Before and After 0649

7/29/2019 Before and After 0649

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How to design a small poster 0649

How to design a small

poster


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XiBAmagazine.com U


How to design a small posterYou use a small poster to make a big impression at close range.To design it, use bold images and high contrasts.

A tabloid page, two average images

and brief copy are where the job begins.

The first step will be to look closely at

what the photos have to say.

The art department of Roe City College needs a small

poster to advertise its next event, a pictorial history

of the geisha. The poster will be displayed on indoor

walls, windows and tabletops, where it will be viewed

mainly at close range.

A good poster is simple and bold. It connects

quickly and releases its information easily. Words tell

the viewer what, whereand when. The design, in this

case, must conveydrama,mysteryand tradition.

Weve been given two photos from the event, bothof average quality, and a small amount of text. Well

be working in an 11 x 17 (tabloid-size) space. Heres

how to approach the job.

11 x 17

From:

Subject:

Date:

To:

SanjiYosho

January EventsPoster

October 15,20063:27 PMPDT

Dexter Mark Abellera

Dexter,

Heresthe copy forourJanuary ev

ent. The pix weretoo big to e-mail

, so Iveuploadedthemto our

FTP site;youalready havetheaccess cod

e. Im not thrilledwith either pic, bu

tthe boardfeltthat

they werepretty iconicso would servewellforthe show. Thepo

ster needs somedrama -- and

somemystery and traditionwould

begood, too;t hegeisha cultureh

as a pretty interesting history.

Tabloid-size, portrait format;wefig

ure well displayacouple dozena

roundthe campusstarting late

November. Theshowwill be prett

y nice; Ithinkyoull like it.

Youmay e-mail meanytime.

With regards,

Sanji

---------------

Head: Geisha

Subhead: A unique worldoftradit

ion, eleganceandart

Info:

Roe City College, LH Horton Galle

ry

January 20-23,6p.m.

Free & open tothepublic


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Whats in the pictures? The fan (left) is a simple image with

a bold silhouette and a plain backgroundall good qualitiesbut

its too generic to anchor the poster; instead, it may be useful

as support. The geisha (1)shouldconvey the story, but the

image is weak; it has two focal points (face and box) and

many distracting lines and shapes that send the eye

to and fro. But she has an interesting face that we

might work with. Cropping (2) eliminates the weak

parts and retains the strong center of interest.

?

?

?

Her face tells a deep story

Mask out the remaining background,

and the image is transformed into

one with real power. Now we begin to

see elements of line and contrast that

we didnt see before. Many ho-hum

originals have similarly strong images

inside. The key to discovery is to make

it simple, and make it big.

Evaluate the photos

As a rule, you want the photos to carry most of the design load. To do this, you mustfirst find their strengths, then work with the story they have to tell.

1 2


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Motionless in the center

The image is highly triangular. Her

shoulders and head form a triangle;her face is triangular; eyes and

mouth form a triangle, and the

lapels and folds of her kimono are

triangular. Her gaze, eyes, eyelids

and eyebrows all point down and

toward the center.

Suchsymmetry is naturally

motionless and without tension.

To mimic that in layout, the photo

should be placed at the bottom

center, where its on the groundat rest.In con-

trast, note (inset)

that offset and in

the air is a tense,

unstable position,

where photo and

layout are not

working together.

Where do you put it?

The characteristics of a photo help determine where it belongs on a page. In thiscase, every line points down and toward the center . . .

Black adds drama

Turning the background

black adds silence,

power and incredible

contrast. Her black hair

now recedes, while her

white face and kimono

become the canvas

against which her blackeyes, brows and red lips

stand out in arresting

relief. Note her head is

centered in the poster,

which is the strongest

position and amplifies its

power. The story is in her

face, which now has our

undivided attention.


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GEISHAHow big? Large size

usually conveys power,

but the biggest possible

setting (above) introduces

something we dont want:

tension. Its close prox-

imity to the edge con-

nects them like water

drops joining across agap and creates dozens

of fussy, irregular shapes.

This happens because

the letter strokes and the

gap are now the same

size (inset). The solution

is to reduce its size just

enough to disconnect it

from the edge (left).

Select and set the headline type

Because a poster has only a few elements to do the work, type plays a bigger-than-usualrole in the design, so pay close attention to its style and setting. What to consider:

What typeface? A typeface has many jobs to doone of which is

to be read! It must convey the tone of the event (a pictoral history),reflect the style of its subject (the Japanese geisha), have visual

similarities to the photo, and work with, not against, the layout

(centered and motionless). Beautiful Centaur does all of this. At a

glance, Centaur looks like an ordinary Roman typeface. But it is full

of warm idiosyncrasies. Note the serifs circled above are all differ-

enttwo are cupped, two are bowed, one curls back; and the letter

strokes vary in soft, irregular ways. These are earmarks of a human

hand (which categorizes Centaur as a Humanisttypeface) and echo

the hand-brushed strokes of Japanese characters.

Where? Centered and motionless.

GEISHA

GEISHA


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A UNIQUE WORLD OF TRADITION, ELEGANCE AND ART

ROE CITY COLLEGE, LH HORTON GALLERY | J ANUARY 2023, 6 P.M. | FR EE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

GEISHA

Finish with the supporting detail

The supporting detail is the small stuff that can be read only up close. It includes a fullerdescription of the event, the what, whereand when, and a small graphic.

The supporting detail completes the poster. It includes a

subhead that finishes the story started by the headline; a line

that gives the where and when, and the fan, which visually con-

veys tradition, elegance and art. Subhead and headlinetwo

parts of the same thoughtare set in the same typeface, while

the utility line is in a plain, readable sans-serif (above). All of it

is centered (stable and motionless like the image) and directly

in her line of sight. Very strong.

One story, two

stories This poster is

actually two stories

in one. The top half is

the big story (face and

headline), while the

bottom half is the small

story (face and support-

ing detail). You can see

below that one is as

important as the other.

GEISHASame

typeface

ties top to

bottom


ROE CITY COLLEGE, LH HORTON GALLERY | JANUARY 2023, 6 P.M. | FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

GEISHA


ROE CITY COLLEGE, LH HORTON GALLERY | JANUARY 2023, 6 P.M. | F REE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC


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XiBAmagazine.com U


GEISHAA UNIQUE WORLD OF TRADITION, ELEGANCE AND ART


A UNIQUE WORLD OF TRADITIONELEGANCE AND ART

ROE CITY COLLEGE, LH HORTON GALLERY

JANUARY 2023, 6 P.M. | FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

GEISHA

Same elements, two bold variations

Scaling the photo up or down intensifies its drama. As you arrange elements, rememberto work with, not against, the photo. Center the layout; get color from the image.

Boldly small, boldly large

Bold design is usually good design.

(1) Make the geisha daringly small,

and black becomes the dominant

element. Black conveys silence and

mystery and here suggests a glimpseinto a distant, inscrutable culture.

(2) Make her very big, and the image

becomes intimate, yet her down-

ward gaze remains detached, profes-

sional, inaccessible. In both cases,

note that all text is at the bottom in

her line of sight. 1 2

Text block serves as a pedestal to anchor the

photo (stable, no tension). White headline comes

forward; gray text recedes and doesnt compete.

Lip color ties eye shadow, lips, fan and subhead

together. Note the fan is the size of her lips, an

intentional similarity that strengthens the line.


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XiBAmagazine.com U


GEISHA



A UNIQUE WORLD OF TRADITION

ELEGANCE AND ART

ROE CITY COLLEGE, LH HORTON GALLERY

JANUARY 2023, 6 P.M. | FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

GEISHA

GEISHAA UNIQUE WORLD OF TRADITION, ELEGANCE AND ART


Typefaces

1 (ae) Centaur MT | a) 370 pt, b) 53 pt

c) 226 pt, d) 48/60 pt, e) 220 pt

2 (ab) Helvetica Condensed Light

a) 35 pt, b) 35/53 pt

(All text has +50 letterspacing.)

Images

3 iStockphoto.com

Article resources

Colors

C30 M30 Y30 K100

C0 M0 Y0 K50

C30 M90 Y58 K43

4

5

4

1c

1e

6

5

6

1a

1b

2a

3

1d

2b

1b

2a


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Before&After

9of9 | Printing formats

XiBAmagazine.com UHow to design a small poster 9of9


Before & After magazine

Before & After has been sharing its practical approach

to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world

has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before &

After is dedicated to making graphic design understand-

able, useful and even fun for everyone.

John McWade Publisher and creative director

Gaye McWade Associate publisher

Vincent Pascual Staff designer

Dexter Mark Abellera Staff designer

Before & After magazine

323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678

Telephone 916-784-3880

Fax 916-784-3995

E-mail [email protected]

www http://www.bamagazine.com

Copyright 2007 Before & After magazineISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved

You may pass along a free copy of this article to others

by clicking here. You may not alter this article, and you

may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections

for review; please credit Before & After magazine, and

let us know. To link Before & After magazine to your

Web site, use this URL: http://www.bamagazine.com.

For all other permissions, please contact us.

Subscribe to Before & After

Subscribe to Before & After, and become a

more capable, confident designer for pennies

per article. To learn more, go to

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E-mail this articleTo pass along a free copy of this article to

others, click here.

Join our e-list

To be notified by e-mail of new articles as

they become available, go to

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Before & After articles are intended for permanent reference. All are titled and numbered.

For the current table of contents, click here. To save time and paper, a paper-saver format of this article,

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1of5

Howtodesignasmallposter0649

0649Howtodesign

asmallposter

Howtodesigna

smallposter

Youuseasmallpostertomakeabig

impressionatclose

range.

Todesignit,use

boldimagesandhig

hcontrasts.

Atabloidpage,twoaverageimages

an

dbriefcopyarewherethejobbeg

ins.

Thefirststepwillbetolookcloselyat

whatthephotoshaveto

say.

Thea

rtdepartmentofRoeCi

tyColle

geneedsasmall

poste

rtoadvertiseitsnextev

ent,apictorialhistory

ofthegeisha.Theposterwill

bedispla

yedonindoor

walls,windowsandtabletops

,whereitwillbeviewed

main

lyatcloseran

ge.

Agoodposterissimplean

dbold.Itconnects

quick

lyandreleasesitsinformationeasily.Wordstell

theviewerwhat,whereandw

hen.Thedesign,inthis

case,

mustconve

ydrama,mysteryandtradition.

Wevebeen

giventwophotosfromtheevent,both

ofaveragequality,andasmallamountoftext.Well

beworkin

ginan11x17(tabloid-size)space.Heres

howtoapproachthejob.

11x17

F ro m:

S u b j e c t:

D a te :

T o :

S a n j iY o s h o

J a n u a ry E v e n ts P o s te r

Oc to b e r1 5 ,2 0 0 6 3 :2 7 P MP D T

D e x te rMa rk A b e ll e r a

D e x te r ,

H e r e s t h e c o p y fo ro u rJ a n u a r y e v e n t.T h e p ix w e r e t o o b ig to e -ma il,s o I v e u p l o a d e d th e mto o u r

F T P s it e ;y o u a lre a d y h a v e t h e a c c e s s c o d e .I mn o tth ril le d w it h e it h e rp ic ,b u tt h e b o a rd f e ltth a t

t h e y w e r e p re tt y i c o n i c s o w o u ld s e r v e w e llf o rth e s h o w .T h e p o s te rn e e d s s o me d r a ma - -a n d

s o me my s te ry a n d tr a d iti o n w o u ld b e g o o d ,to o ; th e g e is h a c

u l tu re h a s a p r e t ty in te re s ti n g h is to ry .

T a b lo i d - s iz e ,p o r tra itfo rma t;w e fi g u re w e lld i s p la y a c o u p le

d o z e n a ro u n d th e c a mp u s s t a r tin g la te

N o v e mb e r.T h e s h o w w illb e p re tty n ic e ;It h i n k y o u lllik e it.

Y o u ma y e -ma i lme a n y time .

With r e g a rd s ,

S a n j i

--- -- --- --- --- -

H e a d :Ge is h a

S u b h e a d :A u n iq u e w o r ld o ftr a d it io n ,e le g a n c e a n d a rt

In f o :

R o e C ity C o lle g e ,L H H o rto n Ga l le r y

J a n u a ry 2 0 - 2 3 ,6 p .m.

F re e & o p e n t o th e p u b l ic

Howtode

signa

small

po

st

er


12/15

Before&After|www.b

amagazine.com

2of5

How

todesignasmallposter0649

0649How

todesign

asmallposter

Whatsinthepictures?T

hefan(left)isasimpleimagewith

aboldsilhouetteandaplain

backgroundallgoodqualities

but

itstoogenerictoanchortheposter;instead,itmaybeuseful

assupport.Thegeisha(1)sh

ouldconveythestory,butthe

imageisweak;ithastwofo

calpoints(faceandbox)and

manydistractinglinesands

hapesthatsendtheeye

toandfro.Butshehasanin

terestingfacethatwe

mightworkwith.Cropping(2)eliminatestheweak

partsandretainsthestrong

centerofinterest.

??

?

Herfacetellsadeepstory

Maskouttheremainingbackground,

andtheimageistransformedinto

onewithrealpower.Nowwebeginto

seeelementsoflineandcontrastthat

wedidntseebefore.Manyho-hum

originalshavesimilarlystr

ongimages

inside.Thekeytodiscoveryistomake

itsimple,and

makeitbig.

Evaluatethephot

os

Asarule,youwant

thephotostocarrymostofthedesignload.Todothis,youmust

firstfindtheirstren

gths,thenworkwiththestorytheyhavetotell.

1

2

Motionlessint

hecenter

Theimageishigh

lytriangular.Her

shouldersandheadformatriangle;

herfaceistriangu

lar;eyesand

mouthformatria

ngle,andthe

lapelsandfoldso

fherkimonoare

triangular.Hergaze,eyes,eyelids

andeyebrowsall

pointdownand

towardthecenter.

Suchsymmetry

isnaturally

motionlessandw

ithouttension.

Tomimicthatinlayout,thephoto

shouldbeplaced

atthebottom

center,whereits

ontheground

atrest.Incon-

trast,note(inset)

thatoffsetandin

theairisatense,

unstableposition,

wherephotoand

layoutarenot

workingtogether.

Wheredoyouput

it?

Thecharacteristics

ofaphotohelpdeterminewhereitbelon

gson

apage.Inthis

case,everylinepointsdownandtowardth

ecenter...

Blackaddsdrama

Turningthebackground

blackaddssilence,

powerandincredible

contrast.Her

blackhair

nowrecedes,

whileher

whitefaceandkimono

becomethecanvas

againstwhich

herblack

eyes,browsa

ndredlips

standoutina

rresting

relief.Notehe

rheadis

centeredinth

eposter,

whichisthes

trongest

positionanda

mplifiesits

power.Thesto

ryisinher

face,whichnowhasour

undividedattention.


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How


0649How

todesign

asmallposter

AUNIQUEWORLDOFTRADITION,ELEGANCEANDART

ROECITYCOLLEGE,LHHORTONGALLERY

|JANUARY2023,6P.M.|FREE&OPENTOTHEPUBLIC

GEISH

A

Finishwiththesu

pportingdetail

Thesupportin

gdetailisthesmallstuffthatcanbereadonlyupclo

se.Itincludesafuller

descriptionoftheevent,thewhat,whereandwhen,andasmallgra

phic.

Thesupportingdetailcompletestheposter.Itincludesa

subheadthatfinishesthestorystartedb

ytheheadline;aline

thatgivesthewhereandwhen,andthe

fan,whichvisuallycon-

veystradition,eleganceandart.Subhe

adandheadlinetwo

partso

fthesamethoughtaresetinthesametypeface,while

theutilitylineisinaplain,readablesans

-serif(above).Allofit

iscent

ered(stableandmotionlessliketheimage)anddirectly

inherlineofsight.Verystrong.

Onestory,tw

o

storiesThisposteris

actuallytwos

tories

inone.Thetop

halfis

thebigstory(faceand

headline),whilethe

bottomhalfisthesmall

story(faceand

support-

ingdetail).You

cansee

belowthatone

isas

importantastheother.

GEISHA

Same

typeface

tiestopto

bottom

AUNIQUEWORLDOFTRADITION,EL

EGANCEANDART

ROECITY

COLLEGE,LH

HORTON

GALLERY

|JANUARY2023,6P.M.

|FREE&OPEN

TO

THEPUBLIC

GEISHA


R

OECITYCOLLEGE,LH

HORTONGALLERY

|JANUARY2023,6P.M.|FREE&OPEN

TO

THEPUBLIC

GEISH

AHow

big?Largesize

usuallyconveyspower,

butthebigges

tpossible

setting(above

)introduces

somethingwe

dontwant:

tension.Itsclo

seprox-

imitytotheed

gecon-

nectsthemlikewater

dropsjoiningacrossa

gapandcreatesdozens

offussy,irregu

larshapes.

Thishappensbecause

theletterstrokesandthe

gaparenowthesame

size(inset).Th

esolution

istoreduceitssizejust

enoughtodisconnectit

fromtheedge

(left).

W

hattypeface?Atypefacehasmanyjobstodooneofwhichis

to

beread!Itmustconveythetoneoftheevent(apictoralhistory),

reflectthestyleofitssubject(theJa

panesegeisha),havevisual

sim

ilaritiestothephoto,andworkw

ith,notagainst,thelayout

(centeredandmotionless).Beautiful

Centaurdoesallofthis.Ata

glance,Centaurlookslikeanordinar

yRomantypeface.Butitisfull

of

warmidiosyncrasies.Notetheserifscircledabovearealldiffer-

en

ttwoarecupped,twoarebowe

d,onecurlsback;andtheletter

strokesvaryinsoft,irregularways.T

heseareearmarksofahuman

ha

nd(whichcategorizesCentauras

aHumanisttypeface)andecho

thehand-brushedstrokesofJapanesecharacters.

Where?Centeredandmotionless.

GEIS

HA

GEISHA

Selectandsetthe

headlinetype

Becauseaposterhasonlyafewelementstodothework,typepla

y

sabig

ger-than-usual

roleinthedesign,sopaycloseattentionto

itsstyleandsetting.Wh

attoconsider:


14/15


4of5

How


0649How

todesign

asmallposter

GEISHA

AUNIQUEWO

RLDOFTRADITION,ELEGANCEANDART

ROECITYCOLLEGE,LH

HORTON

GALLERY


TO

THEPUBLIC

AUNIQUEWORLDOFTRADITIO

N

ELEGANCEANDART

ROECITYCOLLEGE,LH

HORTON

GALLERY

JANUARY

2023,6P.M.|

FREE&OPEN

TO

THEPUBLI

C

GEISH

A

Sameelements,twoboldvariations

Scalin

gthephotou

pordownintensifiesitsdrama.Asyouarran

ge

elements,remember

toworkwith,notagainst,thephoto.Centerthela

yout;getcolorfromtheimage.

Boldlysmall,boldlylarge

Bolddesignisusuallygooddesign.

(1)Make

thegeishadaringlysmall,

andblack

becomesthedominant

element.

Blackconveyssilenceand

mysteryandheresuggestsaglimpse

intoadis

tant,inscrutableculture.

(2)Make

herverybig,andtheimage

becomes

intimate,yetherdown-

wardgazeremainsdetached,profes-

sional,inaccessible.Inbothcases,

notethat

alltextisatthebottomin

herlineo

fsight.

1

2

Textblockservesasapedestaltoanchorthe

photo(stable,notension).White

headlinecomes

forward;graytextrecedesandd

oesntcompete.

Lipcolorties

eyeshadow,lips,fanandsubhead

together.Notethefanisthesizeofherlips,an

intentionalsimilaritythatstrengthenstheline.

G

EISHA


ROECITYCOLLEGE,LH

HORTON

GALLERY


TO

THEPUBLIC

AU

NIQUEWORLDOFTRADITION

ELEGANCEANDART

ROECITYCOLLEGE,LHHORTONGALLERY

JANUA

RY2023,6P.M.|FREE&OPEN

TO

THEPUBLIC

GEISHA

GEISHA


ROECITYCOLLEGE,LH

HORT

ON

GALLERY


TOTHEPUBLIC

Typefaces

1(ae)CentaurMT|a)370pt,b)53pt

c

)226pt,d)48/60pt,e)220pt

2(ab)HelveticaCondensedLight

a

)35pt,b)35/53pt

(Alltexthas+50letterspacing.)

Im

ages

3iStockphoto.com

Articleresources

Colors

C30M30Y30K10

0

C0M0Y0K50

C30M90Y58K43

45

41c1e

6

56

1a

1b

2a 3

1d2b

1b2a


15/15


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How


0649How

todesign

asmallposter

Before&Aftermag

azine

Before&Afterhasbeensharingitspracticalapproach

tographicdesignsinc

e1990.Becauseourmodernwor

ld

hasmadedesignerso

fusall(readyornot),Before&

Afterisdedicatedtom

akinggraphicdesignunderstand

-

able,usefulandeven

funforeveryone.

JohnMcWadePublisherandcreativedirector

GayeMcWadeAssociatepublisher

VincentPascualSta

ffdesigner

DexterMarkAbelle

raStaffdesigner

Before&Aftermag

azine

323LincolnStreet,Ro

seville,CA95678

Telephone916-784-3880

Fax916-784-3995

[email protected]

wwwhttp://www.bam

agazine.com

Copyright2007Be

fore&Aftermagazine

ISSN1049-0035.All

rightsreserved

Youmaypassalonga

freecopyofthisarticletoothers

byclickinghere.Youm

aynotalterthisarticle,andyou

maynotchargeforit.

Youmayquotebriefsections

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