Every ad that works runs on a mechanism. Here are all 53.
Collecting ads that look good and knowing why they work are two different things. The Visual Genome maps the mechanism under every scroll-stopping ad, classified like a living thing: operation, domain, technique, execution. Then it does the part a mood board never does: it turns your brief into five shots for your business, scored and checked against your category's ad rules.
The map
Tap any technique to see what it is, why it works on the brain, and the shot it becomes for your business. Filter by the job you need the ad to do.
On a phone the map shows the structure; use the list below to read every technique.
Translate your brief into five shots
The question every brief asks: how do you turn the big idea into a picture? Tell it your business, what the ad has to do and where your buyer is. It ranks all 53 techniques for fit, keeps out what your category can't run, and writes each shot for you. It runs in your browser and sends nothing.
The five operations
Every technique serves one of five jobs. The first four come from decades of perception research, from Gestalt psychology to semiotics. The fifth is ours, because an ad is not finished when it is noticed.
- Differentiate · Stop the scroll. Make one thing win the eye before anything else on the screen.
- Group · Make it one simple thing. Make many parts read as one clear offer, set or system.
- Sequence · Walk them through it. Control the order the eye travels, so the story lands in the right order.
- Infer · Make it stick. Leave a gap the viewer closes themselves. The idea they finish is the one they remember.
- Compel · Make them act. Turn attention into one move: a text, a booking, a reply. The tier most taxonomies leave out.
The original vs. ours
The idea came from an art-direction teacher building a taxonomy of visuals for his students, a radial map of techniques linked to famous references. It is a smart way to think. Here is what changes when it is built to sell for a business instead of to inspire a designer.
| The original | The Visual Genome |
|---|---|
| A library of famous references you browse | A translator that writes five shots for your business, offer and buyer |
| Four operations of perception | Five. Adds Compel, the step from attention to a text or booking |
| Private beta for bootcamp students | Free and public, running right here in your browser |
| Taste decides which reference to use | Fit score for your goal, your buyer's awareness and your format |
| No ad rules | Category rules built in. Before/after and body claims kept out for health and beauty |
| Shows what great work looks like | Shows what wins in your niche: we tag competitors' top posts by technique |
What you get when we run it for you
What wins where you scroll
We tag the top posts in your niche by technique, so your ads start from the mechanisms already beating your competitors.
Five shots, in your brand
The best-fit techniques become finished ads in your colors and type, with your real photos and reviews, never borrowed images.
Checked before it posts
Category ad rules, true claims only, and a text-to-start button on every one, so attention turns into conversations.
Questions
What is the Visual Genome?
A map of the mechanisms that make an ad work, organised the way biologists classify animals: five operations (what the image does to the viewer's mind), nine domains (where it happens: color, space, meaning, people and so on), 53 techniques, and an execution, which is the actual shot for your business.
How is a technique different from a style?
A style is what an image looks like: minimal, retro, Y2K. A technique is why it works: one element different from the rest, a person looking at your offer, a familiar shape swapped for your product. Styles go out of fashion every month. The techniques underneath them have worked for decades, because they follow how people actually see.
Why is there a fifth operation called Compel?
Most visual frameworks stop at attention and meaning, which is enough for a magazine cover. An ad has one more job: getting someone to text, book or reply. Compel collects the techniques that turn attention into that move, like a real person speaking straight to camera, a real review as the hero, or a one-word text shown on screen.
Why are some techniques kept out for my category?
Ad platforms restrict before-and-after images and anything that implies something about the viewer's body for health, beauty and wellness ads. The translator knows those rules per category and leaves those techniques out, so the ideas you get can actually run.
Can you tell which techniques my competitors' best posts use?
Yes. We classify the top-performing posts in your niche against the same 53 techniques and rank which mechanisms the winners lean on, so your ads start from what is already proven to work where your customers scroll.
Do I have to make the ads myself?
No. Text Rudy one line about your business. We pick the techniques, make the ads in your brand, and run them for you.
Want ads built on the mechanisms that win in your niche?
Tell us what you sell. We'll find the techniques your competitors' best posts use, make five ads in your brand, and run them. Text Rudy one line. No form.
Text Rudy about this