In advertising, composition plays a major role in how an ad is made, so oftentimes the copy editor and art director work in tandem to make sure their respective contributions complement each other well. The most important thing to know about composition is that the end goal is to guide the eye of the viewer through the ad, piece by piece. Advertisements that do this effectively are often very striking.

by Michael Bateman

Courtesy of AAA

The reason I selected the AAA ad as a good example of composition is because it draws the eye incredibly effectively, almost in a Z-pattern, which is a well-known composition strategy, where the eye is drawn left to right, then diagonally down to the left, and then left to right again. In the AAA ad, the eye is drawn to the dominant element, the shadow of the wrench. Then the eye follows the shadow to the wrench, then they read the tagline. After that they have a lot of copy left to read, but the main idea is achieved and communicated very clearly: at first auto repair can appear scary, but in reality it doesn’t have to be, and AAA are the people to help you do that.