The Effective Poster

The Promotion Poster

The Information Poster

The Education Poster

THE PROMOTION POSTER PART 1: To catch attention and to spread a message

An Effective Poster

• Has one message • Is visual • Shows a story • Is effective • Is interesting • Has one main element • Shows a clear starting point

One Message

• A poster has only one message.

–What is your message?

• This poster has one major message.

• Is the message visual clear to you?

• This poster has one major message.

• Is the message visual clear to you?

Visual

• Big visual, large text

• Very few text

–A visual message is understood faster than a textual message.

• What is your visual?

• This poster has one major visual element.

• Is the meaning of the visual element clear to you?

• This poster has one major visual element.

• Is the meaning of the visual element clear to you?

• This poster uses words to create one major visual message.

• What is the visual message?

Shows a Story • The three parts of a story are

– beginning – the problem situation

• The doer of the action

• The receiver of the action

• The problem to be solved

– turning point – a change in the situation

• The action that is done to solve the problem

• The resulting change or non-change

– end – the resulting situation

• Can be a projected or desired result, or an actual result

• Can be a change (or no change) in the doer, the receiver, or in the situation

• This poster contains story elements: beginning, middle, ending, result.

• What story elements can you identify?

• This poster contains story elements: beginning, middle, ending, result.

• What story elements can you identify?

Effective Three elements of a poster’s effectiveness:

• clarity of the message – the poster is designed according to the target receiver’s ability to understand the message

• acceptability of the message – the poster is designed so that the target receiver will be willing to accept and understand the message

• relevance of the message – the poster is designed so that the target receiver can see how the message meets an urgent or important need; even better if the need is that of the receiver

This design is most attractive to what culture? Most familiar or acceptable to what culture?

NOT UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTABLE This is an example of a poster that tells a story, uses effective visuals and text, but may not be acceptable in some cultures or situations.

Interesting

Three elements how a poster can catch and then hold attention:

• accessibility – the message is easy for the target receiver to understand

• relevance – the message is personally meaningful to the target receiver

• novelty – the target receiver sees something new or attention-catching in the message

• This poster contains elements of interest: easy to understand, meets reader needs, catches attention.

• What elements do you see?

• This poster contains elements of interest: easy to understand, meets reader needs, catches attention.

• What elements do you see?

One Dominant Element

A poster is designed with one major element:

• size – the poster may have one largest image (if there are many images) or largest symbols (out of many symbols)

• position – the main element is located on a central position, or a higher position in the poster

What’s your main element?

• This poster contains one dominant element due to size or positioning.

• What is the major element due to?

• This poster contains one dominant element due to size or positioning.

• What is the major element due to?

NO DOMINANT ELEMENT. The text is on top but small. The visuals are large, but there are two items of the same size.

Clear Start

A poster has clear start and end points:

• natural start point – according to culture – some cultures begin reading on the left, some on the

right

– some cultures begin reading from the top, others from the bottom

• designed start point – according to you – the main element can be a start point

– arrows or numbers can show the start point

– The design can show change, progression, or action

• This poster shows a starting point of movement.

• How do you know where the movement starts and ends?

• This poster shows a starting point and direction.

• What visual element is used to show direction, starting, and ending?

THE INFORMATION POSTER PART 2: To spread a message + give details

Tip

• The best information posters use elements that are used in creating a promotion poster.

• This poster contains one visual message. • What is the visual message?

• This poster contains one main visual. • What is the main visual?

• This poster contains one dominant visual element.

• What is it?

THE INSTRUCTION POSTER PART 5: To show how to do something

Tip

• The best education posters use elements that are used in creating a promotion poster.

• This education poster uses story elements. • How can this poster be improved?

TEST YOURSELF PART 5: Now That You Know

• How can this poster be improved?

• Knowing the mistakes of others can help you avoid those mistakes.

• How can this poster be more effective?

• Knowing the mistakes of others can help you avoid those mistakes.

• How can this poster be more effective?

• Knowing the mistakes of others can help you avoid those mistakes.

• How can this poster be more effective?

• Knowing the mistakes of others can help you avoid those mistakes.

• How can this poster be more effective?

That’s all. Thank you.

To get lost is to learn the way. ~ African proverb