Flyers

• 20 Insane and Grunge Type Poster Designs (FYI)
• 30 Inspiring Poster Designs (FYI)
• History of the Poster (FYI)

Typically advertise to a special, limited-time promotion of a single product or service. Flyers contain time-sensitive information printed on one side of a sheet, usually 8.5"x11". Ideal when you have a limited budget and need to get information out right away.

It usually contains more information than a poster and is usually smaller in size. A flyer is a fast and inexpensive means of advertising.

A one color flyer is a piece that is duplicated using a copier, therefore low resolution graphics should be used.

Some flyers are two colors and are offset printed at a quick print shop. These flyers need to have images/photos with a resolution that corresponds to the printer's press.

A 72dpi clip art or stock photo image, downloaded from a free clip art/stock photo website, is a low resolution file and can be used in a flyer design which is being printed on a desktop ink jet or is being digitally color copied.

HOWEVER, do not use intricately designed graphics or a poor quality stock photo(gray, dark). The images must be high contrast photos, possibly posterized for better reproduction.

Vector clip art is best to use. It is resolution independent and will reproduce well in most any situation.

Ideal to promote
- musical events
- dance performances
- special promotional sales of a product

Must capture the audiences's attention
- prioritize information
- use large, bold type
- use borders
- clever catchy phrases
- attention-getting visuals
- print on colored paper

Flyers are reproduced:
-black and white laser printers
- color ink jet printers
- quick-print shops(for large numbers)
- color copiers
- digital color copiers

Distributed in a number of different ways:
- mail
- fax
- stack on counter tops
- hang on walls
- tuck under windshield wipers
-email as PDF files

Images used:
- Clip art or stock photos are often used as quick graphics to add a dynamic feel to the piece.

POSTERS

A Poster is a large graphic work that uses generous and often simplistic forms of expression to capture attention, in order to convey information or to advertise.

Select images and typeface according to your:
1. Purpose of Poster:
.... What are you trying to achieve by presenting this poster?
.... Is it to promote a special event?
.... Is it to report a new discovery?
.... Is it to promote a movie?
.... Is it to promote a public service?
.... What is the feeling, humor, serious etc.

Audience:
....what is the age group of the audience?
.... male or female?

2. Create Thumbnail layouts:
Start designing a poster by creating thumbnails using paper and pencil.
Begin with the correct format( rectangle, square, landscape, portrait) and develop different grid layouts for each thumbnail.

Experiment with different layouts and designs, and keep experimenting until you find a layout that satisfies you.

3. Use plenty of white space: Be DRAMATIC
Do not clutter your poster with data or figures. You may think that including more will impress your audience, but it likely will confuse them or turn them away.

4. Use color with restraint: Color should be used to emphasize or differentiate content, not to decorate it.

Never use colors just to impress, and by all means, stay away from offensive colors such as lime green, pink, orange or lilac.

Also, use CONTRAST. Reversals are great--

Finally, avoid gradient fills; they look great on screen, but on paper they can be disappointing.

5. Stay within size restrictions: Check with the client to get the size specifications.

6. Review, spell check, review, spell check:
Print small, draft versions of your poster. In addition, ask colleagues and friends to proof your poster on screen.

The version you print to the color printer should be your final draft, so do everything you can to make sure your poster is error-free and just as you want it.

History of the Poster

Before the poster became popular, the Town Crier walked the streets proclaiming the news.

In 1539, the "poster" began to slowly but surely replace the town criers.

Posters were created individually by artists until....

1798 - Lithography was invented in.
It was at first too slow and expensive for poster production.

Most posters were woodblocks or metal engravings with little color or design.

This all changed with Cheret’s "three stone lithographic process," a breakthrough which allowed artists to achieve every color in the rainbow with as little as three stones
- usually red, yellow and blue - printed in careful registration.

Although the process was difficult, the result was a remarkable intensity of color and texture, with sublime transparencies and nuances impossible in other media (even to this day).

This ability to combine word and image in such an attractive and economical format finally made the lithographic poster a powerful innovation.

Starting in the 1870s in Paris, it became the dominant means of mass communication in the rapidly growing cities of Europe and America.

The streets of Paris, Milan and Berlin were quickly transformed into the "art gallery of the street," and ushered in the modern age of advertising.