Clue Magazine Advertisements
Was it Professor Plum in the hall with the wrench, or Mrs. Peacock in the conservator with the rope, or Mr. Green with the knife in the lounge?
These three faux magazine advertisements were created for a class assignment in Advanced Graphic Design. The assignment was to chose one of a selection of real-world companies and organizations (ranging from Mattel to the Green Party to Trojan Condoms) and create an advertising campaign for it. Each company or organization had different challenges and requirements.
I chose Parker Brothers. I needed to "reintroduce family board games to a generation of children raised on video games." Three separate ads were required, and had to be designed to fit with typical magazine standards. The ads had to be different but maintain visual continuity because they were a part of the same "advertising campaign."
The board game Clue (Cluedo in the UK) was a favorite of mine as child, and so I decided to focus on it instead of featuring a different board game in each ad. The wide selection of interesting characters and locations allowed for plenty of flexibility and visual creativity for each ad.
Because my goal was to target children and teens who play video games, I chose to emulate the style of current popular video games. I researched the graphical style and box art of several video games, including games aimed at younger audiences (such as Little Big World) and older audiences (Call of Duty, Left 4 Dead). Because of the crime, foul-play and sleuthing themes in Clue, I also sought visual inspiration from crime and forensic dramas like CSI and Law and Order, and well as classic film noir.
