Dissecting the Alignment of a Pear

I found this ad on a website called Grocery Headquaters. The article was called “Pear Bureau Northwest Launches Fresh Consumer Ads” and was written by Elizabeth Louise Hatt. The ad was created for the Pear Bureau Northwest to promote the consumption of pears with particular emphasis on how to tell when they are ripe.  It ran in several food magazines from October 2014 to the end of February 2015. The add uses bold, striking colors to draw the viewer in and plant the idea that pears can be as sweet as ice cream.

 

Proximity

The designer used the principle of proximity by grouping the lines
of text that are closely related. For example, the question, “Want it
sweet?” is answered with the suggestion in the line that follows.

 

Alignment

The alignment of the words and image are obvious and deliberate.
Even if center alignment should generally be avoided, it works well
to have the centered words line up with the width of the pear. The
paragraph at the bottom is left aligned and fits perfect with the
logo in the opposite corner.

 

Repetition

This design uses repetition with color where the green in the image
matches the green in the logo. The yellow in the background is
repeated in the text and the cone. There is also repetition in the
bold lettering.

 

Contrast

The dark red background is a strong contrast for the yellow cone
and text. The green pear also stands out nicely from the bright
yellow behind it. There is contrast in the text as well. The bold
lettering and larger font in the text directly below the cone grabs
your attention. In fact, I still haven’t read the smaller lettering.
Finally, the contrast of the green and white coloring and cursive
font of the logo draws your eyes to the bottom right corner.

 

Conclusion

The center alignment of the image, with the bright contrast of
a yellow halo-like glow, was a perfect choice to grab a viewers attention.
Although center alignment with text can appear amateurish, it
comes off as intentional because of it’s proximity to the image and
alignment with the edges of the pear. The yellow color in the text,
the cone, the background, and the pear itself was a great way to
bring in repetition.