One Word

Back in the hey day of the 4 Macs, and I don't mean the first four Macintosh computers, posters were an exciting medium of expression. More often than not that had something to sell, like coffee or chocolate or an art show, but they were exciting avenues of artistic expression. Posters can still be ways to get the art out and have it be mainstream.

A single word or very small phrase makes up the core of the poster. That word or phrase has to communicate a very exact message along with the imagery. Whether that word is a title, an idea, or a name, it allows you to go to the bottom of the font drop down menu and pick out 100, 150, or 300 size fonts because you are going to need those large letters to get attention.

In the poster world you are vying for wall space and eye time. Wall space is the amount of wall or even the position on the wall that your poster will take up. Long tall posters can often be squeezed in between other conventional size posters, and wide short posters can offer upper and lower framework. Unfortunately the graphics for these posters often have to be specialized for that format. Eye time is how much and how often someone will want to see your poster, as well as how much time it takes the eye to register the whole message.

From glancing through posters in the K-mart, Wal-Mart, or Target and at all the poster of the upcoming movies outside the theater, I can tell you that it had better be a concise message in order for me to remember it as I scan my eyes down the wall to see all the posters at once. Those posters that catch my attention or easily remind me of a commercial I've seen and liked, get the most attention. Those posters that require a lot of information be initially taken in, get less eye time, and consequently less movie dollars.

But I'm not telling you to find a movie and make a poster, I'm simply expounding on the virtues of concise design in making your poster. Posters can be simple ideas. Take for example the fractal posters. Fractals are simple repeating patterns, regardless of how complex they look. Also look at the example of the Have a Nice Day posters. While these are not meant to be glanced at rapidly, they are constructed on small individual messages that can be taken in at a glance and they are organized in an easy to follow manner.

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