With all the new technology and growing trends in graphic arts, some designers seem to want inundate creatives with every type of design element and animation out there. However, the key to making good creatives in the online advertising world is - to reinforce an already existing idea - keep them simple. I’ve seen quite a few creatives that seem to go all over the place with their design and the message ends up suffocating under the many design elements used.

A good creative is able to deliver the message in a pleasant, yet exciting design. And, depending on the product website, it should reinforce the branding of the site. This tends to be a pitfall of some creatives as they just don’t reinforce the brand. I’ve seen on a few ads where the brand logo minusculely (to turn an adjective into an adverb) sits at the bottom of the advertisement, leaving the viewer wondering where the ad came from. Your ad may be pretty to look at, but if it doesn’t display the logo very well, it probably won’t gain much attention as it’ll leave the viewer wondering where it came from.

The best creatives always reinforce the brand of the site and the product/service of the site; cash advances, debt consolidation, health insurance, etc. The design of the creatives should drive audiences’ to see the message, which will ultimately have them making an instant decision about using the product/service or retain the information for later and/or repeat usage. Also, adding some animated gifs in the body or the submit button will go a long way to capturing your audience’s attention.