The Art of Advertising

Have you ever had to make a poster or a flyer for a class and struggled to get your point across? Sometimes it’s hard to find the words and images to make the impact you want. Whether you are trying to promote organic food or trying to convince a government agency that tiny houses are the solution to homelessness or trying to sell your new skin cooling cream to the chief medical officer of a major hospital...you need advertising, art and graphic design basics.

American artist Norman Rockwell was one of the first fine artists to bridge the gap between art and advertising. He was most well known for the covers he created for the Saturday evening post. However, he did some great pieces that were actually advertisements for Crest Toothpaste, Coca-Cola, Orange Crush and Jell-O. To learn more about Norman Rockwell, check out this mini-biography. For even more of Norman Rockwell’s work, consider taking a virtual field trip to the Norman Rockwell Museum - The Home for American Illustration in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

For this project you will be creating some sort of advertising material. Depending on what grade you are in, your product and your goals will be different. However, your final goal will be the same, to create a piece of advertising/marketing material incorporating visual art. As you work, you will pay close attention to advertising and graphic design basics and to the elements of art and the principles of design.

Steps To Help As You Design:

Begin by watching the instructional video on The Art of Advertising.
Gather up your ideas, like it says in the instructional video, “put pen to paper” - meaning generate a rough draft, play with your ideas and seek input.
Next, begin creating the advertising material. Share your work with someone after you are finished. Explain to them what you learned about the connection between art and advertising. Teach them about Norman Rockwell and how he bridged the gap between art for art’s sake and art for advertising purposes.
Finally, after you have submitted your design in Schoology, complete your Artist’s Statement. As you reflect, you can use this form or you can write about it on your own. Be sure to discuss the process of your artwork and how you created it. Next, explain the artistic choices you made, share one thing you love about your piece and one thing you would change if you could.

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