Some advice about banner design (I).
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As the Webmaster of a site which places third-party banner ads, I can attest the success of some particular designs and the failure of others. I am not a designer but a systems analyst, therefore, my insights into this matter are concentrated simply on what works and what does not.
In the first place, there are two different kinds of possible uses that one should consider regarding banners:
1)- Branding: in this case, banners are placed not with the intention of provoking an immediate click, but in order to produce a memory. Most important in this regard seems to be that the banner shows a name, web address or short description.
Such designs have to be catchy and informative in the sense that web surfers associate the image with the brand in question. Phrases such as 'Click here' are not really useful in branding banners.
Colours and designs which work best are those proper of the brand. That is, if your company's colour is purple, then you should paint your banner the same, because the idea is to generate a certain level of awareness about the brand.
Suppose that an airline would like to start such a branding effort: can you imagine it's logo in different colours? Certainly, you would remember American Airlines or Lufthansa not only by their names, but also by their colours. Therefore, if Lufthansa creates a banner, it will most likely be yellow, or blue, but they would hardly use a green or brown banner for branding, even if these colours were able to produce more clicks by themselves.
