Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
LessMore
Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
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.
Mistakes
- Failure modes 1 — the claim needs a full chart — link out, don’t cram a dashboard in a banner
- Failure modes 2 — 3-D pies and perspective bars
- Failure modes 3 — Dual axes that fake a correlation
- Failure modes 4 — Truncated axes that shout a small delta
- Failure modes 5 — Legend only, no direct labels
- Failure modes 6 — Missing source, unit or period
Fixes
- Fixes 1 — Return to retail offers, app installs, event posters, thumb-stopping crops.
- Fixes 2 — Flat, one axis, direct labels.
- Fixes 3 — Color-blind-safe palette plus pattern.
- Fixes 4 — Rewrite the title as a claim and add a source line.
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.