I suck at making posters. Two or three years ago I made a poster template, and I can't seem to break free from that design. Today, I've spent way more time than I anticipated trying to find some snappy poster designs I could "get inspired" by - even to the point where Sondre and myself went scouring through the corridors of other departments looking for kewl posters.
On the plus side, I'm not the only one suffering from some form of poster design disability - as a matter of fact, there's a lot of unimaginative and plain ugly out there in the world of posters. However, this hardly helps us escape from our current predicament. The poster I'm making needs to be shipped off to the printer on Monday at the latest, and I'm apparently unable to do anything with the actual content of the poster beyond a planning stage until the design is up and running to my liking.
"Let's attend this thing and register posters - that way we'll get something to hang in the corridors to advertise our research. Much better than a talk." Yeah right - that's some epic decision-making skills right there. Writing a paper? No problem. Making a talk/presentation? No problem. Combining these formats into the form of a poster which doesn't look like a cross between "Wilhelm's House of Equations" and "Sesame Street: Ernie does Science" - big f*ckin' problem.
No es f*ckin' bueno.
On the plus side, I'm not the only one suffering from some form of poster design disability - as a matter of fact, there's a lot of unimaginative and plain ugly out there in the world of posters. However, this hardly helps us escape from our current predicament. The poster I'm making needs to be shipped off to the printer on Monday at the latest, and I'm apparently unable to do anything with the actual content of the poster beyond a planning stage until the design is up and running to my liking.
"Let's attend this thing and register posters - that way we'll get something to hang in the corridors to advertise our research. Much better than a talk." Yeah right - that's some epic decision-making skills right there. Writing a paper? No problem. Making a talk/presentation? No problem. Combining these formats into the form of a poster which doesn't look like a cross between "Wilhelm's House of Equations" and "Sesame Street: Ernie does Science" - big f*ckin' problem.
No es f*ckin' bueno.
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14 comments:
Well, I'm no poster expert (in fact, I don't think I've every made one), but if you plan on making a new desing template for your posters, I do strongly recommend two books I've reviewed earlier on this blog: Universal Principles of Design and The Elements of Graphic Design. I can send them to you if you like to flip through them (the first one is a really quick read).
An online resource with a lot of examples and links is www.presentationzen.com on design and presentation in general. It's a bit biased towards oral presentations, but a lot of the principles and examples can be implemented on posters as well.
Pretty slow here at the blog these days, isn't it?
It'd be cool to read those books, although it seems like I've come up with a format which works quite well for now, and that I won't be ashamed to put up in close proximity to my office. Some consulting by my wife was necessary, as I'd just about painted my way into a very 1984 color scheme here.
Quite f*cked up actually; I've never got these kinds of problems when I'm making presentations, although the same rules ought to apply there.
Yeah; it's quite slow on the blog at the moment.
Some consulting by my wife was necessary...
It's always good to have a second opinion.
...I'd just about painted my way into a very 1984 color scheme here
LOL
Best advice I got regarding color scheme:
You have Black, White and Greys. And then you have Red. (Though I seem to use orange instead of red sometimes).
Or just take a (nature) photo and use the color picker to snag the colors. They will fit to each other in 95% of the cases.
...that I won't be ashamed to put up in close proximity to my office
That doesn't say much, as you don't seem to be ashamed of publicly acknowledge that you know me...
;-)
Or just take a (nature) photo and use the color picker to snag the colors.
The what now? What the hell kind of demonic software is it that you operate with here?
That doesn't say much, as you don't seem to be ashamed of publicly acknowledge that you know me...
..why do you think I cling to partial anonymity? :-)
The what now? What the hell kind of demonic software is it that you operate with here?
Microsoft Poster Generator Professional 2007, with the Chemisty add-on pack. You don't have that one?
Kidding. Most graphic software that can take pixel images, has a tool where you can click on a part of the image, and it gives you the color.
..why do you think I cling to partial anonymity?
:-D
..I used to have a license for Adobe InDesign CS, and I even knew how to use it.
Then I had to replace my computer. Now I'm relegated to the three P's - Powerpoint, Paint and Photoshop. Paint is about as useful as a pair of rubber crutches, and I've got zero Photoshop game, so I'm pretty much left up a creek without a paddle. True story
PhotoShop is your friend. :-D Learn the basics, it's quite useful, even though it initially may take some effort to get into it.
Don't know man - it's pretty painful to use, in my opinion.
...douse that light...
Indeed.
It'd be kewl to browse through the design books you reviewed
Will see if I can mail those out to you bro. Unless you're in K-town (for a good time) this weekend; then yo can pick 'em up in person. ;-)
...if her lovin' don't get me
I know her husband will...
......awesome tune, that "Just Got Back From Baby's", ain't it?
This weekend's forecast promises low odds of encountering me in K-town.
...and no rush at all with them books - this poster is for next week, and after that I don't think I'll make anymore posters this year, so.......
I know, but I still gonna get them off in the mail in reasonable time. If not, I'm gonna forget.
Anyway, these books are not "Poster books", and I'm willing to bet that you will write reports, make presentations, give lecures or write articles within the next year. One of the books can even give you tips on how to layout your home, quality control of your software, etc.
I'm willing to bet that you will write reports, make presentations, give lecures or write articles within the next year.
LOL...I would really suck at my job if I didn't
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