Services · Web Design · Graphic Design
Graphic Design for Medical Practices
Print ads, billboards and digital ads for independent practices, from the idea and the headline to the finished design, by the person who builds their website. Since 2021 I’ve designed more than 140 of them.
140+
Ads designed since 2021
35+
Publications and venues
20+
Digital ad campaigns
2011
Designing since
The work
Ads that look like the practice behind them.
The ads on this page were designed for a dermatology practice and its med spa. I design and look after their websites too, so every ad starts from the photos, colors and voice patients already know from the site.
They’ve run in magazines, newspapers, theater programs and school sponsorships, and on billboards and screens. On many of them I also came up with the idea and wrote the words.
These are some of my favorites. Click any ad to see it full size.
My style, and why it works
One photo, one idea, room to breathe.
Meet People Where They Are
Most people aren’t looking at ads. They’re turning a page, driving to work or scrolling on their phone, and an ad gets a second or two of their attention, if it gets any. In that second, a crowded ad loses. People are drawn to what is clear and striking, and they skip anything that looks like work to read.
“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!”
Henry David Thoreau
Most of my ads come down to one strong photograph, one clear headline and the practice’s logo, with plenty of open space around them. I look for photos with negative space, a stretch of sky or sea or a plain wall, so the headline has somewhere to sit. The type is large but light, and nothing on the page competes for attention. The reviews, the phone number and how to book sit together in one tidy block, so the next step is easy to find.
Start With Something People Already Know
The fastest way to get someone to stop is to show them something they already recognize, like a famous movie poster or a line from the moon landing. People get it in a second, and then they read the rest. The two ads below show how that works.
Clarity Over Clutter
It’s the same thinking behind the websites I build: decide what matters most, make it the first thing people see, and take away whatever gets in its way.
- 1One headline, large and light
- 2Open space, so the words can breathe
- 3One photo, one person
- 4The logo, with room of its own
- 5How to book, small and together
Favorites
Two ads, and the ideas behind them.
A good ad starts with an idea that fits where it will run and who will see it there. These two show how that works.
Asolo Rep opening night program, 2021
Opening Night
This ad ran in the opening night program at the Asolo Rep, a theater in Sarasota, Florida, so the people reading it were already in their seats, waiting for the curtain to go up.
The idea came from the poster for La La Land, a movie most of that audience knew well: a purple night sky full of stars, figures in silhouette on a hill, and real five-star patient reviews set out the way a movie poster quotes the critics. It reads like part of the evening, and it still tells people where to book.
Sarasota Scene, 2023
One Giant Leap
This ad announced the practice’s first office in Venice with a line nearly everyone knows. The small step is a new office. The giant leap is skilled dermatology close to home for Venice, Englewood and North Port.
Many people in Venice watched the moon landing when they were young and still remember that night, so the line carried a warm, familiar feeling for exactly the people the new office needed to reach.
Every kind of ad
A different design for every place an ad runs.
Each kind of ad is read differently. A magazine reader, a driver and someone scrolling on a phone each give an ad a different amount of time, so each kind is designed for the way it will be seen.
Magazine ads
Full pages and spreads in regional and lifestyle magazines.
Digital campaigns
Display ad sets for Google, Facebook and news websites.
Newspaper ads
Full pages, half pages and campaigns in local papers.
School sponsorships
Field banners, car-line banners and ads in school magazines.
Theater and arts programs
Full pages in theater, opera and orchestra programs.
Guides and directories
Newcomers guides, physician guides and best-of directories.
Billboards
Printed and digital boards, read in a few seconds from the road.
Direct mail
Postcards for openings, new offices and events.
Along with the ads, I design the print a practice uses every day: rack cards, office signs, flyers and patient handouts.
Billboards
One message, read at highway speed.
A driver gets a few seconds, so a billboard carries one message in big type, with strong contrast and the logo where the eye lands.
I design the boards, build the files to the billboard company’s specs, and redesign them when the message changes.
Digital billboard, 2022. “Lifeline for Your Skin”
Billboard, 2025. “Care That Feels Like Home”
Digital ads
Digital ads that read at every size.
A display campaign runs in five or more sizes at once: a wide banner across the top of a news site, a square inside an article, a tall ad in the sidebar and a thin strip at the bottom of a phone. Each size gets its own layout, so the message and the logo still read at 320 pixels wide.
I design them for Google display ads, Facebook and news websites. Here are two, shown the way patients saw them.
Our Focus Is YouGoogle display ads, 2023. Five sizes from one design.
Celebrating 20 YearsGoogle display ads, 2023. The practice’s 20th anniversary.
Photo editing
From a 1970s snapshot to a skin check ad.
This Sarasota Magazine ad needed a photo of the summers people remember, since a skin check today can catch what those summers left behind. I found a real 1970s beach snapshot with the right woman in it, and then changed nearly everything around her.
I took out the other beachgoers, the umbrellas and most of the hotel, opened up the ocean behind her and moved her to the right to make room for the headline. The faded color stayed, so the photo still looks like it came out of a family album.
Beyond ads
Logos and medical graphics.
Some design work for practices has nothing to do with ads. Two examples: a pharmacy’s logo, and graphics that explain procedures to patients.
Logo · Compounding pharmacy
Medrock Pharmacy
Ash Ahmed, the pharmacist who founded Medrock, asked for the logo first and the website built around it. The idea for the shapes was his: melanin’s six- and five-sided rings, set in a grey mortar in purple and maroon.
“He created a logo that was both creative and elegant, with typography that brought that same elegance to our website.”
Ash Ahmed, R.Ph., MBA · Founder and Owner, Medrock Pharmacy
Medical graphics · Radiology
Florida Radiology Consultants
For this radiology group, I turned real X-rays from its own cases into annotated graphics, with arrows and labels that show a patient what a procedure does. There are more than 70 of them, each made with one of the group’s physicians for its interventional radiology procedure pages.
One designer
Ads designed with your website.
Patients rarely meet a practice in one place. They pass the billboard on the drive home, see the magazine ad in a waiting room and look up the practice on their phone that night. When every piece matches, each one reminds them who you are, and the website is where they book.
Same look, everywhere
An ad starts from what is already on your website: the colors, the type, the logo files and the photos of your own providers and offices.
The words, too
I often write the headline and the copy too, in the same voice as your homepage. You explain your practice once, and I take it from there.
Ads that point somewhere
An ad can send people to a page made for it, through a short web address or a QR code. The visits show which ads bring people in.
A few common questions
How the design work runs.
The questions practices ask most about ads and print. If yours isn’t here, ask it on the contact page.
What kinds of ads do you design?
Magazine and newspaper ads, theater and arts program ads, directory and newcomers guide ads, school and sports sponsorships, printed and digital billboards, direct mail postcards, email blasts, movie theater screens, and display ads for Google, Facebook and news websites.
I also design the print a practice uses every day: rack cards for each provider, office signs, flyers and patient handouts.
What experience do you have with ad design?
I’ve designed ads for medical practices since 2021: magazine and newspaper ads, theater programs, directories, school sponsorships, billboards, direct mail and digital campaigns. I’ve been designing websites since 2011, so I can design your ads and your website together.
What is your design style?
Simple, clear and bright. Most of my ads come down to one strong photograph, one clear headline and the practice’s logo, with plenty of open space around them, because people give an ad a second or two and it has to read at a glance. My style explains why.
Do you write the ad copy too?
Yes, often. On many of my ads I came up with the idea and wrote the headline and the copy as well as designing the page. If you already have the words, I design around them. If you don’t, I write them in the same voice as your website, and you approve them before anything goes to print.
Why use the same person for my website and my ads?
Every piece then looks like the same practice. Patients pass the billboard, see the magazine ad and then look you up on their phone. When one person designs all of it, the colors, fonts, photos and wording carry over without files and instructions passing between people.
It also saves you time. A new ad starts from the work already done on your site, so there is less to explain and less to approve. And when an ad needs a page of its own, I can build that page on your website too.
Can you work with my existing logo and brand?
Yes. Most practices already have a logo and colors, and I keep to them exactly, so a new ad looks like it came from the same place as everything else you’ve put out.
Do you design digital ads?
Yes. I design display ads for Google, Facebook, news and magazine websites, and screens. A campaign usually runs in five or more sizes, and each size gets its own layout so the message and the logo read in every one, down to a thin strip at the bottom of a phone screen. Send me the list of sizes your ad network or publisher wants, and you get each one ready to upload.
Do you design billboards?
Yes, both printed and digital. A billboard gets one idea, a few big words, strong contrast and the logo, because a driver has a few seconds. I build the file to the billboard company’s specs and redesign the board when the message changes.
I’ve booked an ad. What do you need from me?
The publication’s spec sheet, which lists the ad’s size and file requirements, the date the file is due, and what you want the ad to say. If you have a photo in mind, send it. If you don’t, I can find one or use photos of your own team and offices. If I built your website, I already have your logo, colors and photos.
How quickly can you turn an ad around?
It depends on the piece and on when the file is due, so tell me the deadline when you send the request. I read every request myself and usually reply the same day.
Do you handle the printing?
I build each file to the publication’s or the printer’s specs, and I can send it straight to your ad rep or your printer. You book and pay for the ad space or the print order yourself, so you always know what you’re paying for.
Can you tell whether an ad is working?
Yes, when the ad sends people online. I add a QR code or a short web address that leads to a page made for that ad, and each visit shows up in Google Analytics, so you can see which ads bring people in.
Do you design logos?
Yes, usually as part of a website project, where the logo and the site are planned together, as with Medrock Pharmacy. The colors and type that come with the logo then set the look for everything after it.
What does ad design cost?
It depends on the piece and how many sizes it needs, so I don’t publish prices. We talk budget openly before any work starts, so you know early whether we’re in the same range.
Get in touch
Let’s talk about your next ad.
Tell me what you need designed, where it will run and when it’s due, and we’ll both get a sense of whether we’re the right match.