starting to look at poster design...

OK.. So I have my idea, now I need to think about how to layout my poster, i.e. positioning the text in the best way possible, to make all letters and words readable and in focus. And not forgetting interesting.

I first starting planning and sketching these few layout designs in last friday's session on poster design. I was considering using different grid systems, including the 'golden ratio', also known as the 'Fibonacci sequence'.. which is this:

.. Seen being used here to take this photograph of some flowers.

The golden ratio is basically the idea that if you follow this spiral, any photo or design created using this will look good. Each square is a number, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two numbers.

I also just thought about the placement of the text so that the text at the front will not block the text at the back. By juxtaposing the text slightly, I think all text should be visible nicely.

I also had to consider what font to use, and what size to have it. I knew to start that the bolder and thicker the font the better it would look, and also easier it would be to cut out. So the decision I made from this little bit of research was to try it out with the font 'Britannic Bold'. Next was the choice of size... I decided to do it at 100pt, so there would be another connection with the 100 YEARS of GF Smith Paper.

Other poster Designers.. 
I also started to look at other people's poster designers, to see what is consider a good design, and see if anything in particular would not work well.

This first one won the 7th prize in the 'What is Graphic Design' poster competition. I really like it, I like how the designer has placed his text, like it has been right aligned, so each line is slightly to the right. This is something I could try with mine, as it makes way for the text behind it. I also admire how the designer has varied the size of the text, putting more emphasis on the words that he/she wants you to look at first.

This poster also plays with the juxtaposing of text, in quite an interesting way! The way its placed forces your eye to read it in a certain way and follow the path that it has laid out for you.

David Carson is a very well known typographer.. whose work I have admired for years! He came to mind as my poster is going to be pretty much type only, and being a typographer, Carson's work always incorporates type in interesting ways.

Carson's style is very much hectic, with a lot of the time the type being all over the place, which at first could be thought of as careless. However, all of his posters have been placed strategically, and I love his work. I can use his style to influence my own work in the placement of the type.