We held our third seminar and the main topic was analyzing the travel advertisements we created in different groups. We divided into four groups and each group finished their own advert before we gathered together to share ideas. During the whole discussion we talked about what visual features can make an advertisement attractive, how color layout and text position influence people’s feelings and what parts of each work needed to be changed for the better. At the beginning most of us just laughed and joked about the imaginary arrows people drew on the pictures to mark different parts, and these casual talks did not bring much useful thinking. Later we started to share real opinions on design details. We compared different color styles and the arrangement of elements on the page. One advertisement about nightlife had too many elements spread all over the place so it looked quite chaotic. Another Hawaii themed advert used neat vertical lines and it gave people a calm and tidy feeling. We also noticed that price cuts like changing the original price 3888 to 2888 with a 20 percent discount could make the advertisement more persuasive to audiences. All these meaningful conversations helped me get more positive marks on my score this time.
I have learned many practical things about advertisement. I realize that invisible lines inside a design decide whether the whole work looks orderly or messy. The messy nightlife advert had no clear structure while the Hawaii one followed steady lines so it was easy to read and understand. I also find that font style and color contrast play important roles too. One advert used chalkboard style fonts together with bright neon colors. This combination looked special but it was really hard for people to read the words clearly. Now I can better understand how designers use different skills to attract and persuade viewers when they make advertisements.
The seminar leaders did a great job to keep the class in order and they made sure no one interrupted others while someone was speaking. However their way to arrange speakers was not very good. They made a long list with around nine or ten names and we had to speak strictly one after another. If I wanted to reply to a classmate’s idea I had to wait for many turns. By the time I got the chance the topic had already changed and my comment no longer fitted the discussion. If I take the role of leader next time I will make some changes. I will make a short speaking list with only two or three people first. After one person finishes talking other students can give comments freely and the people on the list will still get their turns later.
I still have some weak points to fix. I got 2 low marks because some of my comments did not add valuable content to the discussion. For the next seminar I hope to get a score above 5 and cut the number of low marks down. Overall this seminar not only taught me knowledge about advertisement design but also improved my communication skills. I am satisfied with my progress and I will keep working to perform better in future activities.