Research - Guiding Questions

Research - Guiding Questions

In order to make my poster as effective as possible, it is crucial for me to set me some guiding questions. These will also be a very important part of the research I’ll have to do in order to create the poster. These questions should then be answered before starting:

1.   What makes a good and effective poster?

Of course every good poster has a title, a slogan, as well as the date, time, and place of the event. A good poster doesn’t have too many things on it: simple is better. There should be one main image: too many images create confusion and disorder. Of course, this image has to be chosen very carefully because it must grasp the purpose of the poster. There can also be a logo, and in this case I suggest there would be either the ISM logo, or the X-Factor one (no copyright infringements though). The logo is important because it advertises the event. Logos are made to be stuck in the readers’ mind. This way, the reader will want to come to the vent. All of these are both conventions, because they are essential to create a poster, and things that make a poster effective. Another thing which must be kept under consideration is the purpose of the poster. Some posters are made to be used only once (like in this case) and some aren’t. It is important to ask yourself, before starting the poster, what do you want the person passing by your poster to do? There are of course things that might not be obligatory, but at the same time some are. For example, the slogan has to be extremely persuasive.

2.   What colours are more eye-catching on a poster?

It is important that the background’s colour contrasts the writing’s colour. The two colours must match together but of course the writing must be legible. Colours like black and white are usually the best for fonts, this way the background can be as colourful as I please. In this case, the colours I should use should include red, since it’s the X-Factor colour. This way the reader can easily find a link between the School’s X-Factor and the real one. At the end of the day, the colours don’t have to be necessarily eye-catching, but they have to be clear and well-matched together.

3.   How big can/should the poster be?

Posters are never small. In my case, I think the best thing to do is to print the poster on an A3-sized sheet of paper. This way the poster will be big enough to be seen by students walking in the corridors, but not too big so that it ruins the school’s environment.

4.    What kind of fonts should I use?

I have looked up many posters and I have noticed that the fonts used are usually extremely simple. This is in fact the best choice. I believe that some fonts that I could use are Tahoma, Broadway, Eras Medium and other relatively simple but clear fonts. Useless to say, that the font size must be big: title could be 130, other important pieces of information 80.

5.    What images/photos should be included?

This poster will be hanged in the corridors of a school, therefore images must be appropriate also because they must be relative to the poster. Since my poster is advertising the X-Factor event, images like a microphone, musical notes, ballet shoes and other artistic images are suitable. Of course they must be quite big because they must be clear to see. When the reader will see the poster, he/she must be able to understand what the event is about. And, last but not least, it is always better to put images that the reader may know or recognize.

6.   What is the best program to use for creating a poster in this case?

The best program for creating posters is of course Adobe Photoshop but I unfortunately haven’t learned yet how to use it. This is why I am going to use Microsoft Office Publisher which is another very good (and quite easy) program to use for creating posters. I hope I will improve my skills with Publisher and that I will become good with it as I am with PowerPoint.

7.   What kind of information should be included in the poster?

The conventions of a good poster are:

-title, slogan

-info on event (date, time, place)

-logo (if there is one)

-at least one picture/image

-colour code throughout the poster

My poster should in fact have all of these conventions in order to make it as perfect as possible.

8.   Can I inspire myself by previous X-Factor posters?

I have looked up some old X-Factor posters and they are all pretty simple, also because the majority of the publicity for the event is done on the television. Having said this, I am going to inspire myself to the real X-Factor logo and I am going to use the same colour code as the one there is on the X-Factor posters which are mainly shades of red and some grey.

Bibliography for Guiding Questions’ Research

Websites:

"Audition for X FACTOR!." Kollaboration San Francisco. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. <http://kollaborationsf.org/2012/04/audition-for-x-factor/>.

"Color in Advertising : Colors." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. <http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/01276/colorsanddesign/colorinadvertising.html>.

" Archive X Factor Event 2010 : Dcu Drama ."  Homepage : DCU Drama . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. <http://www.dcudrama.ie/history/events/events_2010-2011/pages/xfactor.html>.
"Image of Game of Thrones (Game of Thrones Poster - Jon Snow) - Screened." Movie & TV Reviews, News, and Video Commentary - Screened. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. <http://www.screened.com/game-of-thrones/17-29153/all-images/132-2057555/got_jon_poster/131-442381/>.

"Top 7 Fonts Used By Professionals In Graphic Design." JUST Creative. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://justcreative.com/2008/09/23/top-7-fonts-used-by-professionals-in-graphic-design-2/>.

Interviews:

Ms, Daykin. Personal interview. 17 Oct. 2013.

Blogs:

 "Conventions of Great Poster Design (Part 1) : Get Inspired." 1stwebdesigner. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. <http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/conventions-poster-design-inspiration/>.

"Grade 10 Unit 1." Grade 10 Unit 1. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. <http://g10unit1.blogspot.it/>.

Thobhani, Jay. "Conventions of a poster." Upload & Share PowerPoint presentations, documents, infographics. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://www.slideshare.net/JayThobhani/conventions-of-a-poster-10381177>.

Other:

My general knowledge

YouTube:

"POSTER DESIGN CONVENTIONS." YouTube. YouTube, 2 June 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbQ3_IkyZ7o>.

I think my sources aren’t biased because I have chosen very serious websites to answer my Guiding Questions. I must say though, that I have used some information which I read from some blogs, which aren’t always professional, and may have subjective info, but it may be seen as a good thing because its different points of view. Information is valid and reliable because of the views of the blogs and the videos. Also, the websites look very professional and are relatively old, and they have been edited and corrected more and more times. None of my websites were too detailed (which meant the website just wrote a bunch of stuff) nor didn’t give enough detail. I think in fact they were just right: a few images, a page of clear writing.