Print Advertisement Theory

Print advertisements follow a set of common rules for the way that they are pieced together. The position of the main elements are typically done so under the guidance of key rules based upon how we, as humans, read media in our culture and the psychology behind how our brains respond to it.

The first rule is the Rule of Thirds.
This is essentially a way of laying out the page. It is divided into three sections, either horizontally, vertically or both creating a nine-by-nine grid.

The main elements of the page are separated into these blocks. If something has significant importance then they can be placed on the dividing line itself. You can see this in the following example where the above grid is overlayed on an existing advertisement:

Another rule is the Gutenburg Rule.
This splits a page up not into 3 or 9, but into 4 quadrants. It follows something called "reading gravity" which in our culture is Top Left -> Bottom Right, in other cultures they read in an entirely different way and thus advertisements between parts of the world may be structured different.

The four areas are, in order, Primary Optical -> Strong Fallow Area -> Weak Fallow Area - > Terminal Area.

Using this structure dictates that anything on the top right of the page will be seen first, and in the bottom left will be seen last. From this standpoint designers can set out a page to influence the aspects of a page they wish us to leave the page thinking about, and how to embed it in our memory. Typically the logo is placed in the top right as this is the brand the consumer will respond to.

The above advert puts the most important information where your eyes first look, and in the area where your eyes is simply the text "keep it safe", leaving readers with that as the last message.