by Phillip Martin

1. F.O.C.U.S.on Posters Tips for Making Successful Posters, Websites, Projects, Book Covers and a Whole Lot More! by Phillip Martin

2. F.O.C.U.S.on Posters • Focus on these five key points for better projects. The first key is . . . • F • O • C • U • S

3. F.O.C.U.S.on Posters • Focus on these five key points for better projects. The first key is . . . • Fonts • O • C • U • S

4. Fonts • Font choice is important. If you look at ads, they usually use no more than three fonts. Often, they use one font but in 2 or 3 sizes.

5. Fonts • If an ad uses all capital letters, it is usually a simple font.

6. Fonts • Fonts that are more complicated are not as easy to read if they are all written with capital letters.

7. Fonts • You will almost never see ads with rainbow lettering (either top to bottom as seen here or left to right with different letters.)

8. Fonts • It may be attractive but it is harder to read than solid colors on words.

9. Fonts • You almost never see an ad that has every other word (or every other letter) in a different color.

10. Fonts • Most lettering in ads goes left to right; not in spirals, up-and-down, or diagonally.

11. Fonts • You need to also use these concepts in your posters. What is good with the fonts here? What could have been done better? Find out on the next slide.

12. Fonts • Yes, most important of all, when you draw your own letters, use a ruler. If you use only capital letters, draw two lines. If you also make lower case letters, use three lines.

13. Fonts • Yes, most important of all, when you draw your own letters, use a ruler. If you use only capital letters, draw two lines. If you also make lower case letters, use three lines. • Don’t press hard with the pencil when you draw the lines. You will later need to erase them.

14. F.O.C.U.S.on Posters • For successful projects, you must also focus on . . . • Fonts • Oops! Watch that Glue! • C • U • S

15. Oops! Watch that Glue! • Use glue sparingly. You want to use enough to properly hold your papers in place. But, you don’t want to use so much glue that it leaks out on the front.

16. Wow! Wow! Wow!

17. Careful Gluing • This poster is so beautiful! Lots of cats were individually cut out. However, the text and pictures were not secure.

18. Oops! Watch that Glue! • Keep your hands clean and glue-free.

19. Oops! Watch that Glue! • Keep your hands clean and glue-free. • Be careful in placing pieces on the poster so that they aren’t accidentally crooked.

20. Oops! Watch that Glue! • This is a great photograph, with excellent emphasis, but just like on some students’ posters, the text is crooked (because I made it that way.)

21. F.O.C.U.S.on Posters • For successful projects, don’t forget about . . . • Fonts • Oops! Watch that Glue! • Careful Cutting • U • S

22. Careful Cutting! • If you want things square, measure or use a cutting board. • Note how the yellow text boxes are crooked.

23. Careful Cutting! • Plan ahead. • Straight corners and edges really make a huge difference in how your project looks.

24. Careful Cutting! • When adding a border, be sure all sides are equal. • The trim could be more evenly cut, but what a great poster!

25. Careful Cutting! • If the object is not square, take time to carefully cut.

26. Oops! A round border around the graph is very clever, but also very hard to cut evenly.

27. Wow! However, a compass can solve this problem easily.

28. F.O.C.U.S.on Posters • For successful posters, you must also consider the . . . • Fonts • Oops! Watch that Glue! • Careful Cutting • Use of Color • S

29. Use of Color • Many kids’ posters and websites use too many colors with the lettering. As a rule, use no more than three colors. Two is even better.

30. Use of Color • It’s hard to get better than this poster. Only two colors were used for all of the lettering.

31. Use of Color • Don’t use dark letters on dark paper or light letters on light paper. Contrast is important.

32. Use of Color • Don’t use dark letters on dark paper or light letters on light paper. Contrast is important. • The art needs emphasis to be easily read.

33. F.O.C.U.S.on Posters • For successful projects, finally, you must . . . • Fonts • Oops! Watch that Glue! • Careful Cutting • Use of Color • Stress for Success

34. Stress for Success • Some posters look like Where’s Wally ads with so much clutter you don’t know where to look. Your projects need something emphasised, something stressed. It is usually the title and / or a piece of art.

35. Stress for Success • Science fair posters need to have a lot of information. There is no way around that. But, for other posters, less is more. Less wording and information makes for a more attractive poster.

36. Stress for Success • There is so much information! But, the stressed title is very attractive.

37. Stress for Success • The people behind this ad campaign understood the concept that “less is more”.

38. Stress for Success • Some ads stress the title. It’s the first thing you see.

39. Stress for Success • Some ads stress the art to capture your attention.

40. Stress for Success • Other ads balance between the two.

41. Stress for Success • Almost no ads focus on the written text. It’s important, but when it comes to writing on a poster, remember less is more.

42. Stress for Success This poster has a lot of good information, but most people will not take the time to read all of it.

43. F.O.C.U.S.Review • Now that you have “F.O.C.U.S.ed” on steps for making a good project, look at these examples made by students -- and people who should have been AIS students. What have they done well? What could they have improved upon?

44. Example 1

45. Example 1 • Okay. Good choice of colour for fonts.

46. Example 1 • Okay. Good choice of colour for fonts. • Okay. Large centre photo.

47. Example 1 • Okay. Good choice of colour for fonts. • Okay. Large centre photo. • Okay. Good contrast.

48. Example 1 • Okay. Good choice of colour for fonts. • Okay. Large centre photo. • Okay. Good contrast. • Oops! Too much clutter on the page.

49. Example 1 • Okay. Good choice of colour for fonts. • Okay. Large centre photo. • Okay. Good contrast. • Oops! Too much clutter on the page. • Oops! Two fonts works better than two fonts plus italics.

50. Example 1 • Okay. Good choice of colour for fonts. • Okay. Large centre photo. • Okay. Good contrast. • Oops! Too much clutter on the page. • Oops! Two fonts works better than two fonts plus italics. • Oops! Wrong choice of photos.