free-be poster

[Janny]

Hello... I offered to do a poster for the local playgroup I take my daughter to... so its only a freebe, but I like to take pride in my work (they wont really care) and I want to know.. why does it suck? Ive actually spent quite a bit of time on it but I cant get it to look really...flowing?..(good eye flow).. easy to read yet pleasing as a whole...
any suggestions?

[Janny]

oh yea,, Ill be printing it out on my printer,, hence the white border.

[flutterby nut]

i don't think the gradient blue text works...or the drop shadows...the brown text is very difficult to read...i would right-justify the bullet points as well...wouldn't box in all the text either...

i would suggest making it bright and fun...kid-friendly...visually convey that it's an exciting place for kids to be...while you have a cute pic there, it communicates a 'low-budget' child care feel...while we've all seen kids who enjoy the cardboard box more than the toy inside, it's just not an appealing idea for child care...just thoughts...

[EC]

needs heirarchy. Everything on this page is a little "different" -- but what's the first thing you want me to look at? The second thing? The third thing? If everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized.

[emmerse]

the stroked boxes look, for lack of a better phrase, random-ass.

You could still utilize them, but I'd put some order to them, rather than having them break through eachother and/or lines of text. And by putting order to them, you don't have to lose the playfull feeling, just think of it as controlled choas. make it look fun, but also let them serve a purpose.

I'd also go with brighter colors and lose the drop shadows.

[fyred1]

I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but for two dollars your kids get to play inside a cardboard box? I agree with the other posts.

[Janny]

I dont get it. For $2 Im suprised we even have a box. lol. its just alot of mothers getting together to play with their kids, its not highclass childcare. Im keeping the pic.

[fyred1]

Janney, the picture is cute.

If you're interested in design, you should purchase a few books on design and layout or search the web for information on grids, hierarchy, and typography.

The comments here are not meant to hurt (I'm sure) but to help. This poster needs a LOT of help. :) Just my 2 cents worth...

[flutterby nut]

child care doesn't have to be 'high class' to merit a bright, fun, inviting feel...convey the idea that a pleasurable experience can be had by both mothers and children, no matter what the cost or budget...

[cjoe]

boxes, such boxes! Not the box but the boxes that all your type is contained in.

[Janny]

Janney, the picture is cute.

If you're interested in design, you should purchase a few books on design and layout or search the web for information on grids, hierarchy, and typography.

The comments here are not meant to hurt (I'm sure) but to help. This poster needs a LOT of help. :) Just my 2 cents worth...

hey,, dont worry,, Im not offended,, I really appreciate the comments. I was just saying that I thought the picture was appropriate, but the design sucked and I didnt know why.

[EC]

Janny, maybe try this technique, see if it's helpful: Choose three design elements. A design element can be a color, a drop shadow, a gradient, a font, a font size, etc. Try limiting your design to just three and see if you can do it. Having all different sizes of type, several different fonts, etc. makes things busy. This exercise can help to learn how powerful restraint is in design.

This way, you're going to have to decide what the most important message is and give that some oomph -- in scale, contrast, color, what have you. (Going back to my heirarchy comment.) Then see what elements are ok to sit quietly in the background, maybe just apply a standard size body type to those elements.

Often fixing a design is about taking away, not adding. Hope that helps. I like the photo, btw. :)

[Janny]

Ok,, how about this,, I took away the gradients, and the drop shadows.. and the meaningless boxes,, and tried to organise the text in a heirachy. Then I added some colours to make it look like a fun place for kids.
I added the bouncing balls though,, is it too much? too many elements?
let me know, thanks

[designpunk]

much better in my opinion, but still a little work to be done.

I would reccomend buying a graphic design book (one of the big ones that showcase loads of designs) and basicly copying other layouts that you like - obviously you will be altering the images and text.

And don't feel that your cheating yourself or ripping someones work - this is a very good way to learn composition etc and you'll find that by the end of it your design will have changed considerably.

If you don't have the resources to buy a book, just takle a look at the millions of samples on the web.

If your printing this out at home a few times, you may want to go back to a mainly white design to save on repro costs.

[Mitch Wood]

Much better than before.

Real quicky here as I am under the kosh at the mo...

Try and use your neg space wisely. Make the type work with each other, it doesn't need to seperated so much. Let your eye flow through it.

Also I would like to see the white band either omitted or used as a slightly transparent band. (I am sure the box will make a good BG that isn't too distracting)

I feel the type could be condensed even more (when I say condensed I don't mean deleting), just grouping it wisely and subtley, this will help with your neg space also as mentioned above.

Also choose youyr colour wisely, make the colour compliment each other.

Have a look here for colour swatch compatibility... (it isn't perfect at all, but it can help when in a rush)

http://meddle.dzygn.com/tests/colors/

Good luck. Good to see someone who takes notes and makes there own decisions to make the job better...

Sorry if this doesnn't make sense, only have a few minu

[PrintDriver]

Child's

[Jeizzavelle]

I like the second design better but I second the child's and maybe the wording on that sentence. I'm not sure that I am understanding the mesage completley and you want everyone to be sure. I like the kid in the box (it's cute) and as long as it's an informal playgroup I don't think it's awful. There are still things that bug me (but I think with the advice up thread they can be fixed) But I do find this poster more 'easy on the eyes' I guess and definatley more readable. The first one I wasn't able to read everything clearly. You are on the right track just remember 'KISS' (Keep It Simple Stupid) sometimes is the best way to go. :)

[tZ]

you need to decide what is important.

I don't think the font and imagery are working well in combination either.

A better approach may be to use the image larger and intergrate the text within. Cause currently there exist no real points of emphais or anything. It just looks blah…

I think you have something with the top image though. Given more thought and knowledge of design I think this could be interesting.

If you like this type of work I would suggest investing in some books or something. Since, your work reflects a minimal understanding of design in its lack of hierachy (contrast, repetition, emphasis).