creating a promotional eventunit 2 – promote you and your work at “Design Fest”

you have been invited…

Prompt: You have been invited to Design Fest International 2014

Design Fest is an international Festival of Independent Design. It is where fiercely independent creatives compete with one another, introduce themselves to new markets and consumers, and expose their creative talent and design aesthetic to national and global audiences.

Each designer is awarded a “space” at Design Fest. This space consists of a table, booth an backboard.

Designers showcase their work and meet & greet with prospective clients and firms.

step 1: begin your poster

To be selected a designer and host your booth…

You must design an award winning poster showcasing your talents, skills, knowledge and aesthetic

▪ A good poster tells a story

▪ A good poster SHOWS not TELLS

▪ A good poster does not require the reader to dig deep or study the image and layout

about posters

Posters a poster is a piece of printed paper designed

to be attached to a wall or vertical surface and includes both textual and graphic elements

History Posters, in the form of placards and posted

bills, have been used since earliest times, primarily for advertising and announcements.

Purely textual posters have a long history: they advertised the plays of Shakespeare and made citizens aware of government proclamations for centuries.

The great revolution in posters was the development of printing techniques that allowed for cheap mass production and printing, including notably the technique lithography which was invented in 1796 by the German Alois Senefelder.

The invention of lithography was soon followed by chromolithography, which allowed for mass editions of posters illustrated in vibrant colours to be printed.

step 2: plan your poster

Your poster should:

Posters are meant to exist in a public space and catch a viewers attention from across the room but also communicate to the viewer up close

▪ It’s message and meaning should be clear to the viewer▪ Pay special attention to the following: color schemes, contrast, shapes, lines,

layout, scale, balance, positive and negative space, and typography▪ Your poster should communicate detailed information about you, the artist, and

promote your work▪ Your poster should not look like an image with type slapped on it▪ Composition is key!

step 3: poster requirements

Your poster should:

Print Size: 18” x 24” (vertical or horizontal) Four Colors – limit yourself to a four color palette Illustrator for the main design, Photoshop for

enhancements or final touch ups (be mindful of resolution and quality when using Photoshop)

step 4: poster design

The steps of the design process:

Brainstorm: think of at least four or five graphics that you would like to collage/compose to promote what you know▪ Graphics: a graphic images combine

symbols, words and icons to represent an idea

▪ Look for ways to make each of these stand out but also tie in with the set to create unity

Create at least four thumbnails planning the layout of your poster

step 5: revised design for review

Peer Review:

Share your thumbnails with your peers Choose the best thumbnail Make changes based on peer suggestions Get instructor approval of your design

step 6: create your poster

Create Your Poster:

Copy you need to include:▪ Name and contact information

▪ Name, phone number, web address, blog address etc.

▪ What you do (what kind of art, your skills, your knowledge)▪ Why you do it (why do you make art? Why do use your style?)

Memorable Moment:▪ Include something that makes you memorable and stand out!▪ Create a message, slogan or other tagline to get people to read your promotional

poster