Poster design for myself... never easy!

Dumb_pencil

Dumb_pencil

Member
Hi,

Produced the sign graphics for a local cafe, when negotiating price I knocked £25 off if I could put a poster on the window for a couple of weeks.

Brief I set my self was something eye catching but quiet simple and to the point. Needs to look serious at the same time inviting. (poster size A3)

On the left your see the design which I over designed (just having some fun)... On the right the more refined design. Not sure if anyone could give a little creative input? Thanks in advance.

a3-poster-trial.jpg


(Now looking at it... think I might put the web address on...? )
 
Hi there,
I like the idea behind getting a little bit of advertising as part of the payment package. Now it's time to make that sort of thinking really work for you.

I think its still over-designed. Too many colours and gradients. It's not eye catching. I'd be tempted to take a more minimalist approach. Rely heavily on your logo, that's your signifying mark. At the moment there is no relation to the design of the poster and your logo. If this is a poster promoting your business the ideas for the poster layout should be an extension of the logo, this helps to form an identity, something that a logo is a small part of, not the whole thing.

Definitely put your web address on it. In fact put on any contact information your are comfortable putting out into the public. A phone number, web address, email address, twitter handle, facebook page. Obviously do this in a clean and ordered way, but give any prospective clients the choice of how they can contact you.

Look into doing something a little more interesting with the type, and give the design elements plenty of space to work in. The background it too busy to let the logo and wording really pop out of the poster.

If you decide to keep this layout centre justify 't-shirt printing'.

I hope these suggestions might help.
 
Ken - Def going to take a lot of your points on board. Agree with nearly everything you have wrote. I think I have got carried away with the gradient tool in illustrator. Its funny I should have wrote down the brief before I started designing... even thought designing for myself, its very easy to go off on a tangent.

Tomorrow I'm going to have a proper re-vamp! ; )
Thanks
 
Look forward to seeing what the second draft brings.
It's an excellent idea to write a short design brief for any project, but especially if you are designing for yourself. You have to frame the requirements for the job. Writing it down makes it explicitly clear. Even if it's just a few bullet points on a post-it note you can look at while you're working to remind yourself of what you are trying to achieve with the design.
 
yeah there is way to many colours in your poster and is a bit cluttered i think, keep it simple and eyecatching, as your logo is black and white why not try black and white with a viberant pink colour on important information perhaps make a nice vector design for a background but not to over complicated. simplicity is the future :D

and as for contact info defo add url / email / mob / fb / twitter etc.
 
What Ken said, basically. Overdesigned - looks like it's been done in Photoshop. Don't like the rounded font. Keep it clean and simple.
 
Wardy said:
What Ken said, basically. Overdesigned - looks like it's been done in Photoshop. Don't like the rounded font. Keep it clean and simple.
Click to expand...

LOL.. Funny you say that... all done in illustrator. Love the fact you can use overlay settings on layers.. you know the "opacity" box which is similar to photoshop.
 
Ok,

BRIEF

Advertise my services - eye catching design that is simple and elegant.

Logo, web address, phone number, twitter address, email address.

Clean and professional design slightly fun.

Fresh pair of eyes / opinion welcome. Ta

postyer-trial-2.jpg
 
For me the bottom feels too cluttered without enough space, and I don't like the font used for the main headings - you've put 'clean', 'elegant' etc in the brief and the font used says none of these for me.
 
I think the bottom section of your poster with all your contact details is a little overcrowded. I much prefer the layout from your first design where all your text is centred under your emblem.

But unfortunately neither are doing it for me.

How does your logo read when reduced down in size too, the small text on the shield is hardly legible on these drafts so may cause a problem on business cards or letterheads etc...
 
Last edited:
its an improvement from your 1st attempt but i dont think its a final design yet, the footer is way to over crowded
 
Sorry really not doing it for me as dedwardp says that is neither clean nor elegant. At first glance (without reading it) it has more the look of a car audio place / music scene - don't know why it's just what it reminds me off.

Why don't you try from scratch with the word MINIMAL in mind? Lots of white space, prominent logo position, clean, sharp serif font. I know there is a temptation to try and showboat a bit in posters but a poster with good typograhy shows more skill than "oo look at the effects, shapes and other good things I can do in Illustrator".
 
Had a little re-do, I agree its not working perfectly, tried another angle.. think Spotty is right about me messing around to much in illustrator not sure what your going to think of these two?

upload4.jpg


I was thinking 2B might be a little too simple? Also there is a rule I heard that your not suppose to use more than 3 fonts on any 1 page? Do you guys agree with that?
 
Hi,

Please don't take this comment to heart. I don't understand why you would offer 'Graphic Design' as a service when you clearly don't understand some basic fundamentals of it. Things like colour, composition and typography are key aspects in what a 'graphic designer' should have some basic understanding of.

Again please don't take it to heart, I think this is a case of jumping onto a computer and designing from the software rather than you designing from your head.
 
Things are starting to progress, but there is still some issues.

Telephone number does not need to ne on there twice, nor would i put twitter on there. Chances are people who see this in the window will more than likely remember the web address, where all other contact details can be found, or the telephone number and give you a call regrading work.
No one is going to start following you on twitter from a poster advertising your services. This will free up more space at he top allowing for a bigger logo.

Everything is in uppercase apart from the words Graphic Design?

I would try and get everything more central under the emblem, leaving a lot of space around the design - less is more.

Look at your selection of fonts again, and the colours you have now.

For me its still not looking appealing to potential clients, its not screaming out good quality creative design i'm afraid.
 
willfu said:
Hi,

Please don't take this comment to heart. I don't understand why you would offer 'Graphic Design' as a service when you clearly don't understand some basic fundamentals of it. Things like colour, composition and typography are key aspects in what a 'graphic designer' should have some basic understanding of.

Again please don't take it to heart, I think this is a case of jumping onto a computer and designing from the software rather than you designing from your head.
Click to expand...

No problem, I won't take it to heart. I know I'm not the best graphic designer in the world, but I have people asking me to do design work for them and all thought you may not be impressed, I have customers that are happy with what I do. So I have no fear of offering a "graphic design" service. I'm also constantly reading graphic design books and trying out new things, so I think your comments will soon be irrelevant. But thanks for spurring me on to try harder. ; )
 
Dumb_pencil said:


No problem, I won't take it to heart. I know I'm not the best graphic designer in the world, but I have people asking me to do design work for them and all thought you may not be impressed, I have customers that are happy with what I do. So I have no fear of offering a "graphic design" service. I'm also constantly reading graphic design books and trying out new things, so I think your comments will soon be irrelevant. But thanks for spurring me on to try harder. ; )
Click to expand...

Thats good to hear, a lot of people take critique too personally and let it effect them negatively. You have the urge to keep learning and improving as we all should everyday. Good luck! :)
 
It's an improvement on before but, in all honesty, I think it needs to get back to the drawing board - potentially it could be made to work but it just doesn't seem to be getting there, for me, of course.
 
To me 2b is the closest you've come to a finished poster, but it's still got a long way to go. It's the simplest visual you've put together which gives the content of it the most prominence not the appearance of it.
I agree with above, no use repeating the phone number, the twitter name is a judgement call depending on your target audience.
There are far too many different fonts battling against each other. Go back to your brief and think hard about what you want to achieve. Simple, elegant, clean and professional.
I would suggest being brave, using a white background and giving the design elements a lot of room around them. Go minimalist, that's you're best route towards a clean and elegant look.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top