Advertising Design Course

Lesson 1 • Composition and Layout Basics

Teaches grid systems, visual flow, and focal point creation. Students construct layouts that direct the viewer's eye toward the key message.

Lesson 2 • Colour Theory for Advertising

Covers colour models, harmony, and psychological associations. Students apply colour strategically to evoke emotion and guide viewer attention.

Lesson 3 • History and Evolution of Advertising

Traces advertising from print broadsides to digital campaigns. Contextualizes how cultural shifts shaped visual communication strategies.

Lesson 4 • Typography Fundamentals

Examines typeface classification, hierarchy, and legibility. Typography choices directly influence tone, readability, and brand perception in ads.

Lesson 1 • Brand Voice and Visual Tone

Aligns verbal tone with visual style across campaign touchpoints. Students match design decisions to established or emerging brand personalities.

Lesson 2 • Competitive and Market Analysis

Teaches visual audit of competitor advertising and category norms. Students identify differentiation opportunities through systematic market observation.

Lesson 3 • Reading and Interpreting Creative Briefs

Deconstructs brief components: problem, audience, tone, deliverables. Students extract actionable design direction from ambiguous client documents.

Lesson 4 • Advertising Objectives and Goals

Defines awareness, consideration, conversion, and retention goals. Each objective demands distinct visual and messaging approaches.

Lesson 1 • Creating Brand Consistency Across Formats

Addresses maintaining visual cohesion across print, digital, and outdoor. Consistency builds cumulative brand recognition over campaign exposure.

Lesson 2 • Brand Identity System Components

Examines logos, color palettes, typography, and imagery styles as a system. Understanding the full system prevents inconsistent ad execution.

Lesson 3 • Designing for Brand Extension

Covers creating sub-brand and product-line visual systems. Students extend parent brand equity without diluting core identity.

Lesson 1 • Advertising Copywriting Principles

Covers headline types, benefit-driven language, and call-to-action construction. Strong copy and design must reinforce rather than duplicate each other.

Lesson 2 • The Copy-Visual Relationship

Examines how text and image interact: redundancy, counterpoint, and amplification. Students design layouts where copy and visuals create meaning together.

Lesson 3 • Persuasion and Rhetoric in Ads

Applies classical and modern persuasion frameworks to advertising design. Students embed ethos, pathos, and logos into visual-verbal combinations.

Lesson 4 • Storytelling Through Ad Design

Teaches narrative arc, character, and tension within single and multi-ad formats. Storytelling increases engagement and message retention.

Lesson 1 • Typography in Print Ads

Addresses print-specific type sizing, optical adjustments, and ink behavior. Print typography requires different calibration than screen-based design.

Lesson 2 • Print Format Specifications

Covers standard ad sizes, bleed, trim, and safe zones for print media. Correct setup prevents costly reprints and production errors.

Lesson 3 • Outdoor and Large-Format Advertising

Applies print principles to billboards, transit ads, and posters at scale. Viewing distance and brevity of exposure demand extreme visual simplicity.

Lesson 4 • Print Colour and Prepress Workflow

Teaches CMYK colour management, proofing, and file preparation for print. Students deliver production-ready files that match intended visual output.

Lesson 1 • Motion and Animation in Digital Ads

Introduces animation principles, timing, and looping for banner and social ads. Motion increases attention capture and message delivery speed.

Lesson 2 • Social Media Ad Design

Addresses feed, story, and carousel ad design for major social platforms. Each format demands unique compositional and messaging strategies.

Lesson 3 • Designing for Screen and Pixel

Covers RGB colour, pixel density, and screen rendering for digital ads. Screen-specific calibration ensures visual fidelity across device types.

Lesson 4 • Landing Page and Ad Continuity

Connects ad visual language to landing page design for conversion continuity. Visual discontinuity between ad and destination increases bounce rates.

Lesson 1 • Campaign Concept Development

Teaches big idea generation, concept testing, and creative platform building. A strong campaign concept scales across channels without losing coherence.

Lesson 2 • Adapting Concepts Across Channels

Covers translating a core concept into print, digital, outdoor, and broadcast. Each channel has unique constraints that require deliberate adaptation.

Lesson 3 • Building a Campaign Asset Suite

Organises production of all campaign deliverables from master files. Efficient asset management reduces errors and accelerates revision cycles.

Lesson 4 • Timing, Sequencing, and Campaign Arcs

Plans the visual and messaging evolution of a campaign over time. Sequential storytelling across touchpoints deepens audience engagement.

Lesson 1 • Client Presentation and Feedback

Teaches structured presentation of design rationale and handling revisions. Professional presentation skills protect creative integrity during client review.

Lesson 2 • Portfolio Development and Career Positioning

Guides curation of advertising work into a compelling professional portfolio. A targeted portfolio is the primary tool for career advancement in advertising.

Lesson 3 • Agency and Studio Workflows

Maps roles, handoffs, and approval stages in professional ad production. Understanding workflow prevents bottlenecks and missed deadlines.

Lesson 4 • Advertising Performance Metrics

Connects design choices to click-through, conversion, and recall metrics. Designers who understand metrics make more strategically valuable decisions.