Ad Design 101: How To Create Simple Images That Attract And Convert

Every day your audience is bombarded with marketing and information 24/7.

Its a wall of noise out there, so how do you stand out?

By now you understand your audience, and have a message that resonates, and gets them to take action.

But to get that message in front of them?

You have to stop them in their tracks

That’s the goal of the image

To stop them from scrolling through their News Feed, read your ad, and the click across to your article

Because if you can’t get their attention?

Then it doesn’t matter how good your content is, because they won’t see it…

Good news?

Ad design is not that hard

In this chapter I’m going to walk you through a step-by-step process to create images, that almost guarantee you’ll get more clicks to your content

Keep reading to learn how…

Killer Ad Design: How To Make Ad ‘Creatives’ That Get Your Readers To Take Action

Your adverts image is super important

Not only does take up around 70% of the ad space…

But its more than that…

In fact, it could be said that the image is THE MOST important element

Why?

Because if the reader doesn’t care about your image, then you fail to get their attention

And if that happens?

Then the audience scrolls past, and you waste money…

Even worse?

It means they never click on the ad, and so never read your article…

Not great right?

You NEED that image to connect with the audience

Because if the ad resonates?

Not only do people click on it and go read your article?

…But it can also

• lower your ad cost,
• improve how often its seen,
• AND improve how many people click on it!

Not bad eh?

That’s a whole heap of benefits- all from just improving the image

So what makes the difference between a winning ad, and one that fails?

Honestly not that much

Let me explain…

Why Ads Fail

Its usually 2 things that cause an ad to fail

Either they focus on themselves, and not the customer

The customer doesn’t care about you

They care about themselves

If the ad doesn’t make it clear how you help them, then they ignore it

The other reason?

They focus on being ‘interesting’, instead of effective…

Remember:

Your goal is to get that person to click across on your ad, and go across to your content

Interesting ads may win awards, but they don’t get sales or clicks

The good news?

Successful ad design follows a simple formula

In fact?

There are just 3 major areas to a high converting image:

1. The Hero Shot (The focal point that connects with the reader that you want to target)
2. The Call To Action that gets the reader to take action,
3. The Design Layout

No joke, that’s all you need

This is a perfect example below…

I love this ad because it hits all 3 elements

Let me break them down for you…

Killer Ad Design Element: The Hero Shot

The hero shot is what connects and speaks to the reader that you’re trying to attract

Its the main focus of the ad

Its always based around some kind of emotional connection, or ‘need’ that the reader has

In this example the hero shot appeals to a specific audience

They see themselves in the image, and so it connects with them, and they pay attention

Easy right?

(There are a bunch of different ‘needs’ that you can use for the hero shot, and we’ll break them all down later on…)

Killer Ad Design Element: The Call To Action

You will always get more response to an advert if you:

• ASK them to take an action, and
• Tell them HOW to take the action

Its seriously crazy how many people miss this

Advertising is all about simplicity

If you can remove any ambiguity, you’ll improve the response

Its as simple as

• Do you want this?
• Then do this

That’s all you need…

Killer Ad Design Element: The Ad Layout

Finally you have the layout or background

Its what ties the design together

All this needs to do is:

• Stand out in the News feed, and
• Bring focus to the Hero shot and the CTA

It should be as simple as possible, so as to not distract from the other elements

In this example it has:

• Simple plain background
• 2-tone colour that blends in, and draws focus to the hero shot and cta
• A simple diagonal line helps it stand out
• The darker colour helps make the text easier to read
• It takes the colour of the CTA from a small element in the image, so it stands out

Even better?

This colour is actually part of her brand aesthetic

If you were to click on the ad, it then ties into the page that it takes you to…

This is called ‘congruence’

In simple terms?

It helps the reader feel like they are in the right place, and didn’t click on the wrong thing

Easy right?

But that all you need:

• Hero Shot
• CTA, and
• Background layout

Make sure to hit those elements, and your ad will succeed

Even better?

By building around these elements, it makes the ad super easy to create…

The 3-Simple Steps To Designing Killer Ad Creatives

Just 3 simple steps

Step #1: Brainstorm the image to meet a reader ‘need’

Step #2: Draft the layout

Step #3: Create the image in layers

Let me break it down for you…

You start off by coming up with a list of different Hero shot ideas

How do you come up with the ideas?

Simple

You base them off the core emotional ‘needs’ that drive people

(This way you know your ad will get their attention)

Then?

Then you cheat…

You look at layouts and examples from other ads, to get design inspiration

Find the one you like, and then sketch it out on paper

This helps speed up the creation process and avoid that whole ‘blank screen of doom’ that can stop you before you start…

Once you have a rough design, its time to create it in ‘layers’

• You create the background
• Then you add the hero shot on top
• And then you add the call to action

Easy right?

By building it in layers, you can create it much easier and faster

Its so simple that you can use this EXACT same process to design killer ads for your own business…

…even if your ‘creative side’ consists of stick figures and smiley faces

Step #1: Brainstorm Your Hero Shot Angle

You need to create an image that connects with your audience

The only thing?

People are weird

We’re all motivated by different needs and emotions…

• Self Identity (to see ourselves in the advert)
• Need for Certainty and to remove anxiety
• Need for Uncertainty and to create excitement
• Need to feel Significance from others
• Need for Connection from others
• Need for Growth and struggle
• Need to Contribute and give

The goal of your image, is to try and connect with one of those needs

This way it will appeal to your audience, and get their attention

The only problem?

You don’t know which appeal will work best with your ad, until you test them

So here’s what you’re going to do for this step:

1. Write down each ‘need’ on a notepad
2. Come up with an image idea, to represent each of those needs

Easy right?

So all you need to do, is come up with an idea to match each need

Let me break them all down so you can get some ideas…

The ‘Self Identity’ Hero Shot

Most people when looking at an advert, scan it first

They ask

“Who is this ad for?”

By showing the target audience in the advert, it helps them say

“Hey this is for people just like me!”

They see themselves in it, and so they pay attention

This example is great because it speaks to the ideal audience that it wants to attract:

It speaks to female business owners who are doing well, but want to improve

Simple right?

Important:

For this angle to connect, you need to know how the target audience see’s themselves

(Not how the world sees them…)

See the difference?

You have to appeal to how they sees themselves, or others who are like them…

The Need For Certainty

This need is based around control

To not feel helpless and remove anxiety

• To feel control and know whats coming
• To feel safe and secure and lower risk
• To remove bad surprises
• To have you bills paid and not to worry about things…

If your audience is anxious, then you can use this story appeal to help them feel confident when they move forward

(We call this ‘moving towards pleasure’…)

Easy right?

In this ad you see someone who’s overcome their fears and are happy

The thing is?…

Not everyone is motivated by pleasure

Some will only take action, if its to move away from pain instead

(That’s why headache tablets show someone in pain, rather than someone with a smiley face- because moving away from pain is a bigger motivator)

Here’s another ad by the same company…

Same product, and same appeal

But this time its focused on moving away from pain instead

Does that make sense?

If your audience has any anxieties about their problem,  then you can appeal to this in your image to help get their attention

But like we said before- different people have different needs

In fact?

Some of them need the exact opposite…

The Need For Uncertainty/Variety/Excitement

Too much certainty leads to stagnation

If everything is OK, then we start to look for ways to break out of monotony or boredom

To have ‘good surprises’ and exciting events

To create drama so you feel something is happening (Its why trashy TV does so well)

You’ll be surprised how you can use this in your ad…

Even dinner can be exciting when you don’t know what the meal is going to be, AND you make an occasion out of it

Easy right?

So what excitement does your audience want or need (That your article can deliver on)?

How can you reflect that in your ad image?

Maybe its not excitement that’s driving them, but something else?…

The Need For Significance

This is one of the most frequent needs or angles in advertising

To feel important, special, or unique

• To feel different
• For exclusivity and to have what others do not
• To stand out among the crowd
• To be rich, or famous
• To have qualifications and importance
• To have hidden secrets that others don’t know
• To have bigger problems than others
• To have smaller problems than others

Sometimes its to spend more than the rest can afford…

And other times?

…to spend less and brag about a bargain

Those 2 ads?

The exact same company, but using that need for ‘significance’ to appeal to different parts of their audience

So what does your audience want?

What will make them feel unique or different?…

The Need For Connection/Love

We’re social creatures

We need to feel loved or to love others

It helps us to feel alive, needed or connected

To feel intimacy, belonging or friendship

To belong to a tribe of similar ideas and beliefs

This need helps your audience feel connection to others, who are like themselves

Who is your audience?

Who do they want to belong to?

Who do they feel they belong to?

How can you help that come across in your ad design?…

The Need For Growth

To feel growth and improvement

To track and measure and see change from your actions

To overcome struggle and adversity- especially that which is chosen

To feel that we have value to give

To be more than we are, or our environment or previous experience

To feel confidence and self esteem…

Does your audience want to grow or get past a challenge?

How can you use that in your Hero shot to appeal to them?…

The Need For Contribution

To feel selfless and giving

To be kind and help others

To be empathetic to issues and help change them

To contribute and help others meet their core needs (Security, significance etc)

So there you have them

The core emotional ‘needs’

I know we’re going deep into this, but understanding these will help you design compelling ads

It sounds complex but it really isn’t

Its as difficult as:

1. Understanding your audience and
2. Choosing an image that ties into their emotions and drives

That’s all

Now there’s one final method you can use…

The Product Image Hero Shot

The final hero shot you can use, is the product itself

How?

By showing the product appealing to one of those other needs

Either on its own, or in action…

What do you think smart belt means?

Its appealing to that need for significance

The product shot is great if you can show the product getting the result or removing the problem…

In this example we’re driving traffic to a new article

The article hook was how to write less and promote more

And so we showed an image of the ‘product’ (Which was the new article loaded up on a phone)

Then we showed the end result

Simple right?

It helps the audience connect with the end goal, and the product helps to draw attention

Make sense?

So that’s all of the different needs that you can base your hero shot ideas on

Go ahead and write down an image idea to represent each need:

All you need is ideas for now

Just list out each need, and then a potential image you think would reflect that (While tying into your audience)

Got them all done?

Awesome

Now its time to sketch them out…

Step #2: Plan The Layout And ‘Steal’ Inspiration

You’re going to create some rough pen and paper sketches of those ideas

Why?

Because its always easier to design your ad if you have a blueprint to work from

Its like…

Imagine trying to write a book with no notes and a blank page:

Its super difficult!

That’s why successful writers follow writing systems instead…

Image design is the same thing

Once you have a rough sketch to work from, you can design it much faster

And I know what you’re thinking

“But Dan, all I have is an idea and some blank paper!”…

No problem at all buddy

In this step, you’re going to look at layouts from other adverts

This can then help inspire your own ad design

All you do?

• Go through swipe files of other ad designs
• Find a layout that you like that could fit your idea
• Sketch a version on paper

Easy right?

So lets dive in…

Swipe Some Design Examples…

I highly recommend you make your own swipe file

The easiest way?

Simply screenshot ads on your phone when you’re using Facebook…

Before long you’ll have a huge swipe file to use

(Just be sure to only ‘swipe’ those that stand out to you)

If you don’t have your own swipe file yet?

Go ahead and download Leadpages Facebook ads swipe file here

Want more examples?

Adespresso have a database of ads used in different industries

Click here to open it up in a new tab URL

You can search for ads in almost any industry

Go ahead and grab your pen and paper with your image ideas

Then search for News Feed images and see what comes up…

Sidenote:

You can change the search settings to get better results

I’ll usually search for:

1. Industry FIRST (To see whats out there in my field, and get broad ideas)
2. Then brand names of competitors/influencers
3. Then angles around my hook

This can help show some cool designs and help you get layout ideas

Keep going through until you find a layout that you think will work for your idea

For Example

I was looking for a product hero shot, and found this design…

When I saw this, it immediately stood out to me

I liked the layout, it had a before and after narrative, and it gave me an idea for my own ad

And so I used it to create one of my own ads…

Easy right?

By getting inspiration from this layout, it helped me design mine much easier

See how it works?

Now its your turn…

Go ahead now and look for an ad layout that you think can fit your own hero shot idea

Search for:

• Industry
• Brand
• Keyword ideas

Go through with one idea at a time, until a layout jumps out at you

Also?

Don’t be afraid to go outside your industry

You can usually find great examples in:

• Marketing
• Sports
• Health and fitness

Once you find a layout that you like, its time for some art class!

Sketch Your Own Version

Rough draft time

Grab your pen and paper and get sketching

Super Important:

All you need is a rough sketch

Don’t freak out on the quality!

Start by sketching the background layout first…

It doesn’t need to be pretty

Just mark out the background layout you want use, along with any colour’s ideas

(Notice how the background is quite simple, because the Hero shot is the main focus)

Once you’ve done that, sketch out the Hero shot idea and a rough CTA…

Easy right?

Now you’ve got a rough sketch to work from when you use the design tools

Before you sketch out the rest of your ideas, add some quick notes to your design

This way you won’t forget any key details

(Its also a great habit to have, if you want to outsource to a designer)…

I like to make notes on each key area…

• Any branding notes, ideas for contrasting colours, congruency notes etc
• What the Hero shot is ‘supposed’ to be
• Notes on position, size, colours and emotional context
• The call to action text
• Ideas for colours, fonts and cta location

Easy right?

Once you’ve finished sketching and adding notes, go through and sketch out a draft for each idea that you have

(This will then give you a heap of variations to create and test in the final chapter)

Once you have your sketches, its time to design them ready for Facebook…

Step #3: Design In Layers

The reason I showed you the stages to sketching, is because its the same process that we use when designing digitally

You’re going to create your ads in 3 parts

• The Background layout first
• Then add the Hero Shot
• Then add the CTA

You simply layer one on top of the other

Now I can’t give you a full run through of design-its just such a huge topic

The good news?

The tool we’re about to share is super easy to use AND they have a whole heap of guides on how to use it

Even better?

I’m going to walk you through step-by-step how I made this design…

All that really matters, is that you follow the 3 stage process when creating your own design

• Layout
• Hero shot
• CTA

Lets walk you through each layer…

Create The Background Layout

Go ahead and log into Canva here:

Canva is a free design tool

It’s like a drag and drop version of Photoshop, but much easier to use

The first thing to do is select your ad size

(News Feed ads are a specific size)

Search for the ‘Facebook ad’ option, or set the custom dimensions to 1200 x 628 pixels

Once you click on it, a new tab will open

It looks like this…

We’re going to work from the rough sketch

Again:

I know your design may be totally different to mine

Canva has a whole heap of tutorials on there to help you with your design

In the interest of helping you see how this works, I’m going to walk you through how I made my design

So I started with the background layout

It had:

1. The blurred version of WordPress on one side, and
2. A coloured corner of the ad to place the hero shot…

We’re going to layer on the elements from back to front

I’m going to add the WordPress image first, and THEN put on the coloured section

So first thing I need to do is go get my images to use…

I use a tool called ‘Snagit’

Its great for capturing images or recording videos

The best part?

You can capture the image you want to use, and then add it to you article in about 30 seconds later

If you’re used to the whole ?screenshot>Save file>photoshop>crop>save file etc this cuts down your content time like craaaaazzy)

Not only that, but its super easy to use

You simply highlight the area and copy it

Anyways…

I logged into my WordPress dashboard, and then captured the area I wanted to use…

Then once I had that image, I uploaded it to Canva

You simply click upload in the left hand menu

Then click the green upload button, find the image you want to use on your computer, and then you have it ready to use in Canva

Easy right?

Once the image is uploaded, select it and it’ll appear on the design section on the right…

In my image I wanted to blur out the background, but highlight one part of the text

Why blur it out?

Facebook only allows you to have so much text in an advert

By blurring it out, I could show the ad and it would intrigue those who know the WordPress dashboard

I went ahead and selected the filter option

Then I selected blur and blurred the background

The only issue?

The entire image is blurred now…

There’s an easy workaround

Simply add a 2nd, unblurred copy onto the design section

Then you can cut out the section we want to be readable

Easy right?

(This way we have an unblurred smaller section on top of the blurred out background)

Then you drag it into place…

Easy so far right?

That’s the first part of the layout complete

Now we need to add our colour block, to help us stand out in the news feed

We want to create a diagonal area across the right hand side of the image design, to match our sketch

To do this we simply click the elements section

This allows us to add shapes onto the design…

We then select the triangle option, and rotate it to suit

Then we can resize it to fill up the desired amount of area, and changed the colour setting to help it pop…

Easy right?

Your ad may be totally different, but can you see how easy it is to create using this tool?

Once you’ve finished your layout, its time to add the hero shot…

Add The Hero Shot

OK so its time to add the hero shot to your design

I’m going to walk you through a few options

• How to upload a hero shot that’s ready to use now
• How to remove the background of a hero shot, so that you can use it
• How to find a hero shot to use (If you don’t have one at all)

Lets walk through each of them…

How To Add A Hero Shot That’s Ready To Use

Real simple

If you already have an image to use (and has no background that needs removing) then simply upload it to Canva

Then?

Just drag it onto the design section to use it…

Easy right?

But what if the image has a background that you need to remove?…

How To Remove A Previous Background From A Hero Shot Image

In this example, we couldn’t use the image yet

Why?

Because the black background would cover the layout that we’ve already created…

So what can you do?

Its actually quite easy to fix

Go ahead and load up the image in Snagit…

Then you simply:

• Select the background area with the magic wand tool,
• Adjust the tolerance so that it doesn’t delete the hero shot section
• Delete the background
• Save as a .png file

Easy right?

Once you’re removed the background, go ahead and save the file

Then upload the edited image to Canva, so its ready to use

So that’s the first 2 methods

But what if you have a hero shot idea, but still need an image?

Well there’s a few thing you can do

Either:

• Find an icon in Canva
• Find a photo in Canva (And remove background)
• Find a png photo in Google (and remove the background if needed, and upload to Canva to use)

Lets walk you through each of them real quick…

Find An Icon Or Photo In Canva To Use

Head across to the left hand menu and click on the ‘elements’ button

Then simply search for your hero shot idea

(You can specify either icon or photo, and the options will load up)

In my example I wanted to show my article loaded up on a phone

And so I searched for phones…

Simply find the icon you want to use, and then drag it across to the image

The cool thing about this icon?

You can overlay an image inside the green ‘landscape’ part of the phone

I can drag my article image across, and it’ll cut it to fit inside

Like so…

Pretty cool right?

I just took a screenshot of my article with Snagit, and uploaded it to use

Then you drag and drop it into place, and Canva will trim it to fit

SideNote:

Some icons and photos will cost money to use

Here’s a top tip to save you cash

I’ll often reuse icons that I use in ads, again in my article header etc

(This way my design can be congruent from ad to page)

But…

If you wanted to create multiple designs with the same icon, Canva would charge you for each time you used it

So the solution?

• Open up blank ‘new page’ in Canva
• Add the paid icon to the blank page
• Download and pay for it
• Remove the background and save as a png

Why bother?

Because now you can upload and use it again and again, but only pay for it that first time 😉

So what if you can’t find a photo inside Canva that you want to use?

Easy…

Find Photos And Icons In Google

Super simple

Just search for your hero idea in Google, along with the word ‘.png’

This will then load up .png images that you can use…

Save the image, load it in Snagit and remove the background

Then upload it to Canva to use

You can even do the same and find icons instead

Simply search for your hero idea + ‘illustrated’ + ‘.png’

This will bring up icon versions instead…

Why do this?

It depends on your brand tone

I tend to use icons for my articles and ads, so it gives a similar aesthetic each time

So that’s your hero shot added

All that’s left to do now, is just add your Call To Action…

Add The Call To Action

Now you need to add text to your image

It needs to:

• Ask them to take an action
• Tell them how to take the action

Its as simple as that…

Want to jazz it up a little bit?

You can try:

• Adding 2 colours to the text
• Adding different fonts
• Adding different font sizes and line thicknesses

Don’t go crazy though

For Example:

Here is one of my own adverts, with its CTA

Its not a perfect ad design, but its working AND its profitable

Lets quickly walk you through how to create your own CTA

Hook Them In With What They Want

Head across to the ‘text’ section in the left hand menu of Canva

You have 2 options:

• Use the text templates, or
• Add your own text and edit to make snazzy

If you want to use the templates, simply scroll down the text options until you find one you want to use…

Then just drag it across to your design, and edit the text

If you don’t find a design you like?

Then scroll back up the text options to the Heading and subheading sections

This allows you to then add a single line of text on your design…

Go ahead and use the heading, sub head and body text to write your call to action

Simply click to add it to your design

Then you can adjust the size, thickness and font type of your CTA

If you want to make it stand out, you can adjust the colour of the text also…

Highlight the text you want to change

Then choose the colour in the top menu

Easy right?

OK so the final part (And possibly the most important)

Give Them An Action To Take

Its not enough to ask them if they want the thing

You HAVE to tell them how to get the thing and WHAT to do

No joke:

You’ll see a major lift in actions taken

Notice in the image below, we added a simple banner and TOLD THEM what to do…

Easy right?

(We could have improved it by saying ‘CLICK HERE’ instead)

So here’s how you add your own action

Go onto the left hand menu

You can search for an icon that you want to use- maybe a banner or a button…

Then you simply:

• Drag it across into position,
• Change the size and colour
• and add the text to tell them what to do

Easy right?

That’s your design done!

There’s just one more thing to check before you can use it…

Check Deliverability

You need to check that your ad will run

Why?

Well back in the day, Facebook wouldn’t show your advert if it had too much text on it

Nowadays they ‘will’ show it… but with a catch

If there’s too much text they will either show it less often OR charge you more for people to see it

Not cool right?

Fortunately you can test it first

Go ahead and download your ad design from Canva…

• Click the download button in the top menu
• Select png
• Then click the green download button

Your file will save to your downloads folder on your computer

Then head across to the FB text overlay checker HERE

Click the blue button and upload your new image

Facebook will then analyze the text in your ad, and let you know how it performs…

Your goal is to get the green tick with the ‘image text ok’

If you get any of the other options?

Then simply resize the text in your ad to make it smaller…

To Do Now:

Boom

That’s your ad image complete!

As long as you hit those 3 elements, then you’ll have a winning ad

Before you move ahead to the next chapter, remember that you DO NEED to create an image for each need of your audience

This way you can test and find a winning variation later on

(If time is short, I recommend making just 4 images for now)

Failing that?

You can hire a designer to make them for you…

Bonus Step: How To Hire An Ad Designer

Maybe you want to outsource the ad design?

Great news

Simply follow this guide until you get to step #3

By then you have:

• Your research done,
• Your ads inspiration (those you like the layout of)
• And your rough sketches with style notes and colours etc

At this point, you are in the perfect position to reach out to a designer to complete your design

Simply head across to a company like Design Pickle…

Design Pickle are ‘as you need’ design company

You pay a set monthly fee, and can get unlimited designs during that month

(Along with unlimited requests for tweaks and variations!)

Its real easy to work with them

Simply click the green button to sign up, and then create your account…

Once you’ve done that, a new page will load up

All you need to do?

• Give them the design information that you have so far
• Attach the files and sketches with notes and what files you need (Either jpeg or png)
• And then interact back and forth until you get the designs that you want!

Easy right?

The biggest thing when working with designers?

Make sure you give them as much information as possible

The less vague, the more likely you are to get what you want

Be sure to interact back and forth

Don’t leave it until the day you need to go live, before you check in on any changes etc

Easy right?

So that’s you masterclass in ad design

Once you’ve got them made?

Well then its time to set up some tracking for your ads…

This way you’ll know exactly how your ads are performing, and if they are profitable- right from day one

The best part?

It only takes around 5 minutes to do…