The Exploration of Puzzle Design in Advertising Images

Abstract

Consumers often tend to ignore or avoid excessive textual information in advertisements. Curiosity is the primal human drive that enables consumers to actively seek out and engage with information. This study aimed to clarify the content creation and form design of intriguing puzzle images and analyze the design trends of 118 print advertising images from The One Show Awards from 2017 to 2023. The results showed the following. First, puzzle content creation is divided into the number of clues, product illustrations, and realism of the scenarios. Second, the missing form design is divided into non-closure, figure-ground, proximity, and similarity. Third, trend analysis reveals that most puzzle content creation uses two or fewer clues, direct product illustrations, and realistic scenarios. In terms of missing form design, most cases apply the non-closure design.

Keywords: advertising image, puzzle design module

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004970