The Role of Individual Design Elements on the Effectiveness of Visual Advertisements

It is well established fact that individual design elements such as color, size or shape can have a significant effect on viewer‟s attention, memory, emotions and behavior. All these effects are critical for successful use of advertisements. However, most of the existing data is based on studies that evaluated each element separately and ignored the context in which this element is presented. The aim of the current study was to evaluate combined effects of several design elements in a specific field of application – advertising. To achieve this goal 50 visual advertisements (including commercial ads and non-commercial public service announcements) were created by manipulating their content, image color, size, emotional valence, and usage of text. Then the effects on viewers‟ attention, emotions, intentions, attitudes, and memory were assessed. The results revealed the specific psychological effects of different design elements. The use of greyscale images in advertisements resulted in more positive and more acceptable evaluation of those advertisements. Bigger size was associated with stronger emotional reactions, better attention and greater acceptability of advertisements. The usage of text in advertisements evoked more positive emotions and stronger intention to act. This has demonstrated the importance of specific visual elements on the effectiveness of advertisements