Words and Images: Nike

Courtesy of nike.com

     In this recent Nike Ad, the image does a fantastic job of using word and images to boost the brand's public perception. Here, the brand is honing in on a specific demographic: athletic women. Nike aims to use words and images to associate the brand with relatable female empowerment more than an unrealistic standard of female beauty. The whole design of the ad just screams strong, defiant, energetic, empowered, beautiful, feminine, and yet is very relatable.
    The diagonal angles of the sentences and words add energetic rhythm to the composition, just like the energetic and athletic woman they portray in the ad. The continuation between the end of one diagonal sentence the beginning of another makes a punchy, angular zig-zag trail down the ad, the non-traditional way of arranging words reflecting this image of an obviously independent-minded woman who refuses to measure herself by other standards of beauty.
    The differences in sizes and colors of lettering also add emphasis to the sentences "I have thunder thighs" and "Just do it." Both are in pink, and "I have thunder thighs" is in the biggest lettering, standing out, just like the thighs of the woman in the ad. All the words are in a traditional serif font, made very non-traditional by being in all caps, and tilted at angles. This makes the font look very assertive and unyielding, just like the thighs of the woman in the ad. The words look almost masculine except for the sentences in pink, but still associates femininity with strength. That quality expressed in words is also represented in images: first of all, the kind of female body that is represented here isn't the typical rail thin model type, but a more every day body type or the kind of body type that that the average Nike customer would see at the gym. The splashes of in-your-face pink and purple in the background and text juxtapose well with the feminine curve of the woman's hip right and then the hard muscle of her thighs. Both words and images, through their visual representations of both boldness and beauty work together to express how strength and empowerment and can still be considered feminine and beautiful. That being said, it implies that through Nike, this everyday woman became stronger, more confident and empowered.
    It seems that more often, the most effective design in advertising is one that communicates directly to the everyday experiences of how that product will fit into our lives, using words and images to communicate that. In this case, words an images express the same thing, complimenting each other by expressing the same strong message in their different mediums.