“Advertising is not a f**king science, advertising is an art — no questions about it”
— George Lois
George Lois is one of the most accomplished art directors of all time, and is also accomplished through advertising. He changed the way graphic designers looked at advertising. He is most well known for the covers he designed for Esquire magazine during the 60s.
George Lois has had a major impact on many companies with his revolutionary techniques he has taken companies such as Braniff International Airways from the bottom to the top. He came up with their tag line When You Got It, Flaunt It; this along with the commercial he made sent the airlines popularity and profits up. It is also claimed that Lois help create MTVs campaign “I Want My MTV”, as well as gave VH1 their notoriety.
People hear the term the “Big Idea” in both advertising and graphic design, this is something that George Lois created. It is a term that symbolizes an attempt to communicate the brand, the product, the concept by creating a message that consumers will remember. Characteristics that make a Big Idea successful include; it has an emotional connection, it’s universal, connects people in any country, it has value, and it is distinct. The Big Idea is taken into consideration for every advertising/marketing campaign, and these characteristics must be present in order for the campaign to be successful.
Lois called himself a crossover guy, he has borrowed as much knowledge from graphic design as he has from guerilla advertising. I think more people need to think like Lois, he is why graphic designers and advertisers look at each other for creative ideas. While I was reading an article called “10 Tips For Success From George Lois, The Original Mad Man” the first tip he ad was “my first commandment: the word comes first, then visual.” At first, as more of a graphic designer I was a little offended by this statement. The more I thought about it, the more it makes sense, art directors can create anything around a statement, they can make multiple options, but how hard is it to add copy to visual? The copy is the message, it’s what people remember the visual element helps enhance the copy, makes it more interesting and better. There is an obvious crossover, like Lois explained.
Going back to the quote at the beginning, “advertising is an art” is 100% true in my eyes, visual elements can often stand on their own. Copy can as well, but not as well as something such as art. How well does copy resonate on radio over copy included with visual elements? Print advertisements need the visual elements in order to succeed. So, like I posted once before there is a crossover between advertising and graphic design, especially in print. George Lois helped both marketers and designers realize the importance one had on another.
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