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Paying attention to the design of your leaflets and posters will give your group a dynamic image, and make it look like you know what you’re doing. Luckily, it’s not too hard, either!
Top Tips
- Remember what it is you’re trying to communicate and to whom
- Simplicity is the power behind good design.
Getting your message right
The first challenge, as a designer, is to pick out the core essence of a message, and identify who you want to communicate it to. Write a ‘brief’ to help you keep focused, and work in a team so you can bounce ideas off each other.
With your target audience in mind you can set about simplifying the complex campaigning issue in such a way as to motivate them to engage with it. Don’t attempt to explain everything on one poster, nobody is going to squint at tiny text! Think about how people will react when they read it.
Choosing a design
The next challenge is to catch someone’s eye and, assuming a very short attention span, convey all the information necessary to convince them to take whatever action it is that you are promoting.
If it’s an event you’re advertising, the important information is:
P&P logo
Download the P&P logo.
- what it is
- why people should go
- where it’s happening
- when
- contact details
Leaflet template
Download a customisable leaflet in Rich Text Format or Microsoft Word Format about P&P.
Consider ‘branding’ so that people will start to make the links between all your different posters and realise how active you are! You could choose a consistent style, a particular logo, font or paper colour. This can save time too - once you’ve arrived at a style you’re happy with, use one poster as a template for the next!
Getting Attention
MPs had trouble ignoring these petitions when they dropped through their letterboxes for the Treat AIDS Now campaign.
This section is all about catching people’s eye, and what to do with it once you’ve caught it. A few things eyes go for:
- Big capital letters
- Bold, thick fonts instantly imply SHORT, IMPORTANT MESSAGE, READ ME NOW. However, it is much easier for your eye to read lowercase letters, and fonts with serifs, like Times Roman so bear this in mind for big sections of text.
- Drop caps, as used in newspapers, make the first letter of a paragraph huge. This gives the eye a focal point that leads directly into the paragraph.
- Images grab eyes above anything else. People, and more importantly faces, come top of the list!
Using computers for design work
- Hand drawn text can be just the effect you are after sometimes. It can imply an informal, friendly, human feel. On the other hand, a clean design from a computer package can be more readable and can look more professional.
- Desktop publishing packages like Publisher, Quark XPress, Adobe Pagemaker etc. can be really handy tools if you have the time to learn how to use them, alternatively, Powerpoint is simpler to use. But all is not lost if you are stuck with Word, Word Perfect or Open Office.
- Clip-art is a collection of photos, pictures, cartoons that you can use to enhance your design work, but avoid the temptation to clutter the page with abstract, irrelevant images which reduce the impact of your campaigning message.
- Fancy typefaces, or fonts, can also be used to spice up your designs. Don’t forget why Times Roman is so popular though - it is more readable than most other fonts.
Photocopying
Unless you are producing well over 500 copies, photocopying will be the cheapest option for reproducing your design.
- As greys do not often come out clearly after photocopying, and colour photocopying is very expensive, you’re best to stick to a black & white design.
- Coloured paper is often a cheap alternative to plain white paper but remember that the black text might not be as legible if you choose a dark colour. Be aware that it is more difficult to find recycled coloured paper for use in photocopiers.
- Invert your design. This way the colour of the paper shows through the black background, which can help your poster stand out.
- Coloured toner. Many photocopy shops have a machine which has either a red or blue toner cartridge in it, which you can use instead of the usual black toner at little extra cost.
- Familiarise yourself with what your Sixth Form has in the way of copying facilities.
- Ask your local copying shop what they can do - if you explain what you want and your constraints, they can often give good advice.
Professional printing
This is not the same as photocopying - it gives nicer quality, but it’s much more complicated. The printing process involves running film and cutting plates, which are then used on the printing press to reproduce your design on paper. The set-up costs are very high, the running costs are very low, so it is only a valid option for runs of over 1000 copies. Printing in colour costs four times as much in set-up costs as printing in black, white and greys. If you need vast numbers of copies, talk to a local printing company. For advice on this, you can always contact us - call 01865 245678.
