Poster Design Fundamentals


The poster has been around for about as long as people have had something to announce, and it shows no sign of going away. Why is this, when one might have expected video ads and billboards to take over our public signage? One answer is that a well-executed two-dimensional design still has the power to entrance us.

Figure 6.2. Urban construction projects generally prohibit posters. Soon after the hoardings go up, posters appear anyway..


Posters are all about economy of expressionusing a minimum of information to get a lot across. Sometimes poster designers are asked to whittle down information and translate it into a visual form; at other times, to create a compelling message with typography alone. Finally, designers are sometimes asked to find a way to organize a daunting mass of details and make it accessible.

A designer's choice of image can clearly make or break a poster. The function of an image is to simplify the messageto avoid having to present part of the message in a more complicated way, through lines of text. Images most often represent what a product is, who's providing it, or whom it's for. They are a shorthand explanation for something that's hard to describe, like "providing working-class people with loans to buy a house they couldn't otherwise afford."

Figure 6.3. How do you communicate the names of dozens of performers and composers without information overload? Make them into an attractive piece of art! In this poster for Lincoln Center, the clever use of type works with the photo as a single image to draw viewers in and get them to read more.


A poster designer must also have a strong grasp of typography. It may come as a surprise that typography is so important when text on a poster is used so sparingly (compared with, say, a product package or a magazine spread). But it's an unwritten rule of design that the fewer elements you use, the more carefully you need to use them. Oftentimes the goal of a poster is to communicate a specific text message: "U2 concert on Friday the 12th," or, "Entrance closed for repairs." The designer's choice of typeface, text layout, and balance between text and images will all determine whether this message is actually read and remembered.

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A poster's "stickiness" is just as important as its initial impact. Viewers may see a poster for mere seconds, but some aspect of the poster must leave a lasting impression.


Finally, keep in mind that the poster composition itself must intrigue us to attract our attention. Even the simplest images and wording can get lost in an ineffective composition. How do you create a strong design, direct the viewer to the most important elements first, and make the whole thing memorable? It all comes down to composition, so we'll look at a variety of classic approaches in this chapter.




Sessions. edu Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder(c) Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
ISBN: 0321336585
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 103
Authors: Sessions.edu

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