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OUR DESIGNERS USE THIS

CHECKLIST!
Hey there. Thanks for downloading this PDF!

This li9le document here is the perfect li9le tool while designing ad images.

Design your ad images in accordance with the principles here, and I

personally assure you that more people will no@ce and click your ads.

Like the huge @tle above says, our designers go through this very checklist
before they mark an ad image ready for delivery. Its proven to work!

The next page will be the checklist in printable form. It wont have any
explana@ons under the listed items. You can print that page if youd like to -
its nice to have a physical copy when youre making an ad image.

The following pages will elaborate on the checklist - I recommend you read
through it once before crea@ng any ad images.

I certainly hope that this document is helpful to you, and you can always
personally e-mail me at utku@s4ckynotemedia.com if you need any
ques@ons, recommenda@ons, or reviews about this ar@cle. Id be more than
happy to help!

Im also (most of the @me) personally online at www.s4ckynotemedia.com -

you can use the live chat there to chat with me. Its available to everyone. Ill
probably get back to you within 5-10 minutes, maximum. Feel free to ask
me any ques@ons!

Go get em, mate.

Stay awesome,
Utku Shokohiazar

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 The Ultimate Ad Image Checklist
by Sticky Note Media

Relevance
Are the graphics in your ad image relevant to your product/content?

Do you feature a dening graphic in your ad image that would stop poten@al customers from
scrolling? E.g. chip in a brain for AI, smiling baby for new parents, a car for people that are in the
market for a car, a nice piece of clothing thats targeted for your audience, etc.

Colors
Do you use contras@ng colors to make your dening graphic stand out?

Are you using a light, easy-on-the-eyes background?

Are your texts wri9en in an easily readable color? Are they dark, on a light background?

Are you using a9rac@ve colors to bring a9en@on to your ad? (e.g. red)

Are you using color scheming to make people look at certain parts of your ad in order?

Is your logo easy to read/see?

Is your background color dierent from the background color of the plaYorm youre using?
(e.g.white for Facebook)

Modernity
Does your ad feature modern, sleek fonts?

Does your ad image look right to you? Can you see Apple using an image similar to yours?

Simplicity / Positioning
Is there too much informa@on on your ad image?

Does your ad image have a focus point that conveys your main message to your audience while
a9rac@ng a9en@on? (see the color part for a complementary tac@c)

Is your dening graphic posi@oned strategically in your ad to be as visible as possible? E.g.

newspaper background, AI brain in the middle of the image, nger poin@ng at data tablet, etc

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 The Ultimate Ad Image Checklist -
Extended

Relevance
Are the graphics in your ad image relevant to your product/
content?

Ad Images 101: Only use graphics that are relevant to what youre
talking about.

Lets say that youre selling phone cases with sports logos on them, and
youre adver@sing Lakers phone cases to people all over the na@on.

Youre going with Facebook as your ad channel. Youve done your

targe@ng well, so you know that the people youre targe@ng love the
lakers.

Then you show them a Cel@cs phone case in your ad image.

Does that make sense? Not in the slightest.

I know - this sounds very obvious, but this is iden@cal to what

adver@sers do when they use ad images that really arent relevant to
their products/content.

For example, its been proven over and over that ad images with babies
in them get more views/clicks/callbacks, and adver@sers try to abuse
this fact by going overboard with the baby thing.

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Which sounds like a be9er idea to you: an amazing shot of the Lakers
case youre selling, or a baby holding your Lakers case while smiling
cutely at the camera?

People actually do this mistake, and its SO simple not to do it!

Your image needs to have that boom factor that will stop people if
theyre even remotely interested on the topic of your ad.

Dont overshadow your own product by throwing irrelevant stu on

your ad image. Please.

Do you feature a dening graphic in your ad image that would

stop poten4al customers from scrolling?

If youre selling, say, cheaper car insurance, show a policy document

with the picture of a car on it, and have the top of the document say $
$$$ to show that youre selling cheap car insurance. That will get
people to stop and look.

If youre selling guitars or guitar-related content, well, show beau@ful

shots of guitars! Guitar players will always, ALWAYS look at guitar-
related things.

See the trend here? Its all about showing the right things to the right
people.

You can apply all the other items in the checklists to your ad image, but
if you show a beau@ful ad image with a guitar as its dening
characteris@cs to an audience thats looking to buy a new TV, youve
lost the ba9le before it even started.

Have a dening characteris>c in your image thats relevant to your

audience, and make it look good. Thats the key to a winner ad image.

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 Colors
Do you use contras4ng colors to make your dening graphic
stand out?

Contras@ng colors stand out next to each other. The most well-known
combina@on is red and blue.

Heres an ad from
Carvana, and theyre
doing a really good job
gedng their dening
graphic (the car) to
stand out:

If someone was looking

to buy a car, this car
would most likely stop
them. Its very visible
because its red on a
baby blue background.
Win!

Are you using a light, easy-on-the-eyes background?

When your main background color is too dark, things become

confusing and una9rac@ve. Physically, were more inclined to look at
light backgrounds.

Use lighter backgrounds to avoid low ad performance.

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Are your texts wriIen in an easily readable color? Are they dark, on
a light background?

Studies show that dark colored text on a light background is the easiest
kind of text to read.

You can use light text on a darker background, but its denitely not
recommended. Just make sure that the text is easy to read for you, and
youll be ne.

Nonetheless, we always recommend dark text on light backgrounds.

Are you using aIrac4ve colors to bring aIen4on to your ad? (e.g.
red)

Red is a very a9rac@ve color, and weve been condi@oned all our lives
to watch out for red.

Use it (or other a9rac@ve colors) to bring a9en@on to your ad in the

rst place.

Make sure you get people to look at a dening characteris@c rst, just
like the Carvana example above.

Red car right in the middle of the image? No one shopping for a car will
miss that.

Are you using color scheming to make people look at certain parts
of your ad in order?

Its always be9er to get people to see your dening graphic rst, then
your cap@on, and then your logo.

When they see your dening graphic, they become interested and stop
scrolling. Then they look at your cap@on, and if you did a good job with
it, they become even more reeled in.
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Then they see your logo before reading your ad text (the copy outside
the image), and that builds brand awareness.

Thats how you build brand awareness through an ad image: a high

quality, a9rac@ve ad image with your logo on it.

This is the order that makes the most sense, but if you have a be9er
idea, feel free to experiment with it.

The Carvana ad is again a

perfect example for this.

First you see the red car, and

if youre on the market for a
new car, you stop and look at
the image.

Next up is the cap@on: its an

easy color to see and its
decent sized, so you look at
that and learn what the ad is
about.

Then you see the logo, and

boom, its Carvana. Very
smart designing right there.

Is your logo easy to read/see?

If your logo isnt easily visible, youre missing out on building brand
awareness.

We know that people can see your logo and name outside your ad
image, but youre more likely to have your audience remember your
name and logo if you snap your logo on your ad image as well.
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You achieve this by repe@@on (your name and logo are both in the ad
@tle and ad image), and by good color scheming, you get people to look
at your logo immediately aher they read your cap@on. It makes your
logo more memorable.

Make sure your logo is easily visible on your ad image. Your logo and
name ma9er.

Is your background color dierent from the background color of

the plaMorm youre using?

An ad with a white background on Facebook just doesnt stand out,

unless youre really crea@ve with it.

Go to your Facebook news feed, and pay a9en@on: everything is

colorful and bright. Thats because we tend to pay more a9en@on to
things that dier.

Simple, but eec@ve. Make sure you use a light color background that
diers from the background color of the site youre adver@sing on.

Again, dont be bound by this rule: feel free to experiment and see your
results with a white background. You can put some a9rac@ve colors on
white and make things stand out.

Its all about gedng poten@al customers to take a look at your ad and
reeling them in.

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 Modernity

Does your ad feature modern, sleek fonts?

You dont want to use Times New Roman in your ad unless youre WSJ.

Make sure that your ad looks modern. Modern fonts are usually non-
serif, thin, light, and smooth.

Heres an example of an ad image we made, but with dierent fonts:

See the dierence? The image on the leh looks a lot more modern and
clear.

Fonts ma9er - a lot. You can make dierent fonts work, but sleek,
modern fonts are a lot easier to work with.

Feel free to play around with dierent fonts and see how you feel.

Does your ad image look right to you? Can you see Apple using an
image similar to yours?

This is a li9le ambiguous, but think: can you see Apple using an ad
image like yours?

Apple is very modern in terms of their design. Theyre denitely up

there when it comes to ad design.

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Take a look at Apples website. They use very sleek fonts on very simple
backgrounds. It makes them look more professional.

You can do that without being a mul@-billion dollar company.

You do have an eye for good design. Just pay a9en@on to what all the
successful companies are doing in their ads, and make sure that your ad
looks up to par.

You will just know when your ad looks right. Its intui@ve. Keep working
on the parts that dont feel right un@l you feel good about them.

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 Simplicity and Positioning

Is there too much informa4on on your ad image?

Your ad should have a single

message, and it should be
graphically as simple as
possible.

Remember the WSJ ad from

the blog post? Here it is
again.

Lets take a look at how much be9er the ad would be if it had a simpler
background and be9er color scheming:

Isnt that SO
MUCH more
clear and easy
to look at?

Just have a clear message, a clear dening graphic, and make sure that
seeing and understanding your ad isnt hard.

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Overcrowding your image with graphics makes it harder for poten@al
customers to see the message you want them to see. Humans are lazy!
We dont want to look at something thats hard to look at.

Does your ad image have a focus point that conveys your main
message to your audience while aIrac4ng aIen4on?

Another great example from the Carvana ad: their focus point is the red
car. Here it is again. Ahem.

See how the most a9rac@ve

part of their ad is a car? You
would denitely stop and look
at their image if you were on
the market for a car.

Now think: what would make

your customers stop and look
at your image? What graphic?

How can you posi@on and

color your graphic in such a
way that people immediately
no@ce it?

Answer these ques@ons, and youll have yourself a be9er ad image.

Is your dening graphic posi4oned strategically in your ad to be

as visible as possible?

This is very similar to the item above, but its not the same.
Some@mes your focus point will not be your dening graphic.

Some@mes your focus point will simply point to your dening graphic.
Some@mes your focus point will play an en@rely dierent role.

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And thats ne.

Just like in this image

right here:

Their dening graphic

is their background
image. Their focus
point is the red
rectangle.

If you remember DMs

logo from previous
ads that they showed
you, you know that this ad is from them the moment you look at it!

They are making you look at their logo, and subsequently the rest of
their ad. Amazing ad design.

Anybody who is interested in Facebook Ads would look and stop at the
image above, and subsequently the rest of their ad. I know I did.

Use a9rac@ve colors to bring a9en@on to your ad through focus points.

if you need to separate your dening graphic and focus point, no

biggie. Go ahead and do it.

Just make sure that theres a place for your customers to look at rst.
That big red square. That nice red car. This one big a9rac@ve image
that compels your customers to look at other parts of your ad.

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Afterword
You see, every single item on this checklist serves one purpose: to stop
your poten@al customers from scrolling, and to get them to look at the
rest of your ad.

I know Im repea@ng myself, but I really want you to understand the

above statement. Internalize it.

Once you start applying this principle while making your ad images,
your ad performance will go up greatly.

Thanks a lot for reading this far. I greatly appreciate it, and I hope that
youve go9en something out of it.

If youre interested in not doing any of this work and gedng someone
else to do it for you, you can check out our product Whiteboard right
here:

h9ps://www.s@ckynotemedia.com/pricing

Whiteboard is a monthly service where you have a designated

designer to yourself. You only work with one designer, and they get to
know your business and branding be9er than any freelancer can.

Your designer designs pre9y much anything for you - ad images,

thumbnails, logos, yers Anything you might need for your business

Once you submit a request for a design, youll receive it THE SAME
DAY! Our trial en@tles you to 3 hand-designed designs with unlimited
revisions, and it costs just $5.99 for the rst week.

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We design your requests the same day if theyre made between 8AM -
5PM EST, Monday - Friday. If you make a request aher-hours, well
start making your design ASAP in the next business day, and youre
guaranteed to receive it then.

Our live chat is open Monday - Friday 8AM - 5PM EST, and its run by
our American and European designers. If you need a quick edit, just
hop on our website and ask away! Got a ques@on? Were right there.

Want to make a request? Fill out the form or just talk to one of our
designers. Were always there during business hours. Someone else will
carry the word to your personal designer if they arent online that
specic moment.

We do all of your images for you using the most modern design and
marke@ng techniques. We apply all the principles you saw here and
more while working for our clients.

Were like your very own in-house designer - only for about 5% of the
cost Crazy, right?

Again, we have a free trial for Whiteboard, and you can get three
designs to use in a week for just $5.99. Give us a try right here:

h9ps://www.s@ckynotemedia.com/pricing

Again, thanks a lot for reading, and I wish you the best of luck in your
digital marke@ng endeavors! You can email me any ques@ons and
thoughts at utku@s@ckynotemedia.com.

Adios!

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