Call to Action

I found three ads for local institutions of higher education. Each ad has a call to action.

The main focus of the UMUC ad is the photo of the group of people. The grouping reminds me of the old Sesame Street song..."One of these things is not like the other." The two women and the one man are all in business attire, while the male firefighter is in turnout gear. I realize that UMUC is appealing to local adults in a wide range of careers, but the photo makes me think that the university is trying too hard to appeal to everyone. The ad would work better if there was another person in a uniform of some sort or drop the "dress code" and simply have four people dressed in everyday clothese. The text of the ad is informative. There is too much white space, which could be minimized by increasing the typesize of the text of the ad.

The head profile with "Great Minds Think KOGOD" is ugly. The symbols surrounding the profile are too small and hard to read. The ad is cluttered with the name of the business school, a huge opaque "AU," information session dates, etc. It is hard to tell what is the most important element of the ad since there is so much listed in different sizes and styles of type. The ad would work better in a 2 column format since the single column leads to short, chopped lines.

The UMBC ad is colorful. The photo (even if it is possibly a stock university photo) is a more representative grouping of prospective students than UMUC. The older students are tucked in the back, which I don't like. I am the demographic that universities could be appealing to...woman, second career, returning to the workplace after raising children, available money to attend graduate school, etc. The placing of the three older people in the back seems to minimize these students. The focus is on the four younger students. The use of color is good. The eye is drawn to the name of the graduate programs due to the use of red. The orange border encloses the information.