CREATING AN EFFECTIVE

POSTER

DESIGN

POSTER GRAPHICS AND P I C T U R E S HEADLINES& SUBHEADINGS POSTER COPY

BALANCE VISUAL BALANCE C O M E S F R O M A R R A N G I N G ELEMENTS ON T H E P A G E

SO THAT NO ONE S E C T I O N O F T H E L AY O U T I S HEAVIER THAN T H E O T H E R

P R O X I M I T Y

&

U N I T Y

HOW CLOSE TOGETHER OR FAR APART ELEMENTS ARE PLACED SUGGESTS A RELATIONSHIP (OR LACK OF) BETWEEN OTHERWISE SEPARATE PARTS. UNITY IS ALSO ACHIEVED BY USING A THIRD ELEMENT TO CONNECT DISTANT PARTS.

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HO EA W Y SIE OU R AL OR IG MO N TY RE PE DI AN FF D IC GR UL AP T T HI O CS RE O AD N A , F PA OS GE TE A R ND FA MI IN R L I A EL RI ATIO TY , O N TO R BR EAC IN H G EX OTHE CI R TE CA ME N N T MA T O KE A YOU ST AL R LA E D YO ES UT IG N

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always use guides and rulers when creating your layout your layout is more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read when properly aligned

REPETITION

CONSISTENCY

WHAT IF TRAFFIC LIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE STATE FLASHED DIFFERENT COLORS DEPENDING ON WHICH TOWN YOU WERE IN. IT WOULD GET AWFULLY CONFUSING AND DOWN RIGHT DANGEROUS. THE SAME CONCEPT CAN BE APPLIED TO YOUR POSTER DESIGN.

IN YOUR LAYOUT YOU WANT TO BE SURE TO USE THE SAME FONTS, COLORS, AND IMAGES/DESIGN ELEMENTS THROUGHOUT. REPEATING DESIGN ELEMENTS AND CONSISTENT USE OF TYPE AND GRAPHICS STYLES WITHIN A DOCUMENT SHOWS A READER WHERE TO GO AND HELPS THEM NAVIGATE YOUR DESIGNS AND LAYOUTS SAFELY.

CONTRAST IN DESIGN, BIG AND SMALL ELEMENTS, BLACK AND WHITE TEXT, SQUARES AND CIRCLES, CAN ALL CREATE CONTRAST IN DESIGN. *DON’T PUT YELLOW TEXT ON A WHITE BACKGROUND...PLEASE.

WHITE SPACE DESIGNS THAT TRY TO CRAM TOO MUCH TEXT AND GRAPHICS ONTO THE PAGE ARE UNCOMFORTABLE AND MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE TO READ. WHITE SPACE GIVES YOUR DESIGN BREATHING ROOM. DON’T BE AFRAID TO LEAVE SOME EMPTY SPACE ON YOUR LAYOUT.

The Rule of Thirds THE RULE OF THIRDS IS A COMPOSITIONAL RULE OF THUMB IN VISUAL ARTS SUCH AS PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN.

THE RULE STATES THAT AN IMAGE SHOULD BE IMAGINED AS DIVIDED INTO NINE EQUAL PARTS BY TWO EQUALLYSPACED HORIZONTAL LINES AND TWO EQUALLY-SPACED VERTICAL LINES, AND THAT IMPORTANT COMPOSITIONAL ELEMENTS SHOULD BE PLACED ALONG THESE LINES OR THEIR INTERSECTIONS.

Directing the eye with images PEOPLE ARE VISUALLY STIMULATED. PLACE IMAGES STRATEGICALLY AROUND YOUR LAYOUT TO PROPERLY DIRECT THEM THROUGH IT.

Poster Specifics ?

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Planning Stage Know your audience Know your message Brainstorm Your Ideas!

CONSISTENCY A COLOR SCHEME Stick to a standard color scheme of only a few colors. Keep things simple and try to stick a 3-4 color palette. Use colors that compliment each other well, don’t get too crazy. Use tools like Adobe Kuler (kuler.adobe.com) to help pick a palette.

FONTS Your poster should only use 2-3 fonts. 1 font for body text, 1 for your title, and 1 for subtitles (if necessary). Using consistent fonts makes for a much more coherent design. *DO NOT! use Papyrus or Comic Sans

Be Concise! BECAUSE IT IS EXTREMELY TOUGH TO READ 12 POINT FONT FROM 5 FEET AWAY Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris at odio urna, eu consectetur metus. Phasellus vehicula eros ac orci placerat non molestie augue laoreet. Phasellus dictum aliquam risus sit amet ullamcorper. Sed non neque mi. Donec et condimentum purus. Aenean viverra euismod magna, vitae varius quam viverra id. Nunc hendrerit venenatis justo, quis consequat odio laoreet sed. Nunc sollicitudin quam ac risus mattis accumsan non ac quam. Nam vel pellentesque quam. Donec libero ipsum, posuere venenatis tincidunt non, scelerisque vel justo. Praesent id elit non ante volutpat scelerisque. Nunc in turpis odio. Mauris ipsum ante, accumsan sed egestas ut, adipiscing eget justo. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vestibulum commodo auctor risus, a luctus eros fringilla ut. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Quisque bibendum dui nec risus commodo imperdiet. Sed luctus malesuada orci sed porta. Pellentesque eget aliquet mi. Sed scelerisque sodales rhoncus. Mauris dolor magna, tincidunt sed tempor vel, sollicitudin vel tortor. Nullam cursus ipsum id tellus faucibus ullamcorper. Aliquam libero sapien, congue aliquet pellentesque sit amet, blandit ornare diam. Curabitur luctus consectetur neque eget volutpat. Proin consectetur metus sed est egestas sit amet tempus purus iaculis. Maecenas non est magna. Nullam ornare, lectus vel lacinia viverra, elit sem facilisis quam, non pretium justo nisi eget nibh. Morbi lobortis magna at mauris malesuada vel pretium libero sollicitudin. Nullam molestie ullamcorper auctor. Nam non mattis diam. Vestibulum metus tellus, aliquam sed gravida sed, venenatis eu est. Etiam cursus nisl ut odio porttitor ac accumsan lacus egestas. Ut volutpat malesuada mauris id pharetra. In elit ipsum, eleifend non accumsan quis, eleifend adipiscing urna. Mauris sed nunc enim, id dapibus libero. Donec viverra interdum purus, non suscipit ipsum lacinia nec. Curabitur quis purus tortor, et mattis diam. Nunc dolor mi, venenatis vulputate tristique ac, commodo rhoncus mauris. In sagittis, purus eget pulvinar viverra, massa odio volutpat enim, ut mollis risus tortor quis nibh. Etiam tincidunt pharetra velit, sed dapibus lectus suscipit vitae. Proin venenatis volutpat sem, et volutpat arcu ultrices faucibus. Nunc imperdiet aliquam eros, ut accumsan neque convallis vitae. Proin faucibus elit eu risus luctus rutrum. Phasellus suscipit, tortor lacinia egestas adipiscing, tellus justo venenatis sapien, non volutpat nibh ipsum non nulla. Nunc sed leo magna. Nullam sed elit elit, eu varius erat. Curabitur fermentum eleifend purus sit amet consequat. Duis faucibus tincidunt consectetur. Fusce rutrum elementum felis in laoreet. Fusce dui dui, porta a facilisis fringilla, vestibulum et metus. Sed suscipit commodo ante, eu consequat eros aliquam sit amet. Nulla ultrices placerat metus, vitae aliquam felis porta a. Pellentesque ac orci arcu, eu malesuada nulla. Praesent quis tortor purus, eu gravida orci. Duis felis turpis, hendrerit pulvinar mattis et, sollicitudin eu nunc. Cras ultrices, augue et pulvinar luctus, turpis eros convallis metus, eget tristique libero mauris eget felis. Ut nunc urna, porttitor sed eleifend ut, imperdiet in sapien. Aliquam ac sapien est. Ut id euismod leo. Etiam placerat feugiat consectetur. Aliquam a nunc quis nisl ornare molestie. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam et mi turpis. Quisque ornare dolor eu leo tempor ultrices. Quisque pulvinar pretium est vitae tristique. Fusce non orci nunc. Praesent sed eros massa, a ultrices sem. Vivamus non libero enim. Quisque sed felis tempus nunc bibendum ultrices ac rhoncus orci. Integer odio lorem, molestie ut commodo malesuada, auctor nec urna. Donec posuere lorem urna. Cras tempor sagittis enim, placerat commodo mi accumsan et. Fusce tincidunt volutpat sem sed sagittis. Nunc iaculis turpis nec mi porttitor non suscipit mauris tincidunt. In tellus orci, sodales id viverra sed, molestie non purus. Duis faucibus tincidunt consectetur. Fusce rutrum elementum felis in laoreet. Fusce dui dui, porta a facilisis fringilla, vestibulum et metus. Sed suscipit commodo ante, eu consequat eros aliquam sit amet. Nulla ultrices placerat metus, vitae aliquam felis porta a. Pellentesque ac orci arcu, eu malesuada nulla. Praesent quis tortor purus, eu gravida orci. Duis felis turpis, hendrerit pulvinar mattis et, sollicitudin eu nunc. Cras ultrices, augue et pulvinar luctus, turpis eros convallis metus, eget tristique libero mauris eget felis. Ut nunc urna, porttitor sed eleifend ut, imperdiet in sapien. Aliquam ac sapien est. Ut id euismod leo. Etiam placerat feugiat consectetur. Aliquam a nunc quis nisl ornare molestie. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam et mi turpis.

BE EYE CATCHING

Set your poster apart by using interesting text arrangements for your titles. Also use lots of images or graphs within your poster. It will make your poster much more stimulating and interesting.

Visual G rav i t y top -> down left-> right

TYPO

GRAPHY Type can be beautiful too. Don’t neglect your type choices and decisions.

INSPIRATION! smashingmagazine.com flyerfolio.com designyourway.net webdesignledger.com visualmess.com kuler.adobe.com (for color schemes)

Be Creative