My wife loves Shredded Wheat cereal—and I don't. As I watched her eating it one morning, I though started thinking about what type of print ad campaign could entice me to buy a box in her absence. I carried the process through to the comp stage—just short of directing the photography to finish up the ads. I designed four ads, all very different from each other, though similar enough to be utilized in a single campaign. The ads use simple clean lines and primary colors in order to create a subliminal message of youth for the health conscious consumer.

In this first ad, I chose to do utilize a frame layout. I liked the simplicity of the single box in the center of the advertisement which highlights the lone piece of the product in the optical center of the page. The frame contents act as their own oversimplified ad for the product, something that would steal the attention of a child or a mother flipping pages. The white copy reversed out of the red background pulls the viewer down the page where they end on the product in use.

For the second design, I went with the multi-panel layout. I started with a cool blue background and let a clean white column of foreground boxes fall down the left side to attract the viewers eye. The striking images of a single stalk of wheat, the lone piece of cereal and finally the bowl tell there own story. On the right, the tag line, copy and product box balance out each element on the left, completing the narrative. I splashed hints of red from the product throughout the design to create unity between the elements.

In this ad I went with a silhouette layout. I balanced the heavier bowl of cereal on the right with the copy and image of the product on the left. I utilized red in the bowl to mirror the primary color of the product box. The goal of this design was to put emphasis on the tag line first, with the large script near the optical center of the ad. As the eye flows down the contour of the bowl it lands on the box of cereal at the bottom, then back up slightly to the limited copy above.

The fourth and final design is was intended to be a little more of an abstract picture layout. The imagery used in this ad has a spiritual subtlety that draws the viewer in. It implies that the cereal is so “naturally good” that it is something to be praised. It also gives a slightly ethereal or angelic subtext to the tag line. Like with the previous design I balanced the image heavy left side of the page with the copy and tag line on the right. Unlike ad three I chose to reverse the copy and tag line out of the background to continue with the subtbe holy theme the design hints at.