Banner design: how to design your own banners

Online advertising is a powerful tool in the online marketing arsenal. Display ads like banners are important factors if you want to advertise successfully on the internet. Advertising through graphic advertising media is usually known as display marketing. By integrating target-oriented advertisements into websites, you can catch the attention of potential customers without overexciting them with intrusive ad design. After all, poor advertising can also damage your brand, while well-designed advertisements lead to significantly more clicks and (generally) more sales. In spite of the ad blocker broblem, advertisements are still one of the more effective tools of online marketing.

There are many different types of online advertising, some of which work differently and have different effects:

• Pop-ups, pop-unders, and layered ads: These ads, which are particularly unpopular with many website visitors, are usually played out as soon as a website visitor carries out a certain action. Usually these ads use JavaScript and open new browser windows, which either pop up suddenly over the visited website (pop-ups) or are opened in the background, so that you can’t notice them until you close the other browser windows (pop-under). Some ads respond to mouse movement or scrolling: an ad is often displayed in the same browser that hides the underlying content of the visited website (layer ads). Users can now block pop-ups and pop-unders pretty successfully with ad-blockers, but not yet for layer ads. Since the aforementioned advertising often suppresses or obscures the actual website content, many users consider this type of advertisement to be disruptive spam. It is therefore unsurprising that providers like Google are now completely abandoning these advertising methods.
   
• Rich media: Small audio and video elements should reach the user quickly, but still fit seamlessly into the website. These advertisements can be placed statically or “jostle” into the content – e.g. through interstitials that are inserted before the advertisement is set up. A key element of rich media is that it offers extended functions that motivate users to interact with it, compared to traditional forms. Small games and other interactive elements are often integrated into these displays. However, the comparatively large data volumes of rich media content mean that they cannot always be displayed on websites seamlessly. The increased data volume can also interfere with browsing on the user side. This applies, in particular, to mobile use, where a lower bandwidth is usually available.
   
• Text displays: The most minimalistic form of advertisement – text advertisements usually consist of a short advertisement title, which simultaneously links to the advertiser’s web page, a UDL that leads to the advertiser’s homepage, and a short description text. They are mainly used in search engine marketing.
   
• Video advertising: While online marketers initially focused on text and banner advertisements for technical reasons (because they could be played out without problems even with a weaker internet connection), advertising videos became increasingly interesting with the growing use of broadband connections. Advertising videos are sometimes played automatically on a website. They can be integrated as usual in a certain area of a website, or be switched as interrupting interstitial before the construction of a just-accessed page. Layer ads that are placed over the website text also often contain video ads. Videos are usually integrated using Flash. Used incorrectly, however, advertising videos can have a very annoying effect, since they usually take up a lot of space on the web page (or cover it almost completely), and often the sound is activated by default. On the other hand, videos can be used to present advertising content in a more appealing or impressive way than any other advertising format.
   
• Banner advertising: As part of banner advertising, marketers use predefined advertising space on websites to advertise (usually static) graphics for specific brands or products. These banners are resource-saving and usually do not replace the actual website content. However, advertising banners are faded out by most ad blockers, although they appear to be much less intrusive than pop-ups or layer ads. Banner effectiveness depends heavily on the advertised product and format. If you advertise a product that needs to be displayed visually (e.g. food or clothing), you only have space for a corresponding picture on the larger banners. For advertisers, tracking and targeting makes it easy to understand how many users become aware of their offer through a banner. Another advantage: banners are relatively easy to create. Therefore, advertising banners are also suitable for the marketing of smaller companies.

Advertising banners are ideally placed using an ad network like the Google Display Network, and are a popular compromise solution: they are not as eye-catching as layer ads, and do not allow for a product presentation as impressive as elaborate advertising video ads, but they are also perceived as less annoying by comparison. In contrast to pure text displays, they also work with visual stimuli. Well-designed advertising banners entice the user to call up the corresponding offer page with just one click. However, the advertisement design is also extremely important: in most cases, your banner advertisement just has a few seconds to reach the potential customer. To have your advertisement be perceived positively, you need to pay attention to certain design principles. This article explains step by step how to create compelling banners.

There are distinctions between the following formats, among others:

Keep in mind that the graphics for your banner should be no larger than 150kb. Suitable image formats are .PNG and .JPG, as well as others for animated ads. Additionally, you should consider three core contents of your banner advertisement:

• Logo: Your own logo is essential when trying to increase brand awareness. Good logos can be recognized in a fraction of a second, and can be designed so that they won’t be perceived as annoying. A badly made logo, on the other hand, can cause considerable damage to the brand, since an unprofessional logo will conjure the image of an unprofessional product to the consumer. Therefore, it is worth investing sufficient time and resources into your logo design. Our logo guide will give you helpful tips on how to create an appealing one.
   
• User promise: Your ad needs to communicate exactly what is on offer in just a split second. The viewer should be able to recognize the offer, so that their attention is “rewarded” with information. If the information is relevant to the viewer, interest is generated. If you’re advertising low prices or a special offer, you can just display the price (“Flights starting at €10!”) or a percentage discount (“Now 20% off shoes!”).
   
• Call to action: Your advertisement needs to be clearly interactive. What will happen if a user clicks the ad? Simple text and buttons (“Go to shop”, “Redeem voucher”, “Register here” etc.) make sure the user knows what clicking on the ad will do, so that they will know for sure that clicking on the ad will be of value to them.

Since advertisements often lead to action by the visitor, the button is probably the most important component of the banner and must stand out clearly from the rest of the display. Elements that contrast with the background of the ad in terms of color are usually very noticeable. In our example, the button in the advertising banner is bright orange and is next to the special offer information, making it the most attention-grabbing element of the advertisement. Due to its small size, the mobile leaderboard can be regarded as a kind of button – so you should not use a special button there.

The prompt should be positioned so that it forms “the end of the reading path”. In this way, the display first conveys the most important information (the user promise) and then advertises the click button (prompt). You should always keep the viewer’s natural reading direction in mind.

You can get a little more creative when it comes to using picture elements. Don’t overdo it though. An ad overloaded with graphic gimmicks deters viewers rather than arouses interest.

Depending on the industry or brand, it can be useful to install a key visual. This is a key element that represents your brand. If you run an online shoe shop, you ideally have a shoe pictured somewhere in your ad. Fast food chains usually show an ideal image of their product (like a hamburger) in the advertisement. In our example, we want to show the customer immediately that it’s all about desks.

If you offer a wider range of different products, you can also show a selection of your most attractive products in some advertisements. These can be movie posters if you run a streaming service, for example. If you offer a photo service, a particularly attractive photo would suit that ad very well. Large formats like half pages and wide skyscrapers offer you a lot of space to use creatively for this purpose. Always make sure that you have rights to the images you use, however.

Advertising using personal pictures is also common: online shops often advertise with models who appear in their advertisements. Sports equipment suppliers rely on prominent sports stars to arouse positive associations. Food manufacturers primarily use images to market their products for consumer needs. In the above example, the viewer should establish a connection between the primeval forest landscape and perfume. Additionally, the product can be quickly recognized thanks to users having seen the image in stores.

The intelligent use of images in advertising banners is therefore essential for marketing success.

If you use other people’s images, please make sure that you have secured the legal usage rights to these pictures. Otherwise, you run the risk of legal consequences.

The same applies to animated advertisements: if you bombard the viewer, they will ignore them at best or be annoyed by them at worst. After all, too many image changes can considerably disrupt your internet streaming flow. For this reason, users use ad-blockers that block almost all advertising formats. Some animations also cause the display to look a little dubious: for example, if you make your button or prompt glow brightly, possible gambling associations may be evoked and could remind a viewer of spam pop-ups. Consumers will quickly consider them to be frauds and clickbait – this could damage your brand’s reputation.

Ultimately, an animated advertising banner can lead to success – but the design should be left to professionals who can find the right balance and make animations look fluid. Poorly animated advertising banners have a disturbing effect.

• Brand uniformity: Try to design your advertisements according to your website design. This increases the brand recognition, and many users should be able to recognize what the company is advertising by the design alone.
   
• Adapt the layout to the pages where your ads are likely to appear. Ideally, your ads should look like they are an integral part of the website rather than a disruptive element.
   
• Focus on the basic design guidelines: Advertisements have to attract attention and marketers often achieve this in unusual ways. However, even if you stick to certain rules when it comes to color design or font choice, you can create a good advertisement. To do this, familiarize yourself with the concept of complementary colors.
   
• Take note of color symbolism: Colors can cause different viewer reactions and activate different associations. If you sell an organic product, a green-brown color scheme will suggest environmental friendliness. Beauty products often use pale pink and blue in their advertising schemes. Be sure to consider your target group when choosing colors.
   
• Invest enough time and resources: A poorly made advertisement can do more harm than good to your brand. If you are not sure enough about how to use graphics programs, you should leave designing your advertisement to a professional.