Designing Posters

The Character and Function of a Poster

    In graphic design, posters are used to spread ideas. This idea can be anything from advertising a product to propagating a political campaign. In order to spread the idea, you want to maximize the amount of people looking at your poster. This can be done by printing multiple copies, but in a world where we're bombarded with a constant flow of information, you have to create an eye-catching poster to get any attention. Most posters go unread because they fail to do this.

The Laws of Poster Design

    Creating a poster that will get attention can be extremely challenging. There are many aspects that go in to making a great poster. Overall, a poster must be legible, easily understood, and interesting. It's helpful to make your poster large in order to increase the distance at where it can be read. The lettering on the design is also a vital detail to pay attention to. The font has to be easy to read, and properly integrated with the style of the poster. Even the writing itself should be concise and simple.

    The use of shapes in poster design is really important as well. When properly used, shapes give your design a sense of rhythm. Shapes are responsible for bringing attention to the poster, so you want to make sure that you're using them properly.

    Lastly, but definitely not least, is color. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that color is extremely important in any form of design. For your poster, you want to make sure the colors catch the readers eye. You have to be careful not to use too much color however, as this can make it hard to comprehend the information on the poster. Use color theory to your advantage, and choose a palette that will really help get your message across.

The Keys to a Great Poster

    I believe that the most important aspects to a good poster are the color, placement, and the information. The color and placement are what helps to get attention of the reader. As I wrote before, the colors must stand out, but not be too overwhelming. The placement refers to the size and location of the poster. You want to place your poster in a place where people who are interested in the topic may be gathered. The size is also important, the larger your poster, the greater the distance people can read the information from. Now that you have the attention of the viewer, you want to get the information to them in the most concise way possible. You don't want to hit your viewer with a huge wall of text, or they are likely to just ignore it and move on.

What I learned

    The most important thing I learned from this article was how to get the attention of your audience. You have to make a poster that stands out from the rest, and once you have that attention, you have to know how to maintain it. This can be applied to many aspects of life, not just poster design.