Making Video Game Advertisements

As my sixth grade students were working on the final stages of their Hero’s Journey Video Game Design Project, I turned to my paraprofessional in the classroom, Sandy, to teach a lesson around advertisement. She had an entire career as an artist and magazine designer before moving into education, and her expertise about design and art is always worth tapping into. I am eternally grateful for her, on many more levels than this. She’s a real partner in the classroom, every single day.

Sandy taught them about the visual — of the icon being large and representative of the game concept — of lettering and color, of catch-phrases, and so much more. We looked and broke down some traditional video game advertisements, too, talking about technique and loaded words and phrases.

The results of the advertisements were pretty cool, and the ads are now being hung in my classroom. But I grabbed a few and made a video with them, too, as a way to celebrate my sixth graders as artists and designers.

Peace (in the art),
Kevin

2 Comments
  1. Hi Kevin,

    I spent 17 years working in retail advertising for the Montgomery Ward corporation between 1973 and 1990. In the last 10 years I had management roles in creating the national print advertising that you saw in your Sunday papers every week.

    Your students have some great design and advertising potential.

    However, the ads are missing one key element, which makes them advertising. I did not see a clear “call to action”…. such as “go hear” or “visit this page” or “read more”.

    The graphics, layout, copy and overall impact of an ad seek to capture reader attention, and your student ads do this. However, without a “call to action” or “next step” they leave the viewer wondering “so what?”

    I’ve reached out to groups teaching youth to create videos, and offered this same advise. The video can call attention to an issue, but unless it points viewers to actions they can take, it misses it’s potential.

    Keep doing this. It’s great work. It’s skills kids can use throughout their lives in many ways….beyond traditional advertising and public relations roles.

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