Redesign of Advertisement Essay – Reflection Guidelines

Going into the redesign of advertisement essay I was excited but apprehensive. I really like marketing and being creative so I was looking forward to the assignment. I used a horseback-riding magazine because I thought it would be a good magazine to work with. It was because it gave me a challenge and made me think about a lot of details. However, once I picked an advertisement I was nervous about redesigning it. I did not know what I wanted the final ad to look like. I also was unsure on to what my new audience was going to be, and how I was going to incorporate the rhetorical appeals into the new ad. I can be very indecisive and picky about how I want my final product to look, so this essay was challenging for me.

         When I started to redesign the ad I threw around several ideas. I drew out my original plan but I did not follow through with it. My original idea was to have a rider in the winner’s circle, and then have a catch phrase above the rider. The more I thought about it, I did not like it because I did not think it was going to do the rhetorical appeals justice. Then I started to think about my new audience of older conservative riders, and how I could appeal the new ad toward them. I thought about what I like to see in an ad, as a horseback-rider too. My final decision was to use an established Olympian and keeping the ad clean cut looking.

         As I stated earlier, this essay was a challenge for me. I found it hard to pick a new audience since the magazine I chose was already narrowed down to just horseback-riders. The original ad was geared toward younger wild riders so I changed the audience to conservative, older woman. I also found it hard to write about the redesign for 5-7 pages. I put a lot of thought into details and pondered on what else to ad into the paper. I went to the writing center to talk out more ideas and that helped me a lot. The writing center also aided me with sentence structures and punctuations. It was really helpful.

         I liked this assignment because it was not bland it was creative.  I used my creativity to help me redesign the advertisement. I also liked how I chose my own ad. I find it easier to write about a topic when I chose it and then use the assignment guidelines to write the essay. I love horseback riding so it was fun for me to redesign Dublin’s ad.

         This essay made me realize how much thought goes into advertisements. In a broader spectrum, I realized how detailed oriented people are. Details are key components and they make the advertisement. I defiantly have a greater understanding of ethos, pathos, and logos. The rhetorical appeals are tools that I will try to use in my writings when it’s appropriate. Rhetorical appeals made me realize how details are important to writing and visuals.

         If I had a second chance at writing this essay, I would not do anything differently. I liked how my magazine gave me a challenge. If I chose an advertisement that I could easily change I don’t think I would have gained as much from the essay. I would not have been as detailed and aware of the rhetorical appeals. Redesigning was a challenge, but I liked reworking it and figuring out how I wanted to project my new ideas.