposite of each other in the color wheel.

When you take a first look at this ad, you see the warm color orange popping out more than the cool color light blue. That bright orange color instantly brings out attention to the center of the ad, and lead our eyes to the bottom.

The colors used here are light blue and orange. Believe it or not, these colors were used because to Americans, they are symbolic. The light blue symbolizes professionalism and security while orange symbolizes, well, in this ad, the fruit mandarin. The white, spotlight symbolizes the purity in the product.

From this ad, I can already tell that it is targeted towards and age group ranging from 20s-late 30s. The main group is towards men- because of the simple, metallic orange squeezer. Any thing that is metallic is a masculine color-shows power and ownership. I can tell from this ad that the man that drinks Absolut is the kind of man that is professional, a bachelor, and a person that everybody wants to know and get associated with.

So, these colors are not just chosen effortlessly. They are chosen for you.

Discovery

I came into Marquette University as a business student double majoring in International Business and Marketing with a minor in Spanish. I came to this major because I wanted to have a job that travels and makes me speak another language. I have such a love for culture and language, but the business part of my major was not working for me.

At the end of freshman year, I switched to Broadcasting. I switched to this major becuase I have always had an interest in the entertainment industry. I also had an interest in Advertising, but learned that I could only major in one major communication course. So, the dean recomended that I take advertising principles and public relation principles. He said that even if I do not decide to switch my major, then those two classes would count as electives. I thought, why not? I did as he recommended.

Taking that advertising class was interesting, but I just did not feel comfortable in it. There were a lot of students that had creative ideas and were artistically talented. I could not compete with them. When I took principles on public relations, I started to really like what PR practictioners do as I learned more and more about it. I had no idea that there were so many subfields PR. Actually, I really did not know what PR was until I took that class. After taking that class, i finally decided that Public Relations is the major that can most fit me. It is funny how I took something I did not even know about as my major.

There are many things I would like to do in this field. I would like to work for some years in crisis managment, employee relations, and community relations. But my ultimate goal is to establish franchises internationally. I knew about this job because my teacher said that the reason why Starbucks has gotten to be international is because of public relation practitioners. These PR practitioners had to go to a different country and get to know thier culture and values. This is probably the ultimate job for me because like I said earlier, I love to learn about culture and languages and it would be a big bonus to have a traveling job, a job that I can enjoy.

Graphic Design

Graphic design is artwork using technology.

Design can be easily thought up of, but what is hard about it is knowing how to use all the different options on a program, like Adobe illustrated. A few weeks ago, I started using Adobe illustrator on a Mac for my Marketing Communication Design & Production class. Using a Mac, first of all, was a whirlwind of technological confusion. As you can see, I am a PC user. Second, I have heard of Adobe illustrator, but never used it. Being on the Mac and trying to fiure out how to get to what I want to see made me feel stupid at using computers and panicky because I didn't want to be that one person in class to be behind.

There are a lot of elements to graphic design. but I am no guru at it. I hope that the class I am taking now will educate me more about it as well as open my eyes to this graphic design type of world.