Advice Needed for Poster\Ad

jamieh

Hi all,

As part of a project I'm doing for college I have to design an ad\poster. I'm doing a IT\Business Degree so I don't know the first thing about design.

I had to design a system to manage documents in a small office. I now need to design an ad to show how I would market the system.

I have a slogan and a picture but I just need advice on how the text should look and where it shoud be.

I've attached the ad....Could someone tell me where the text should be, what size, font, etc etc.

Cardinal

Pick a clean sans serif font, like Helvetica or Verdana. They usually look more modern than serif fonts like you've used. Make the font a lot bigger. Maybe put one line above the image and one below and size them so they only take up one line. Make sure they're a colour that makes it legible against the background. It won't be a great poster, but for an IT/Business course, I'm sure no one will care.

netanyahu

Much much bigger font, try size 36 maybe. don't forget to try in bold and heavy , perhaps for the 'don't let your documents manage you' bit, then the same font in regular at the bottom?

Good luck, would like to see the finished one!

NeVeR

Also check spelling ! Docment !

minikin

took some liberties... hope you don't mind...

forbairt

jamieh wrote: »

As part of a project I'm doing for college I have to design an ad\poster. I'm doing a IT\Business Degree so I don't know the first thing about design.

Is part of the project not just figuring out some things yourself ? look at other adverts that companies have done and think oooh I like that and so on.

jamieh wrote: »

I have a slogan and a picture but I just need advice on how the text should look and where it shoud be.

I've attached the ad....Could someone tell me where the text should be, what size, font, etc etc.

Do have rights to distribute that image ? if not I'd recommend you remove it. The majority of stock photographs have limitations on size you are allowed to display the image online or parts of the image.

You've only a small bit of text on the image which doesn't really obscure the image.

Ignorance is no excuse I'm afraid to say
(apologies if you have the right to distribute the image as you see fit)

minikin

Forbairt,

I think you're being a bit hard on jamieh... it's only a college project.
I wish more business people had his attitude - recognising that they don't know the first thing about design rather than trying to dictate layouts to professional designers.

My instinctive reaction was 'jesus, that's cat... and a typo' but rather than just type that, I thought I'd do something constructive.

I don't know where he sourced the image but I can only presume his lecturer has advised him on respecting copyright legislation.

forbairt

minikin wrote: »

Forbairt,

I think you're being a bit hard on jamieh... it's only a college project.
I wish more business people had his attitude - recognising that they don't know the first thing about design rather than trying to dictate layouts to professional designers.

My instinctive reaction was 'jesus, that's cat... and a typo' but rather than just type that, I thought I'd do something constructive.

I don't know where he sourced the image but I can only presume his lecturer has advised him on respecting copyright legislation.

Maybe / Maybe not ... Its a college project ... they aren't looking for the greatest thing since sliced bread I would assume... they have assigned a task and expect him to get it done. In the business world yes you get someone to do what you can't do. In a college the idea is you make a go of it yourself.

I'd recommend looking for advert on google images. Find something you like and copy the style. You get the feeling of I did this myself .. you get to see what is out there. So no I don't find I'm being hard.

The lecturer may have advised him on respecting copyright legislation but he's just posted the highish res image on a public board. It looks to be quite a nice / professional image so I'll assume its stock photography with limitations on use. Not trying to bitchy or anything here just advising him to remove it.

Also I might add on the programming forum you are allowed to ask for guidelines on college projects you aren't allowed to ask for someone to do it.

Edit: I might add the reason I mention the image ... is http://www.irishwebmasterforum.com/graphic-design/3501-getty-looking-for-2k.html

minikin

I'd recommend looking for advert on google images. Find something you like and copy the style. You get the feeling of I did this myself

eh, isn't that plagiarism? If he recognises that he doesn't have the skill set to come up with something credible of his own then the best thing he can do is engage with people who do, in an ideal world he'd give credit to whichever designer did this but hey... he's in college give him a break.

I'm taking down the file I submitted based on possible copyright infringement by the o.p. ... don't want to get boards.ie into trouble

forbairt

minikin wrote: »

eh, isn't that plagiarism? If he recognises that he doesn't have the skill set to come up with something credible of his own then the best thing he can do is engage with people who do, in an ideal world he'd give credit to whichever designer did this but hey... he's in college give him a break.

I would have thought its putting some thought into it seeing what is out there ... what do I like. Finding that they make certain words bold ... like Don't ... finding that they use a pretty large font ... where they break the line ... is it left aligned right aligned and so on. Does black and white look nice ... does a small bit of colour on black and white look good. What do they include on it ... how much copy is there.

Copy the style ... not the content.

For example ... this looks quite good to me ... it was on page 7 of my search for advert

http://www.jupitermusic.co.uk/rdas/pages/html/dFiles/dNews/SoundStart-Advert-Jan-2006-.jpg

The header text is quite large in relation to the image ... its got a nice bit of content and it looks nice aligned to the right.

It contains some extras like a website address which you originally left out ... adds in some more text saying for more details visit the site ... contains your logo if you have one.

From this .. what have I said ...
Larger font for your main text
Align text to right on any copy .. or justify it or whatever .. have a play
Notice how they use different shades of grey on it as well for the text.

Is it plagurism I don't think so given you are looking for some inspiration ...
When you are learning how to do these things you nearly always look for inspiration on what to do ..

Whether its webdesign ... graphic design or whatever we all look for inspiration and ideas from time to time.

minikin

yeah, we all know how much 'inspiration' is committed in web design... :rolleyes:

forbairt

ok going to finish up on this ...

Sorry if I've offended ... it was meant as some advice.

The lecturer obviously gave them the project for a reason. If this is a year long project ? then there is plenty of time to come up with something. It doesn't have to be the greatest. I'll stick by my advice.

minikin

fair 'nuff

jamieh
p.m. me if you need any advice.