Designing Breakthrough Advertisements: Basics to Begin will teach you the skills to make breakthrough advertisements. In this course you will learn how to approach writing headlines and commercial scripts. We'll explore how to direct art and conquer page layouts. And we'll cover typefaces and visuals, so that you know how and when to employ them. All with the singular goal of crafting pieces of communication that will get your potential customers engaged and more likely to respond to your message.
Designing Breakthrough Advertisements: Basics to Begin
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Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Beginner level
Recommended experience
25 hours to complete
3 weeks at 8 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
What you'll learn
Create more attention-getting advertisements to break through the clutter and stand out from the competition.
Master the techniques to become a better copywriter to craft more impactful headlines, body copy, and video scripts.
Design and think like an art director by applying and influencing typefaces, visuals, and the layouts of advertisements.
Appeal to customers by understanding their needs and tailoring the messages in advertisements.
Details to know
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Recently updated!
March 2025
Assessments
17 assignments
Taught in English
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There are 5 modules in this course
You can think of advertising as the world’s 8th oldest profession, give or take. Humans have been creating advertisements since before we could read and write. How can something so old still be effective? We’ll look at the characterizes of effective advertisements and ineffective ones. We’ll look at the different kinds of advertisements and learn the strategies to make the right choice for communication you want to create. Most importantly, we’ll get you looking at advertisements not through the eyes of a consumer, but rather, through the eyes of designer. You don’t have to start from scratch, you can stand on the shoulders of techniques and practices that have worked in the past to make your advertisements work harder for you.
What's included
10 videos3 readings4 assignments
What is Copywriting? What do copywriters do? What makes a good headline? What makes good body copy? What’s involved with writing a script? Even if you never written that much before, you can be sure that you’ll be improved after this module. You'll get specific tips to make your advertising copy more readable, muscular and memorable.
What's included
11 videos5 readings5 assignments1 discussion prompt
The partner and companion to copywriting is art direction. After all, the majority of advertisements and commercials are works of communication designed to be seen. How does one approach the visual design of an advertisement? What are things to think about? What are the watch-outs to avoid? . If want to get more visually creative with the look of your advertisements, this is the module for you.
What's included
10 videos4 readings4 assignments2 discussion prompts
Visuals appear in the majority of advertisements. How do you find them? What can you use? How should you think about them? It's everything you wanted to know about find, using, and improving the visuals you use in your advertisements.
What's included
7 videos3 readings4 assignments
The Final Challenge: Imagine, Design, and Publish Your First Breakthrough Advertisement
What's included
1 video1 reading1 discussion prompt
Instructor
Offered by
Recommended if you're interested in Marketing
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Maryland, College Park
Coursera Project Network
Coursera Project Network
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