The budget for the magazine is $197.00 dollars; and since the ad will run in a newspaper, this establishes design parameters2. We are creating this ad for the PSU Collegio which has the following column widths:
The columns determine the width of the advertisement and the maximum height of the ad is determined by the budget. In order to calculate my maximum dimensions a bit of math is required.
First, the budget ($197.00) must be converted into column inches because the ad is charged $4.00 a column inch. This is the calculation I used to determine maximum dimensions:
197.00/4.00 = 49.25
So, the maximum dimension (W x H) of the ad can't excel 49.25 column inches. Since the width is fixed, my only variable is height and my equation to determine the max height will look like this:
49.25/columns = height
After doing the calculations for 1-6 columns I figured out my maximum dimensions:
After completing the calculation I could work on thumbnails and roughs with a little more assurance that my designs would actually work for print. I want the ad to be square so I know 5.75" (or 3 columns) is the largest square I can do with my budget. These are the thumbnails sketches I came up with:
And this is the one I chose to pursue:
I decided to do a teaser advertisement that would run in conjunction with other parts of a campaign on the run-up to the release of the magazine.
1 The target audience will be geared more toward students and community members who read for leisure. In a newspaper we can assume that most people reading will be more receptive to the ad.↩
2 This ad will be printed on newsprint in grayscale and have a 5" x 5" trim size with no bleed and a 1/8" margin.↩
