Banner Ad Design: 14 Tips for Beginners

Be honest – how many hours a day do you spend online? No need to answer, but from a marketing perspective, it’s clear that online advertising is the way to reach new customers. There are many, many ways to do this, not least of which is the humble banner ad! 

Banner ads are often rectangular or banner shaped ads which appear on other websites. They’re great for boosting your traffic and reaching new audiences. However, internet users today are exposed to so much advertising that they have become “banner blind” and actively ignore all ads. Yup, If you’re new to design, creating a banner ad which grabs attention without irritating potential customers may seem like a daunting task. Fear not – we have 14 tips that will bring you from beginner to pro in no time.

~ Before you begin ~

  1. Get to know the software.

If you’ve never designed a banner (or anything!) before, don’t worry – designing banner graphics is not as complicated as it sounds! The easiest option is Banner Snack, a paid design software which helps people with no artistic or coding skills create perfect banners. 

Adobe Illustrator gives you a blank canvas, while Photoshop which helps you edit and embellish existing photos. To design HTML 5 files, try Google Web Designer and Adobe Animate. 

Don’t worry if this is all new to you – there are plenty of resources online to help you get your design off the ground. 

Play around, practice, and remember, design is a process. Your banner graphic doesn’t have to be perfect the first time. 

  1. Learn the principles of design.

If you’re planning to grow your brand and design more ads in the future, it’s worth investing time in learning the basics of graphic design. To learn more about a particular area of design, consider taking a MOOC (Mass Online Open Course – usually free!). There are thousands to choose from, but courses such as Graphic Design, Ideas from the history of Graphic Design, Color Theory & Image Formats, Basic Elements of Design & Software and Communicate Your Ideas Through Storytelling & Design are just some great places to start!

  1. Start on paper.

If you’re a good artist, start on paper. Sketch all your potential ideas. This is a “low fidelity” design (it can easily be erased, changed and played around with), so let your creativity flow. When you’re happy with your design, upload it to Illustrator to edit (see this handy tutorial from creativebloq). Keep all your sketches – who knows what they might inspire later on!

  1. Define your goal. 

Design can reflect the tone of your ad. If it’s urgency – for example, a flash sale with unbelievable discounts – consider using flashing or bold colours to convey this. If your brand is all about calm, consider slower moving, gentler graphics. If you want to drive traffic to your site, you need a good “hook”, or attention-grabbing incentive to make people click. Think about what you want to achieve and centre your design around this.

  1. Do some market research.

Pay more attention to the designs on banner ads you see everyday. Cover the logo, and see if you can guess which brand the ad is promoting – if so, that’s recognisable, consistent branding! Look at the ads your competitors have designed. What images, colours and associations are they using? Learn from them, but be original – don’t blend in or copy anyone’s ideas. You want your banner graphic design to stand out for all the right reasons. Make sure your brand is recognisable, and that most consumers would guess what kind of product it refers to.  

~ Technical details ~

  1. Get the size right.

Most websites offer “standard sizes” for advertising space. Keep your design to these dimensions to make sure it fits.

Also, prefer file sizes small where possible. These designs load faster – most customers will have already scrolled past by the time a “stuck” ad loads! To find out what size your ads should be, check out this list of the 10 Highest Performing Google AdSense Banner Sizes. Try to design ads which fit in the dimensions and are eye-catching in the ad spaces offered on most websites:

  1. Consistent branding 

Consistency is extremely important in marketing. Essentially, you should use the same elements and themes in all your banner designs, just tailoring them to fit the banner sizes pictured above. Consistency helps consumers recall and recognise your brand, as well as saving you time at the design stage! When brainstorming, stick to versatile slogans and designs which can be used across your marketing mix. 

Your ads should use the same wording, fonts and imagery so far as possible. (Showcasing different products to different customers is possible with Google Ads – read “Google Ads for Beginners” to learn more!)

Take a look at this seamless example of consistent branding:

  1. Structure is important.

If you’re caught up with designing an amazing banner graphic, you might forget the obvious. Double check that your banner graphic design:

~ Get designing! ~

  1. Colour

Embrace colour theory when designing a banner graphic. Research suggests that 90% of “snap” consumer decisions (like clicking on a banner ad!) are related to colour and the associations implied. 

Your design should reflect your brand’s values and use colours which convey the right emotion. Research colour associations in the culture(s) you are marketing to, and look at the designs used by dominant brands. 

Source: TastyAd.com

Red suggests love, passion, appetite, speed, and urgency, which makes it a great colour for brands like Tinder, McDonald’s and Netflix, but not so for a mindfulness app or health brand. Grey is the preferred colour of minimalist technology brands like Apple – so choose grey to piggyback on their high-tech brand associations. Keep your target customer in mind at all times: colour preferences even vary between men and women.

  1. Images 

If you plan to use images other than your brand logo in your banner graphic design, make sure you have legal copyrights to use them. As “hilarious” as stock photos may be, they aren’t worth getting into legal calamity over! Use your own images, or commission a graphic designer to create something unique to your brand.

  1. Use flashing and animations sparingly 

Be extra memorable, not just extra. Do you remember those awful homepages people had in the ‘90s? Learn from their graphic design blunders. Avoid flashing hundreds of images – most people won’t look at your ad long enough to see the message at the end! Animations or graphics on banner designs should flash no more than 3 times, and end with a call to action (for example, flash three of your products, and end with “50% off now at X!”). Keep your design simple, minimalist and uncluttered for maximum effect.

  1. Fonts 

Everyone hates Comic Sans – there’s even a movement to ban it. It’s awful letterfit and poor spacing are associated with childish, tasteless design. On the other hand, Helvetica is minimalist, professional, and arguably the world’s most loved font. It even starred in its own movie for all you design nerds out there.

It’s important to keep your brand’s values and ad tone in mind when choosing a font. The key is to choose a font that is readable, recognisable and right for your brand. For something unique, Adobe Fonts and 1001 Free Fonts are a great place to start. If you choose different fonts for your logo and call to action, make sure they fit will together.

Lastly: don’t use fonts smaller than 11px, unless it’s something unimportant to viewers, like a copyright declaration – great design is lost if potential customers have to stop and strain their eyes to see it!

  1. Frame your work.

No, we don’t mean frame it, or put it on your refrigerator – but why not, if you want!

Our eyes are naturally drawn to designs which stand out from the background or are “framed”. If the background of your design is white, put a 1-pixel wide grey border around the edges. This is too small for most people to notice, yet your design appears to stand out, even if the website’s background is also white! Avoid pop-ups or features which “spill” out onto the main page, as these will only irritate viewers.

  1. Last step: ensure your downright stunning banner graphic gets seen by the right people! 

Reaching the right audience is crucial. It’s a good idea to show your design to potential customers and see how they rate it. What do they think the ad is for? Do they like the design? Would they stop to look at it in detail?

Once you’re sure you’re on to a banner design winner, decide who you want to market to, and then, where you want to advertise. Google Ads will help you identify areas your ads could be improved, and A/B test your designs to find which one appeals to your target customer. You can also upload “assets” (design elements like images, phrases, etc) and let Google trial them in different combinations.  If you aren’t already using Google Ads, check out “Google Ads Guide for Beginners”. 

So there’s more to Graphic Design than just MS Paint. If this overwhelms you, don’t worry! Everyone has to start somewhere. Start with the basics, and get comfortable with the software. Research associations and don’t be afraid to experiment before settling on design themes. Keep your brand’s vision and goals in mind, and you’re sure to create a banner graphic design you and your team can be proud of.