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Quick answers
When should I pick Ads & creative?
When the story is: retail offers, app installs, event posters, thumb-stopping crops.
When should I avoid Ads & creative?
Skip it in cases like: the claim needs a full chart — link out, don’t cram a dashboard in a banner.
Who invented or popularised it?
Print lockups from 19th-c. posters; IAB display sizes; today’s social safe zones
What does it encode?
hierarchy of shout: product, offer, proof, action
Is it OK in ads?
Yes if one claim is visible at a glance in Meta, Google and retail print; otherwise link to a full figure.
Will a teacher accept it?
Yes for lab reports and poster boards if axes, units and a source line are present.
Ads & creative encodes values as hierarchy of shout: product, offer, proof, action. Print lockups from 19th-c. posters; IAB display sizes; today’s social safe zones.
In reports, ads and assignments it fits retail offers, app installs, event posters, thumb-stopping crops. Skip it when the claim needs a full chart — link out, don’t cram a dashboard in a banner.
Rules
- Rules 1 — Use hierarchy of shout: product, offer, proof, action as one channel, not two.
- Rules 2 — Direct labels beat a distant legend.
- Rules 3 — Do not hide zero. If you break the axis, say so.
- Rules 4 — Colour encodes category or magnitude, not both.
- Rules 5 — Put the claim in the title, not just "Ads & creative".
- Rules 6 — Source and period, even in small type.
Palette
- Palette 1 — Categories: distinct hues. Sequences: one hue, changing value.
- Palette 2 — Diverging: a neutral centre, emphasis at both ends.
- Palette 3 — One brand colour plus greys beats a rainbow.
- Palette 4 — Check contrast on a projector and in greyscale print.
Type
- Type 1 — Tabular figures for numbers. Do not pour body copy into the chart.
- Type 2 — Titles as sentences; axes as short nouns.
- Type 3 — For CJK, drop weight one step and leave tracking.
Ads & creative: honour hierarchy of shout: product, offer, proof, action, and switch when the claim needs a full chart — link out, don’t cram a dashboard in a banner.