Exercise: Too much or not enough information

Exercise (p.46 Graphic Design One): Look around locally and identify an upcoming event. Design two posters to promote it. Make the first poster full of details and descriptions about the event; include all the details you think your audience might need.

For the second poster apply Occam’s Razor to pare back the information to a bare minimum – be extreme: how little information can you get away with and how few words can you use?

Which design works best? What is the key information you need to include?

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The brief: From the above information I took the focus as being –

• The audience
• Communication – devising the right messages to promote the event
• Determining the optimal information

Researching & developing ideas:

I wasn’t really looking forward to this exercise, as I know my own preference is for less information presented in an attractive and eye-catching form. It made it feel like a bit of an effort to go through the activity but I also knew I might be surprised and should keep an open mind. Walking through the local town (which I will keep anonymous so as not to offend the event organisers!) I came across a poster that caught my eye because it was the antithesis of my view of an effective event poster.

It was promoting a forthcoming fireworks night and apart from a few symbols (based on the organiser’s logo) it had thirty lines of text, which ranged from the title through to the fact that photographs would be taken of the event. I was amazed about how text heavy it was and it made me think it looked like something that had probably evolved via a committee. Anyway, I thought it was a prime opportunity for me to see what I would do for a similar event.

I did some online research and given that it was nearly bonfire night also looked locally at other event posters. I then worked on a number of thumbnails and experimented with layouts.

Visualising ideas:

It seemed obvious but I wanted to include really attractive fireworks, which made me think that for at least part of the poster the background would be very dark or black. I also wanted to promote the notion of it being a spectator event so some sense of people attending needed to be included.

I found some suitable stock photos and using Photoshop started to experiment with layouts. For the more detailed poster I decided to go landscape because I thought it might be easier to include more text. I used a shot of three large bright coloured fireworks because I though it might work roughly around the rule of thirds. I then used shaded panels and reversed out text for the written information. I used an orange tint to the text because white looked too harsh and I thought it echoed the fireworks and the orange of a bonfire.

In the meantime I had been researching poster design and had started a new Pinterest board to collect ideas. A few things had started emerging based notionally on a Swiss style and this informed the second design, which was pared back. I decided on what I thought was the key information: title; date; venue; opening times; prices; website and sponsor.

I liked the idea of using circles to echo the shape of the fireworks, like a ‘sneak peak’ on the action. I then decided to use dark and light to bring out the fireworks and the text. Feedback from family suggested they preferred the less text version it was also noticeable that they were looking at the visuals first and then looking at the text. Something needed to attract their attention before they moved on to worrying about the information the poster included.

I had downloaded some fireworks brushes for Photoshop and decided to play with them. I kept the circle element of the second design and just ‘painted’ in some fireworks. I pulled out a colour from the fireworks for the background and decided on a simple san serif typeface. I was concerned it was a bit too simple and obvious but this was the poster that everyone then seemed to prefer. Occam’s Razor in action! The feedback suggested it was bright, colourful, eye catching and easy to read.

Critiquing:

In terms of the brief I think the final poster probably fits the requirements best it is easy to see from a distance and in my opinion has the key information. It does rely on a potential audience having access to the Internet to check ticket prices or additional information, which may be a weakness. The event offered tickets in advance and tickets on the gate and I thought there wasn’t an easy half way point, if I started adding more information it would grow and grow.

My personal preference is the second version because it feels a little more stylish. This highlighted for me the importance of working to the brief problem solving and attending to the client. It is clear that my personal taste may not be the best solution for the client. In the end I decided what was probably needed was something easily seen, attractive and identifiable from a distance.

I don’t think the full information version worked very well, which may be a combination of design and content. It feels fussy and cluttered and I think the design is not well balanced. I could have worked on it more but I’m not sure where I would have gone with it because it just felt like it included too much as a promotional poster (even though it was slightly pared back from the original I saw!).

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