The document discusses designing effective banner ads for computer games. It provides tips for banner ad design such as using color, animation, keywords, and keeping it simple and relevant. A study found that banner ads designed to accomplish three key objectives, such as matching the messaging on the landing page, drove a 285% increase in conversions compared to other banner ad treatments. The document then discusses designing banner ads for mobile games and apps, providing feedback on initial drafts which emphasized using themes from the game in a simple design.

1. RESEARCH
I began by looking at basic web banner advertisement for computer games.
Successful banner ads lie somewhere between direct marketing and traditional print work. "Good design
and good marketing are totally different," said Kenneth Dotson, Vice President of Marketing with
SportLine USA.
1. Use color.
2. Use animation that doesn't slow downloading of the ad can attract attention.
3. Use keywords.
4. Keep it simple.
5. Keep it relevant.
When executed correctly, banner ads can be a powerful way to drive traffic to your offers. Unfortunately,
many marketers don’t have the time and resources to devote to “correctly executing” banner ad
campaigns. What they need is a formula for designing banner ads that produce results.
In a recent test, our researchers found that by designing a banner ad to accomplish three key objectives,
they were able to drive a 285% increase in conversion on the landing page.
What’s even more fascinating about the test is that the winning banner actually received less clicks than
the competing treatments.
Essentially, the winning banner weeded out unqualified clicks by matching the messaging on the landing
page.
In this Web clinic replay on banner ad design (originally held on August 31, 2011), Dr. Flint McGlaughlin
taught about this discovery in detail, along with the three key objectives every banner ad must
accomplish to drive maximum conversion. In doing so, he also taught the (until now) unpublished
heuristic – or problem-solving thought tool – we use to optimize banner ads.
I Then went on to look at web banners
made for applications and games that
are available to download from the App
Store for Android and Smart phones.

2. TEXT POSSIBILITIES
DESIGN
When beginning my design I went back to the layout and
background used in the game for a basic design. I then
incorporated the title text and character art from the game and
began some drafts.

3. 728X90
FINAL DESIGN DRAFTS
When designing my final web banners i made sure to keep it a simple
design by including themes form the game giving any viewers of the
advert an idea on what the game is about. I used scenery from the
game which fitted well with the long layout of the banner and text
colours. I have also added additional information (text) which is
quite essential to a web banner plus it gives it an effective Finnish.
468X60
180X150250X250

4. INITIAL FEEDBACK
The colours work well together and do not over complicate the banners. In the
rectangular web banner the text seems to fill up most of the space allowing for allot
of information to be included, but it also looks very clustered.
The background is very effective being from the original game but when used with
other images it gets slightly to compact and does not leave space for much text.
The addition of the App Store logo fits better in the larger square web banners as it
ads to the simple display, whereas when it is used in smaller banners it is much
harder to notice.
OVERALL
-Use background from game design.
-large title (bold)
-locate the App Store logo.
-When incorporating images don’t oversize.