Posters- the What and Why of 'em

The article I read was called "The Character and Function of the Poster," and was written by some guy. It doesn't tell me and neither does the website the article came from. In part one (1), it talks about the purpose and history of the poster. Part two (2), it explains how to create a visually interesting and effective poster. A poster needs to be gripping and interesting to be effective; visually same-y or boring posters will be ignored. It's basic psychology! There are also ways to "evoke or heighten" certain elements or feelings in the poster. The poster needs to be legible and easy to understand, interesting, concentrated, and provide easy recognition.

If you lost focus while reading that paragraph like I did writing it, here's a quick, easy list.

• MAKE THE TEXT LEGIBLE. Weird fonts, cursive, et cetera should be avoided at all costs.
• MAKE THE THEME OBVIOUS. If it's an angry poster, try using lots of darker, warmer colors like red. If it's meant to be official, use a serif font. If you're trying to make it look trendy, do your best to use flat design.
• MAKE THE VISUALS GRIPPING. The poster needs to catch the eye of people walking by; you don't have the luxury of people being forced to look at it. Avoid boring colors and shapes at all costs!

My favorite thing about this article was the fact that it explained in detail what one might need to make an interesting and convincing poster. It'll be important in the future when, in this graphic design class, I have to make a poster, but it will also be useful if or when I need to make a poster for something else. I think this article was useful, but mostly because it was ripped right out of a textbook written for graphic design students.

(you can find the file here if you want to read it over yourself)