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Designing Posters

A poster is an attention-grabbing device to stimulate interest in an event, activity or service. The most successful deliver messages directly and powerfully through visual impact, and an intriguing message or interesting colours. A golden rule is simplicity – in words and images used.

Before you start your design, be clear about who you are wanting to respond to the poster and what it is you want them to do.

Three main ingredients;

• Impact – getting their attention,

• Illustration – getting them to take an interest,

• Information – getting them to react positively e.g. to book a ticket, support a campaign

Impact

Bold or interesting graphics, diagram, picture or typefaces can make your poster stand out from the crowd. Size, quantity and colour can be varied according to what you are trying to say (and where you can say it – a library, shops or health centre may restrict you to an A4 size).

List all the locations you feel are appropriate for your poster, then pick up a local business directory and double the number of locations you place the information in.

Find places where you can put up a supersize poster – or pin up multiple copies of the same poster – a message worth giving is always worth hearing more than once.

Consider smaller size posters for the doorways of shops and other areas the public visit. If your poster lends itself to it, ask a local retailer or building society or similar to use it as a stimulus for a window display.

Headlines or slogan must make an impact and encourage people to read the rest of the poster. Use a bolder, larger type. Test out how far away you can read it. Ideally your headline should be visible from a distance of 10 to 15 times the width of paper. For example A4 paper is 21cm wide, so you should be able to read the headline from 2 to 3 metres away.

Illustration & Layout

Be very aware about what catches your eye – be ready to be a magpie to borrow or lift ideas. It could be that a Sunday magazine advert for a Sofa could provide you with just the right layout, design and typeface to promote your table top sale.

With pictures, graphics or photos use an image that is attractive, bright, breezy, cute, arresting and underlines the message you are trying to get across. You can even use just typefaces and words to get your message across, if presented well.
Colour that reflects the event or activity you are promoting can be very effective – brash and bold to stimulate, pastels and panache to entice.

It doesn't matter if your poster is printed or homemade, it should make an impact from a distance. Be careful where you place illustrations - the eye tends to go to pictures before text.

If you are using colour in your posters or flyers think about how you are going to make copies. If some are to be photocopied in black and white some colours and shading don't reproduce clearly.

A good source for finding illustration ideas is to use Google, choose the Images option next to Web, and type in the search box your subject matter. This immediately gives access to lots and lots of images that can give you ideas and approaches. Refine your search to narrow the options.

Clip Art is used by many – the standard ones on the PC tend to be over-used and familiarity breeds contempt – but there are low cost disks that can give you a wide range of options. Even better is to use magazines and other printed sources and then scan in the image to your computer.

Copyright for all these need to be considered (Clip Art is usually free) – and certainly before major use, permission should be sought. Many local newspapers would give permission for low level use of photos if you credit them as a source.

Information

Essential information for your poster should include:

Don't use too many words in the main text. Overcrowding your poster will put people off, and make sure you include your logo and organisation name on the poster.

How to design the poster

For either handmade or PC produced Posters:

• Pencil sketch the whole thing out in rough, and try different versions

• Get all the elements of the design and cut them out

• Play around with the pieces until you are happy with them. Does the spacing look right to your eye? Is the text central enough? Is the text square or does it look better tilted one way or the other? If text looks too heavy – edit it, or run it out in a lighter or smaller typeface. Don't be scared of white space. A cramped design will confuse your readers

• Stick your design in place!

Choosing the style of text / typeface

Use CAPITAL LETTERS for emphasis only as it takes longer to read. Play around with different fonts, size of the type, bold, italics, underlined. Italics are tiring for the eye when used in large doses, and underlining can make text difficult to read.

Look at using shadow, outline, and reverse (e.g. white text on black background). Don't use too many different typefaces or fonts on your poster. It's better to stick to one font and to vary the size of the type. If you have Microsoft Word – go and experiment with WordArt – especially for headlines.

Finally….

• When your poster is finished, get several people to proof read it before it goes to print.

• Think about using coloured paper to print on, especially strong colours

• Put your poster up and look at it from a distance - does it stand out?

• Think about whether to laminate the poster. This is especially important if posters are being placed outside. No one will stop to read a tatty or torn poster.

• Think about producing some more promotional material using the same design, e.g. some flyers

Watch Out!

Fly posting is illegal. Under the new Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act 2005 (introduced in April 2006) councils will be able to issue Fixed Penalty Notices on benefactors (people / organisations mentioned on the poster) as well as people putting up the notices.

Technically you shouldn't put posters up on the roadside, but in practice you are unlikely to get them removed if the sign doesn't cause a distraction (e.g. at a busy junction or accident blackspot), and it doesn't interfere with visibility.

If you do make signs for the side of the road only put them up close to the event, and make sure you remove them afterwards.

The official advice is to get the AA to produce signs for your event or to ask a friendly landowner if you can put a big sign up in the field next to the road.

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