Synopsis IN THIS PROBLEM you are asked to design a series of three posters for a hypothetical museum exhibition about some aspect of design (all categories of design, including graphic, industrial, interior, architectural, and so on). All three of your posters must focus on the same sub-category of design, for example, the design of packaging, or automobiles, or buildings, or appliances, or dinnerware, or electronics, and so on. In other words, you can’t produce one poster on bicycles, another on books, and a third one on chairs. If you choose “chair design” as your theme, you need to make three posters about chair design, each using a different chair. If you choose automobiles, each poster would feature a different automobile, although the theme would be the same. Beyond subject matter, all three posters must be designed to work together as a “set” or matching “suite,” not unlike a dinnerware set. While each poster is unique, they also share certain visual attributes, which enable them to “go together.” For example, look at the suite of three posters on the left. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postershapeimage_2_link_0
Problem Guidelines and Constraints The printed page on which we will be working is a tabloid format, using a vertical or portrait format (11 wide by 17 high). The print resolution at that size (the output size) is 300 dpi. Although the page is tabloid, the live area is two inches smaller than the page dimensions, so that a one-inch white border is on all sides. Initially, each of the three posters will be designed to fit full size on a tabloid page. When all three have been completed, choose the strongest one to print at full size on a page by itself. In addition, position all three posters, at a reduced size, to fit side by side on a single tabloid page (see diagram at right).
 
 
11 in
17 in
The live area measures 9 x 15, with a one-inch white border on all sides. the page size (tabloid) is 11 x 17.
ART 2030 Sections 1 & 2 graphic design one | problem 2
 
This problem will be critiqued in class on Wednesday, February 15. Revisions are due one week later.
home Click here for more examples of well-designed posters
 
 
 
Above Commemorative poster about American typographer Frederic Goudy.
The strongest of the three posters is printed full-size on a tabloid page.
In addition, all three posters are positioned side by side, at a reduced size, for comparison as a series, on another tabloid sheet.
A suite of three posters (designer unknown, c1975) designed for a paper manufacturer. They focus on three different kinds of design (graphic, industrial and interior) but (as shown by the diagrams) recurrent colors, shapes, and use of fonts enable them to “go together” as a set.
Above These are three film posters from the 1920s, designed in Russia by the Stenberg brothers, who are among the most admired poster designers in history.
Above Posters designed by California designer Michael Schwab for the Golden Gate Natonal Parks Conservancy.
Here are online links to other famous poster designers in recent history—
 
A.M. Cassandre
Abram Games
Lester Beall
Lucian Bernhard
Beggarstaff Brothers
Alfons Mucha
Paul Rand
Image Sources There are a number of ways that we could obtain suitable images for this project, including: • Taking our own digital photographs of objects too large to scan. We would have to use a tripod; a high resolution (large size) picture setting; position the object against a plain, contrasting background; and use appropriate lighting. Here are some examples of object photos taken by my wife for her online vintage shop. This would be the preferable thing to do, since the person taking the photograph would own the copyright to it. • If the object were small enough and nearly flat, we could scan it directly on a flatbed scanner. • We could scan a large high quality photograph from a book, making sure that we scan it at a higher dpi than 300 (maybe around 500 or so), in case we need later to trade off dpi for size. This has the advantage of getting a better, larger image than we could most likely find on the internet. But it also has disadvantages: Since we would be scanning a halftone photograph, we run the risk of ending up with a moiré interference pattern. In addition, we are most likely violating copyright, unless the book was published before 1924. • Another option would be to search for high quality, large-sized images on the internet, but again we must be certain that we are not violating copyright. If the online image is clearly labeled as “public domain,” or “copyright-free” or “copyright expired,” or if it is licensed under various image-use agreements such as Creative Commons (use this search page), we may be able to use it. If its use is not openly stated, then we have to assume that it’s copyrighted. Wikipedia is an especially excellent source of copyright-free or Creative Commons images at high resolution. But there are many others as well, including such government sources as the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.http://www.etsy.com/shop/AppleCharlotte?section_id=7411292http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moir%C3%A9_patternhttp://search.creativecommons.org/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Pagehttp://www.loc.gov/pictures/shapeimage_16_link_0shapeimage_16_link_1shapeimage_16_link_2shapeimage_16_link_3shapeimage_16_link_4
Left I tore off this small scrap of paper from a list my wife had made, then folded it and scanned it for use in my montages. I did the same thing with a playing card (above). This is an historic public domain photograph I found on the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs website. Above A newspaper photographer give me permission to use a photograph he make of this ceramic pot, with no charge. Left and below My wife made these “product photographs” using a tripod and a digital camera. Poster Text What text do you need in your posters? Not much, actually. A title for the exhibition, maybe a subtitle, the inclusive dates, and the name of the (phony) museum. Software For this problem, InDesign could be used in combination with Photoshop. But most likely it is easier to do the whole thing in Photoshop. Art Deco railway poster