Ford created some ad campaigns several years ago at the same time they were set to release a redesign of one of it’s most popular cars several years ago. This was one of those campaigns. It featured a bold splash of color as the background and the car, in this case the Ford Mustang, prominently featured on the page or billboard. Very little else was actually stated in the ad other than the words, “Go Further”, somewhere on the page. The idea being to accent the car itself in a bold way. While I was able to find this ad, as well as others within this campaign, in use by car dealerships, I wasn’t able to find a link to the original ad or information about the designer. This ad, in it’s simplicity has to speak to a certain audience. So, how does it do that?
Repetition & Typography
There are two things you notice first in the ad. One is the car. It is the subject of the ad and the star. Right behind the car is the Ford name. The actual logo has been repeated so that it is instantly recognizable. The word, “Mustang,” is there next to the Ford logo. The san serif font helps it stand out as well as not compete with the Ford logo. Down in the bottom corner the words, “Go Further,” are in proximity to the Ford logo implying you can go further with Ford.
Proximity
How else do they use proximity? Again the large Ford logo comes into play. It is placed directly behind and touching the car. The idea is to think of Ford when you think of cars.
Alignment
Alignment is used a couple of ways in the ad, but this is one of my favorites. By aligning the bottom of the letters of the word, “Mustang” with with the curl in the line of the, “F” and the mid-line of the grill (which is also where the Mustang logo is) they divide the ad into thirds. It’s a subtle use of the “Rule of Thirds”.
Contrast & Color
The blue splash background creates contrast in the ad. The Ford logo is in white against the the blue background. Additionally, the yellow car is a complimentary color of the blue background creating some drama in the ad.
My Campaign Addition
My assignment was to create an ad that would fit into the campaign. I chose to do a similar ad for the Ford Mustang Shelby edition. I kept the same repetition of the of the typography and the Ford Logo.
I also wanted to maintain the same alignment within the ad and use that to draw attention to the name of the vehicle as well as the car.
Lastly, I wanted to keep the overall feel of the ad campaign, so, I kept the contrast of a large splash of color as the background. Because the vehicle was a different color however, I chose to mimic the colors of the sunset in this ad to create drama against the black car. I also kept the proximity of the large Ford logo to the car to draw attention to the Ford name in connection with the car.
The overall feel of the campaign is a car poster ad. It’s meant to feature the car and little else. In this case, it’s a Mustang. It’s iconic.
Herron Studios 