Visual hierarchy organises elements by importance, guiding attention to main areas.
Emphasis highlights important information through colour, shape, and weight.
Hierarchy and emphasis engage viewers, drawing attention to key elements for effective message delivery.
Ethics in advertising refers to the moral principles and standards that guide the creation and sharing of advertisements in a truthful, respectful, and socially responsible manner.
Four key areas to consider ethics in advertising are:
-Truthfulness and Transparency
-Diversity & Inclusivity
-Social Impact
-Environmental Sustainability
Examples from: Lile, S. (2022) '12 Visual Hierarchy Principles Every Non-Designer Needs to Know' URL
How will the proximity of items to the sale sign affect customer's view of the price of their purchase?
Which items are half price?
Are there terms & conditions?
How will the colour of the background and the text affect customer's experience of the Ubisoft website?
What ethical considerations are they making or ignoring?
Is this legal?
Renews (2023) 'Why Chocolate Milk has more Health Stars Than Regular Milk' URL
What might customers assume the health star rating represents?
Australian and New Zealand Food Safety Regulators mandate that if a company (such as Kellogs) uses the health star rating system on one of their products, then they must use it on all of their products. How could they use size and contrast of the design to be more or less ethical?
For Your Portfolio
Create a title in your portfolio, called 'Emphasis & Ethics.'
Create a design for a sale sign (consider using canva.com) that includes the following text elements:
-Sale
-40% off
-Terms & Conditions Apply
-Member's only discount
-Only while stocks last
Create a title in your portfolio, called 'Hierarchy & Emphasis' and put your designs on this page.
Accredited:
-Create a design that uses hierarchy and emphasis in an ethical way.
Tertiary:
-Create a minimum of two designs that demonstrate how to use hierarchy and emphasis in an ethical and an unethical way
Include notes / annotations to explain your design choices, specifically how you used emphasis or hierarchy to show an ethical or unethical approach
Tertiary:
-Complete previous steps.
-Write additional notes about the relationship between ethics and hierarchy and emphasis.
Accredited:
-Create a minimum of two designs that demonstrate how to use hierarchy and emphasis in an ethical and an unethical way
Tertiary:
-Find another example of two of advertisements that have used hierachy or emphasis in ethical or unethical ways. Paste them in your portfolio and annotate the impact these design choices have had on how ethical the designs are.
Accredited:
-Complete previous steps.
-Write additional notes about the relationship between ethics and hierarchy and emphasis.