5 Design Principles to Master for Better Display Ads

With 11% of Internet users now blocking display ads, and many others just tuning them out, you have to work extra hard to make sure people click when they do see them. And great display ads are all about the visuals.
Don’t underestimate the power of design. 50% of companies say that design plays a massive role in how they achieve success. After all, design influences first impressions and the way consumers perceive your brand.
Of course, not every marketer or small business owner that wants to run display campaigns is a design expert. So, let’s take a look at how you can up your design game by applying five key principles of visual design to create high-performing display ads.

1. Structure

The foundation of a good display ad is structure. And there are best practices you should follow when mapping out your ad. The Interactive Advertising Bureau says that display ads need to be “distinguishable from normal web page content and the ad unit must have clearly defined borders and not confused with normal web content.”
They also say that ad sizing should be flexible as people may view your ad on different-sized screens.
Google offers various ad sizes from half page ads to leaderboard to large mobile banners. The top three ad sizes in terms of performance are 300x250 (medium rectangle), 336x280 (large rectangle), and 728x90 (leaderboard).

So, you need to make sure you have a strong yet flexible structure to fit each format, paying special attention to the top performing sizes.
To do this, think about the fundamental elements of a display ad. Every ad should contain four main components:

1. Your logo or company name

2. A value proposition

3. An image or visual representation of your service

4. A CTA button

What’s the best way to arrange these elements? 

Naturally, your value proposition and CTA are most important. One company found that optimizing its landing page CTA led to a whopping 245% increase in leads. This goes to show just how critical your CTA is.
Thus, your value proposition and CTA should be the most visually distinct elements. You should place your logo on the sidelines, at one of the edges of your ad. Plus, you have to make sure your image doesn’t obscure any of the copy.
You should end up with something like this:

As you can see, the value proposition and CTA are front and center. The SoundCloud logo is out of the way, and the image makes up the background.

 This is just one way to arrange the key elements of a display ad. The exact structure is up to you, as long as the CTA and value proposition are most prominent. And the elements can be rearranged in a comparable way to suit different ad sizes. (Note: with responsive display ads, Google will do the work of making sure your creative fits into the different size requirements.

2. Color

In design, color is vital as it’s used to grab people’s attention and evoke emotion. People also associate your color scheme with your brand. When you think about Coca-Cola, you’re always going to think red, for instance.
The psychology behind color is fascinating and something you need to pay attention to when designing ads. For example, men and women have different color preferences. One study showed that the most popular colors among men are blue (57%) and green (14%); while women are into blue (35%) and purple (23%).

Hence, you may decide to use a slightly different color palette depending on who your campaign is aimed at.
Particular industries also tend to favor particular colors. This study from Visual Capitalist shows the colors used by the top 20 brands for their logos, sorted by industry:

“We can see that many industries lean towards favoring particular colors, leveraging the psychological triggers these colors carry, both attracting us as a consumer and representing the industry.”
In the communications industry, for example, blue and black are the most popular colors. Using these colors in display ads for this industry will thus instill trust in your brand.
Clearly, there’s a lot to think about when it comes to picking a color palette for your display ad. The most important questions to ask yourself are:

• Who is my campaign aimed at and which colors will appeal to them?
• What do people expect from my brand and industry?

As a general rule, your color palette should be minimal. You should pick two or three main colors to use in ads. If you use a rainbow of colors, the viewer won’t be able to focus on what’s important. A couple of contrasting colors make the important parts stand out, like in this ad: