INTRO
The poster project for my type two class was created to help students understand legibility and readability. We were all randomly assigned one of the three natural wonders and the information on the wonder was provided. This project had a quick turn around and this tested our skills of time management and how not to get attached to the design. The final information we received was the poster had to be made in InDesign.
RESEARCH & SKETCHES
My process for this project was first researching and sketching out my ideas for the layout of the poster. In my research, I saw the GoodFellas poster and loved the hierarchy and the use of a black background. In my wireframe sketches, I placed the headline in multiple spots and tried tons of different possibilities. After the sketching, I moved into Indesign and placed my favorite sketch onto the page.
BEFORE CRITIQUE
Once I had a clear outline of where I was going I started working with the type. I used the column tool to create nice space and legible body copy and fun facts too. Since I loved the hierarchy in the GoodFellas poster I wanted to try and make my headline feel the same by making it larger than anything else. When I made the headline larger I knew the when-to-visit dates would fit perfectly above without causing a distraction or weak hierarchy. Before the critique, I was struggling to make my type fit well on the page.
AFTER CRITIQUE
After the critique, my professor suggested keeping the same idea but trying it a different way. This suggestion I thought was perfect because it brought me to a “cut out” theme that I had not seen on any travel posters before. I had thought my final poster was perfect until I realized my line length did not follow the directions. Luckily my professor offered growth opportunities and allowed me to change the type in the poster. For the growth opportunity, we had to make the rest of the natural wonders and have them all look like a set. I made the two other wonders have the same layout and theme as the first one. The only differences are the information, images, and the colors. To keep the eye from getting lost I bolded the first three words in each poster and made the fun facts section smaller but with a bold title.
LEARNED
I had difficulties with this project because the printer was making the files have a transparent look even though nothing was transparent. For the first poster, I learned how to export different PDFs and how to change the transparency preset. For the final two, I learned to place the image and the cutout part into Illustrator, and using Pathfinder to divide them solved my problems. The final things I learned were I have an eye for seeing when type is weird looking and I’m decent at working under tight deadlines.
