Student Art Part 2: Designing the Poster

I'm a volunteer on the Art Committee at our local Elementary School.
We are getting ready for the Annual Student Art Exhibit.

Of all the tasks I do to prepare for the show, designing the poster is one of my favorites.

After a student illustration is selected to be used for advertising the Art Show (see previous post), the next step is to turn the artwork into a poster by adding informational text and words prior to going to print.

The first step is to scan the original artwork for importing into a graphics program. I like to take my images to be scanned at Kinko's Copies. They made a high resolution scan and saved it as a jpeg file. It cost $10.00.

I imported the jpeg file into an Adobe Illustrator file with page size set to 11x17 inches. I chose 11x17" because most photocopy shops can inexpensively reproduce posters at an 11x17" size, which is what I needed. If you choose to go larger, it will cost more money but will be visually stronger in the community. You'll have to decide what is more important to you: Smaller size, less impact, less expensive versus Larger size, more impact, more expensive.


The illustration was larger than 11x17", so I cropped off the bottom. I allowed plenty of space at the top for a headline.

I tried different type styles for the headline and landed on one that had a handmade appearance - which was in keeping with the look of student artwork.


The typeface I chose came from a free font website called da font
The name of the typeface is: "Got Heroin."

I experiemented with typeface colors.


I tinkered with the font size, and added a brush stroke below that served as background for the show dates.


Once the headline was in place, I added some small detail copy giving credit to the artist and other information the viewer might need.


The poster design is now completed and ready to go to print. I save it as a PDF file, and load it onto a disk.


I took the completed poster to local print shop called Rhino Digital. They printed a quantity of 30 posters and gave me a discount on the pricing.

Sometimes local suppliers are happy to work with you on the cost if you ask them. I always make sure to give them lots of free publicity and referrals when they contribute in this way. Word of mouth is what keeps the small shops in business. When I do have a print job that pays in the future, I will remember these small shops and give them my business. I never take their generosity for granted and I try to spread their name as much as possible.

I took one poster to be framed at a local shop called Chrismans Picture Frame and Gallery


Chrismans is the oldest frame shop in Portland and they do a fabulous job.


After the Show, the poster will hang in the main hall stairwell at the school, along with all the posters from previous years.



Links:
Chrismans Picture Frame and Gallery

Rhino Digital

da font