Game Poster [Archive] - Graphic Design Forum

jm1786

12-08-2006, 03:33 AM

I am short on time.... but I will be honest with you. While I think you are on the right track, the poster "to me" lacks excitement. I really dont care for the way the text is arranged near the bottom. I would seperate some of that, and stick with a font effect. I see some heavy stroke, some drop shadow, some white shadow with stroke.

I would recommend maybe working out a couple more ideas to pull from. Also, there is a pretty rough edge around the basketball player on the right. Mostly around the ball and hip area. At small sizes you might not notice.... but blown up and printed it might be more visible.

Thats all for now.... will look for updates!!!

. go titans!

I often wonder if I get too hung up with different text effects. The problem with these game posters I make is sometimes the text is hard to read, especially since the majority of the posters will be printed in black and white. So I often just toss an effect on there to increase visibility.

I did consider redoing the bottom portion. I don't know when I'll get back to this since I have tons of finals work coming up since this is the semesters end.

I noticed some of the rough edges around the player cutouts. I wasn't too worried since these are only going to be hung around campus, mostly in black and white on 8.5x11 paper.

This was more an excerise for me for next season, as I will try to come up with a unified theme for all posters, flyers, schedules, mailers, etc...

Thanks for the input...don't know when I'll get a chance to apply it...but thanks:)

go cards! (except boo for beating my tigers)

12-08-2006, 04:15 AM

I think you need a heirachy.

Grunge effects do not make up for the absence of basic practices in design.

It seems as if everything has been thrown on arbitrarly without thought or reason to be honest.

paulrandfan

12-08-2006, 04:32 AM

1. Hierarchy
2. Less awkward placement for text
3. redo clipping paths, you have fragments

:)

12-08-2006, 05:16 AM

Maybe instead of cluttering the picture plane with multiple parts of images find one image that captures the essence of what the design is meant to represent or advertise. Then use the image to drive the way in which the typography will be placed within the composition. For instance, you wouln't generally want to place the typography in the focal point. Of say a image of a person bouncing a ball. Instead use the negative space around the figure to place the type since, it is less important. Perhaps that negative area surrounding the player is people in the stands. Well they arn't as important as the player so instead use the player as your focal point then overlap the typography over the people in the stands. Then make sure the typography conains enough contrast in value to show.For instance, if the area the typography was on was blue then you wouldn't want blue text- hard to see- unless that is what your going for. Off course this example puts value aside but, hopefully you get the idea. I same can be said witrh value though. If you background was dominatly black or dark you would need to use a lighter color to create contrast so object on top would communiate to the viewer.

Its simple concepts like this that make up the basis of design not grunge or any of those other stylistic fades. Especially when the style begins to neglect basic rudimentry principles without any reasonig beyond it looks cool so why not. Looking cool and being sucessfull are to seperate aspects. Just because something looks cool doesn't mean it is successfull or well designed. The same can be said for the opposite.

However, which one is mor important- looking cool or being well designed? It should be obvious that something should be well designed before anyone cares how cool it looks. Reading an artcle someone posted about webdesign recently the same principle can apply to all design really. The mistake in the designer actaully thinking that people care about this poster, book, ect. Generally, they don't so who cares if it looks cool? Howecer, if its well designed and it communicates the end goal is reached- telling someone something in a visual manor- vs. dazzling them with 'decor' or at least thats what call it.

So when you create anything in design you should allways consider communication over all else. What you want to say, how you can say it then begin to address the aesthetic qualities and they should generally never get in the way of the primary- the communication. If they do then usually there is allways a better way.

thats my rant

good luck

budafist

12-08-2006, 05:27 AM

Far too much going on on this poster. Simplify.

CamarotaDesign

12-08-2006, 06:23 AM

get rid of the transparent text overlay, and make it a solid headline at the top or bottom.. No need for quotation marks. Get rid of the slightly transparent picture of the screaming guy in the background.

Take off any transparency on the guy on the left. reduce the size of the guy on the right by about 20% to create a more dynamic relationship between the two. Your guy on the left should be the most dominant element of this whole piece, it should completely stand out from everything else. Its a great photo.

Reduce the size of All the bottom info. I would say you should just have the bottom 2 inches of the poster be black and stick all the info in there... seperate it from the image.

If you are going to go with the grunge style concrete background. Instead of using glow filters on the players, put some splatters behind them, or some grunge effect filters.... or not. Maybe use the star shape in illustrator and create some cool stuff.

Red and Blue colors are not good for the grunge style. I'd try to accomodate the design to match those colors if you must use them, or use different colors.

I think there is a lot of potential for this piece, but the fundamentals need to be in place, and also get rid of all that transparency, its softening the impact and potential strong dynamic look that your poster could have. Keep banging away at this, I think you've got something good going.

xplod_ldg

12-08-2006, 10:30 AM

As someone says previously .. it lacks excitement. I for one don't like the effects you used for the background. The text also need some improvement. The positioning is kinda random. Organize.

PrintDriver

12-08-2006, 10:38 AM

If it's being printed in black and white, design it in black and white. That way you can control the tonality and focal point. Dark blue and black can have almost the same value in B&W so immediately Butler is going to jump out at you.

You have too many opposing directions going on resulting in 'busy' rather than 'active'.

martyng

12-08-2006, 10:49 AM

I like the background image, but I'd drop everything else and start again

popejoydesign

12-08-2006, 03:18 PM

No offense...but I will be taking Butler in this one. I may have to call the bookie lol.
I really don't have anything to add...just wanted to publically claim my gambling problem...well in the words of the all wise Earl - "I don't have a problem, I am winning. You wouldn't say Michael Jordan has a basketball problem."

1ooScreamingTrees

12-08-2006, 03:43 PM

So I often just toss an effect on there to increase visibility.

Get rid of this habbit, it's a sloppy method to solve an easy problem. fundamentals man, fundamentals.

CamarotaDesign

12-08-2006, 04:35 PM

Get rid of this habbit, it's a sloppy method to solve an easy problem. fundamentals man, fundamentals.

I have to second that. My designs all started looking a lot better when I had a clear concise idea that I wanted to communicate rather than using a bunch of filters to try and make the elements pop out. fwiw, your stuff looks better than mine did in my first year of design in college and pretty much most of the other people in classes as well.

Danger_Mouse

12-08-2006, 04:43 PM

The red glows are an eyesore for sure. Everyone else said the rest.

jm1786

12-08-2006, 07:31 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions...here is what I came up with.

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/138/gdforumv1bm9.jpg

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/6582/gdforumv2fe1.jpg

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/7725/gdforumv3xt5.jpg

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/3480/gdforumv4ev9.jpg

Some with the background player, some without. Some with quotes, some without...I do not like #1, with just the black at the bottom. Maybe if I rearranged the text differently I might like it, but I like the way I did it in the other three. Is the Butler text at a slant too cheesy? Should the other text and logo be at a slant too?

I want the text to be big enough for passing students to see them around campus.

Also, a little off topic, but I am working Fireworks. I have photoshop and Illustrator. I know I probably should be working in Illustrator...does anybody really use fireworks?

jm1786

12-08-2006, 09:42 PM

I was leaning towards #3 from my last post because the background player simply was too busy. But I had an idea, what if I made him black and white. That really helped him blend into the concrete and IMO was the best one yet. Then, I decided to change all the players to black and white, since most of the printouts will be in B&W. (as someone here mentioned I should do, make a completely BW version)

So I did that, the whites on the players are washed out and yellow looking. If I do make a color version, I will make sure to adjust those levels as I did with the BW version.

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/5686/gdforumv4bwqq8.jpg

Seapony

12-09-2006, 01:01 AM

Why is "Butler" the only one on the triangular (which I presume is a pendant) slanted? You still need lots of work on your heirarchy. You really should research sports venue posters for inspiration, you can find plenty if you google online or even if you walk around.

Design and typographic elements need to serve a purpose to the overall design. The grundge heading for example you chose because it invokes an urban declaration of "street cred" (this is MY house!). But what of the rest? Just because they're informative doesn't mean that you should make any less of a creative consideration with your decisions on their look, see what I mean?

I've been following this thread (more or less) and based on the responses I've read so far what I suggest is that you organize your process. Looking forward to the final.

For instance:

Your images: Can you use different images? Are these the best you have? Can one image convey the excitement over a bunch of them together?

The guys in the foreground with the balls don't emote this feeling of excitement to me, so therefore they shouldn't be in the forefront. I mean, they're just handling the ball. The one in the background on the other hand, looks like he's letting out a "battlecry" see where I'm going with this? He should be in the front. Also the two in the front are doing the same action, its redundant.

The team logos/names:

The easy way out is to put them on either side but they don't even feel as though they even belong with their team names, either (particularly Butler's) they look as though they're sharing space and rather uncomfortably at that.

Rather than play with their position on the page with all the other elements, work on their layout by themselves with no additional distractions in their own separate page with the same poster dimensions, then reintroduce them back in with the other elements when you've pretty much laid it out.

The only elements left is the date.

I understand that you have the thick outline to add contrast and "pop," but the sentence case isn't helping to add any punch. I suggest all caps to better punctuate the urgency to "BE THERE," rather than "be there." All caps will also make them equally as visible even if you REDUCE IT'S SIZE, eliminating the crowding and establishing a series of dominating elements based on size as well as placement. If the target audience is enticed enough to want to go, they'll read the smaller type to know what time and date to get there. Just don't make it so small that they have to squint. ;)

If you're trying to achieve the effect that I think you are, the background needs to be nearly washed out, right now it's too dark.

Hopefully some of these tips will help you organize your thoughts.

:)

jm1786

12-09-2006, 01:59 AM

wow, thanks for the indepth analysis. It is very much appreciated. Compared to the flyers they put out in the past, even my very first rendition was like a Michaelangelo.

All these comments have helped push myself further. I'm hesitant to just change it all at once...but I'm making progress...slow progress. :D

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1481/gdforumv5bwwg6.jpg

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9862/gdforumv6bwuk1.jpg

I do like the photo of the guy dunking better....but since it is the main focal point, I've got to add the photo credit (probably should in the other one too). I got special permission to use the photo which ran in the paper here. They said I would have to credi tit.

I guess the reasoning for making Butler smaller and inside that bar on a slant was that they are the visiting team. But I think putting the home team in there too, just as long as it is bigger, achieves the same effect. It needs some tweaking though.

I also need to recut out the dunking guy....some weird things are happing around his hand up at the top. I might try lightening up the background like you mentioned.

Is this a step in the right direction?

Ms.O

12-09-2006, 02:15 AM

jm1786

12-09-2006, 03:25 AM

I like this alot better, esp. the last one. Words and one focal image are much better.

What's with the bulldog? Butler Bulldogs? I'd loose that....it's actually bigger than the Titan logo! As long as the visiting team's name is listed, no need to advertise them too, imho.

And....I'd make the photo credit way smaller, greyscaled more and sideways somewhere along the poster edge.

Yeah, I noticed how it was bigger, but figured since the Titan text was bigger and the Butler text was smaller, than in the end it balanced out.

Generally I would agree with you about not advertising the other team....but right now, Butler is playing really really well (they are in our conference) they are Nationally Ranked. They are our main rival, and it is a big game considering how good they are this year. Some people might come on out just because it is Butler (also considering we aren't playing so well).

Well anyways. I think I like the last one I posted the best. I'll have to draw a black outline around the other part of his hand. I think that will look O.K.

I came up with another rendition without the bulldog logo, but I think it might be too over the top.

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/7425/gdforumv8bwit5.jpg

I outlined the rim too, but that made the other text undreadable, so I had to do some switching of colors and outlining...which, I know, I should get rid of that habit:o Maybe I'll stick with the last version.

jm1786

12-09-2006, 03:44 AM

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7632/gdforumv6bwcp6.jpg

ok, made a few tweaks. Fixed his hand for the most part without including the rim. Moved the photo credit to a less noticeable place.

I like how it balances. I would like to keep the Butler logo in there, since this is an event poster, and the opponent is a very important part of the draw.

Thank you SOOO much for all your input. Any additional thoughts on any of the versions are welcome. As you can see, the game isn't until January 27th.

brokedesigner

12-09-2006, 04:00 AM

Ive been following this thread and i have one suggestion, if you really want to include the bulldog logo, why not frame it together with the titan logo and type. Right now it looks like it's floating down there, i would put the butler logo opposite to the titan logo and rearrange the type between the two logos.

vtwin_gary

12-09-2006, 04:08 AM

vtwin_gary

12-09-2006, 04:09 AM

hmmm....looks like me & brokedesigner are on the same wave length...it just took me longer to type

jm1786

12-09-2006, 04:16 AM

this has come a long way.
here are the things that i don't like:
- 2 colors of text in one sentence (this is titan territory)
- the outline around the player
- the stroke on the date (anytime the letter is squared & you add a photoshop stroke to the outside of the letter it rounds the corners) yuck
- the bulldog logo looks to large & out of place. i would try & put it before the school name just like the titan (whitch i think looks like the trojan man) you could try & make both logos larger with vs between them & the school names smaller under

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/2396/gdforumv6bwfinalei8.th.jpg (http://img174.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gdforumv6bwfinalei8.jpg)

Here it is in the same color.I don't think it looks as good. I don't have a problem breaking up the sentance like that because the way the statement could be read is "This is...Titan Territory" With a pause.

I can play around with the black strip and trying to fit the logos and teams in there differently. Right now, I am pleased with it. But it doesn't hurt to tweak things. I've got plenty of time though. Time to concentrate on Finals now:o

vtwin_gary

12-09-2006, 04:21 AM

good luck. just my $.02 i would probably use about 75% black (not transparent just dark grey)

jm1786

12-09-2006, 04:29 AM

ok, I think I finally have it :D

I took the suggestions about reworking the text and logos within the box. I think this is my favorite so far. I moved the player up so his hand wasn't so awkward, which meant I had to move and downsize the "this is..." text so that it didn't overrun his head.

What do ya think?

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7057/gdforumv6bwalt1pi4.jpg

vtwin_gary

12-09-2006, 04:35 AM

my only other thought is both should have city/mascot
detroit titans vs. butler bulldogs or
detroit vs. butler or
titans vs. bulldogs

brokedesigner

12-09-2006, 04:36 AM

Yeah thats looking better, What you could do with the net is try to clone it out, or patch it out. since it's in black & white you probably could get away with simply taking a photo of a clenched fist and adjusting it in photoshop to match the poster.

jm1786

12-09-2006, 04:45 AM

my only other thought is both should have city/mascot
detroit titans vs. butler bulldogs or
detroit vs. butler or
titans vs. bulldogs

Good catch. It crossed my mind, but didn't know if it was necessary or not.

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/8460/finalzf3.th.jpg (http://img165.imageshack.us/my.php?image=finalzf3.jpg)

Wow, this piece has really evolved...for the better.

What do you think of the placement of the guy in the upper right. I toyed around with putting him in between the other guys shoulder and head...but that looked a bit cheesy.

Ms.O

12-09-2006, 04:45 AM

Just a couple more "picky" things....

*I'm a huge believer in keeping things simple and easy...so I spelled out all the words (abbreviations are hard to read), and took out unnecessary punctuation (vs doesn't need a period for people to know what that means)

*I'm also a big believer in complete information...who, what, when, where, why? Always gotta answer those questions, imho. The poster can look great, but if people don't know where the game is happening, ain't no good!

Here's a quick-n-dirty rendition with those changes...as well and the bulldog logo toned-down and a bit better incorporporated...

http://www.onieward.com/titan.poster.jpg

Just an idea....

Seapony

12-09-2006, 05:22 AM

...or fade it out (the dunker's hand, that is).

Much better, its taking shape. I do have a few observations, some technical.

1. The overall image is waaaaay too grey and dark. Remember in print it'll likely end up around 10% darker due to ink absorption.

It's flat because of the similar values between the background images and the front image. There is no spatial relation of depth. The background needs to be washed out much more, I'd guesstimate until the grey level is about 15-20%. Yes it's light and very faded on screen, but think of those guys in the back as the support team to the main man in the front. He's the main focal point of your poster.

P.S.- the guy on the right should be omitted altogether. Every element serves a purpose, remember? Right now his is just "pretty boy." We pretty much see his head alone, so he's just crowding up space needlessly. You won't even miss him. ;)

This reinforces the whole heirarchy of elements that some folks have been mentioning earlier because now the very first thing you'll see is the dunker. As folks examine the poster more intently (drawing the audience in) they'll appreciate all the other details. And no worries, it will be visible enough when it's printed.

2. I have an inkling that you didn't try to play with the team names' layout by themselves in a new doc. :rolleyes: Be that as it may, I gotta tell ya, I'm not much of a fan of skewed type unless it serves a veeeeery necessary purpose. Otherwise I'd stick to the straight "banner" across eliminating the need to skew. Right now I don't think it's necessary to the piece, but I suspect that you're married to it all the same so I'll leave it at that.

3. The general rule of thumb for credit information—any credit information, should be a point size of about 5pts for black type against a light background and 6pt when it's white type against a dark background (black tends to bleed into white in offset, thus the extra allowance). The photo credit shouldn't be any bigger than that—think of it as the "fine print." I also agree with the poster that suggested it should be placed along the side...again, it's "fine print." However if you decide to leave it horizontal on the bottom of your live area's corner, that works too.

4. I think that it would look better if you wrote out the word "Saturday" rather than "Sat." as Ms. O did. In the most polite way possible, it doesn't "look appropriate." ;) Open up the kerning between all the letters a bit, btw.

5. "This is Titan Territory." As a suggestion to clean it up and strengthen the potency of the punchline, how about reducing and changing the font of "This is" to the same typeface being used for the date below, then setting them in all caps in the same color? Then it'll read something along the lines of, "This is TITAN TERRITORY."

A few more tweaks and I think you're there. Woo, these were some long posts.

:p

jm1786

12-09-2006, 05:40 AM

Thanks for the indepth advice again.

I went ahead and lighted up the background image and background player (removed the other player), although it still probably isn't light enough for print.

I changed the kerning on the text and spelled out Saturday.

I also took our advice and used the Eurostile font up at the top, but I still wanted some kind of residue/grunge effect. Does the outline work?

I also changed it to all caps, don't think that made that much of a difference as both lowercase and capital letters take up the same vertical height with this font.

And you are right, I am married to the slant idea...at least for now:D

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9034/final2ul7.jpg

Seapony

12-09-2006, 06:32 AM

No prob. I think I'm suffering from one of my classic cases of insomnia tonight anyway. ;)

Hahaha, you know when I said to write out "Saturday" because the abbreviated form doesn't look appropriate, you know I meant to include everything that's abbreviated, right?

JAN. = JANUARY

Also you can remove the dots in P.M. and put just PM - it's both acceptable and cleaner.

"THIS IS" treatment, too cluttered. It's like its trying to send out it's own message when it's supposed to be complimenting the punchline of "TITAN'S TERRITORY." I suggest losing the effect and making it black. Clean and simple is good, believe me. And yea, more ghosting for the back. As you can see the more you do, the more depth you'll end up with, making the dunker and black type pop more because of the increase in contrast. 15-20% K value for the back. It'll be fine.

Remember, as small as the credit line is, it needs to still be legible, that means that black on black is a no-no (some of the type falls on the heavy black outline). Move it to a different postion either under the left elbow in that grey area above the black triangular pendent or horizontal against the white jersey or the solid grey bit on the bottom left corner. What size is that, btw—looks like a much bigger size than 5-6pt. Remember the credit line rule of thumb.

:)

CamarotaDesign

12-09-2006, 07:40 AM

You could put your player in front of the type and it would still be readable. I dont like the drip going on his face. It's looking a lot better now though. I'd say use a little variety with the type size between the words. You could make "this is" pretty small, then "Titan" the largest and then "territory" could be about 3/4th the size of titan. Try and look at the type treatment, and where and how to place it in relation to the figures, also in relation to your bottom information.

Its comin along, keep it up.

Jriddim

12-09-2006, 02:27 PM

ditto to everything said. man you guys are good

jm1786

12-09-2006, 05:37 PM

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/4946/final3hd0.jpg

messed with the text at the top, changed the credit, changed the text at the bottom. Brought the player in front of the black bar....not sure if I like it better or not. Still need to change the background, make it lighter....I am just trying to get everything else in the right arrangement before I do that.

Does it look better with the text and the player weaving in and out like that?

Seapony

12-09-2006, 05:42 PM

Mmmmnope. Too cluttered.

:cool:

jm1786

12-09-2006, 05:59 PM

Mmmmnope. Too cluttered.

:cool:

It was growing on me, but I was concerned that when it was printed out, that that information wouldn't "pop" out the same.

Here is a version with the background lightened to 15-20%

As you can see, I changed the text at the top, but still left the outline, I've tried it without it, and gotten someone's opinion...this one looks better.

From previous versions I also moved the dunker more to the left, cutting off the awkward part of his fist.

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/6459/final4gx5.jpg

Ms.O

12-09-2006, 06:39 PM

jm1786

12-09-2006, 06:49 PM

The latest version looks best to me.

However, you're still missing some crucial information: WHERE is this game taking place?? You can't just assume that your audience knows this, imho.

Like I said before, you can have a great design, but if it doesn't effectively communicate what it's supposed to communicate, it's fluff.

normally I'd agree...BUT this only going to be hung on campus, addressed to the student body, which we are a private Catholic University of about 3-4k undergrad, about 6k total. It is being played at Calihan Hall (an 8k seat arena) ON campus. If this were directed towards people outside the University community and or being posted outside the University, then I would agree with you 100% considering the posters I have made for those situations all include those details.

Thanks for the advice though.

CamarotaDesign

12-09-2006, 06:53 PM

actually, you still should say Calihan Hall. You'd be suprised the people that wouldnt be able to figure it out.

Ms.O

12-09-2006, 07:21 PM

actually, you still should say Calihan Hall. You'd be suprised the people that wouldnt be able to figure it out.

Exactly. You're still assuming that everyone who sees the poster knows everything about your school and about the basketball program, etc. That's not necessarily true, even on a small campus.

Seapony

12-10-2006, 03:39 AM

jm1786

12-10-2006, 04:54 AM

I agree. Include the location.

Also, I recommend you shrink the bullet size, and raise the baseline so that it's still centered horizontally. Also, err on the side of grammar.

So it should end up reading (red indicates additions):

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27th • 4:05 PM • CALIHAN HALL

:)
eh, I tried it...it is too small, IMO. I want it big enough so that people will notice it in passing. Practically speaking, you'd like them to be drawn in by the design and then say oh, ok, here are the details, but in reality....chances of that happening in that situation are slim. So I'd like to keep it bigger.

I still don't believe the Calihan Hall designation is needed. Basketball is really the only D1 sport we have that anyone cares about. Since our campus is pretty small, and the way it is layed out, all the parking is by Calihan (which is also where the athletic center is), everyone knows where and what Calihan is, and that if there is a basketball game, THAT is the only place it is going to be.

Seapony

12-10-2006, 05:06 AM

12-10-2006, 05:26 AM

I would recommend blurring out the image in the background so that the two figures don't cause a visual tension.

Right now the figure in the background is somewhat fighting with your dominate image when really there is no need for this. Blur it some so the figures face and body are somewhat abstracted to put create an even more sucessfull focal point.

In addition, the titan territory overlaping the figure bothers me and causing some visual tension as well. Whenever, you have two things intersecting and they just barly intersect generally this creates visual tension. Either decide if its best to totally overlap or not overlap at all. In this case if you were to totally overlap then the images face and focal point would get lost. So its most likly best not to overlap the titan territory with the focal point at all.

Something I think that could really help your piece is having titan territory text in the top left corner between the figures arms and his hand. not only would this elimate the overlap but, would create an implied line from the figures fist to the dminate in the hierachy(titan territory). So that the viewer first see's the figure then follows his fist to the typography.

You could also think about putting the upper and lower typography on a diagonal as you did with the middle text. This would allow for more unity within the piece through repetition.

Also, you could perhaps increase the value of background and decrease the value of the figure for added contrast and emphasis. Then have the titan territory text be lighter then the background to further emphasis that as well. Since, currently they are quite close in value(the background image and titan territory text).

Lastly, you may want to think about ommiting the black outline around the figure and typography- titan territory. To me it looks more like 'decor' then a intentional design element meant to further the sucess of the piece. However(I'm not positive) but, it looks to me like you may have also used the outline to create emphasis. If thats so then I wuld still recommend loosing it. You could just as easily have the background be darker then the forground then have the typography in a contrasting value to the background.

This has definatly come a long way. However, instead of using gimmicks use contrast, emphasis and repetition to create interest and guide the viewer. For example, when I put a white box on a black background and 50% grey box on a black ground which one do you think the eye will go to first?

The one with the most contrast- white. Since, black on white is the higest form of value contrast. Then the eye would go to the 50% grey area. Then if I added a 70% gray it would go there last. Off course generally speaking becasue size, color, ect can effect this also. Obvsiously if I have a gigantic 50% gray area with a tiny small white area then generally the eye will be drawn to the larger area first.

So use these kinds of principles and thoeries to guide your viewer through your piece not, a bunch of useless gimmicks which really have no purpose.

Don't get me wrong though, textures and filters can be good but, the structure of piece should never be sacrified. By structure I mean setting up a focal point, accents, etc. Then you should address the decor aspects. When do this the decorative elements should not obscure the structure. For instance, if I have created a focal point and its working then I introduce decorative elements and it doesn't work then its best to re-access the introduction of the decorative elements- not the structure… if you get what I mean.

jm1786

12-10-2006, 05:38 AM

No, I mean, shrink the size of the bullets themselves "•" They're unnecessarily large and distracting.

And as for the use of Calihan, take a note from the NBA teams. Have you ever seen a poster for any game where the venue isn't advertised?

But the final decision is yours to make, be that as it may.

:)

No, I know....I had to shrink the text size as a whole to make the extra Calihan Hall portion fit. I also shrunk the bullets. It is something I will discuss with my boss for sure.

tZ, those are a lot of excellent points. I haven't had much training in design, when it comes to specific guidelines for flow and contrast, etc...

For now, I think for this project, I'm going to leave it as it. It isn't that big of a project. But this entire exercise as a whole has really helped, and I will keep all your suggestions as well as others in consideration for future projects.

Like, compared to the posters they used to make, I could crap on a piece of paper and it'd be better:D So this stuff, while it might not be the best piece graphically, as far as following rules and creating the most visually pleasing graphic, it is 1 million times better than everything else that has been done. Besides, it is only 1 game poster that will be printed out in black and white on 8.5 x 11 paper and taped to walls around campus for a few days. If this were some big promotional poster that was going to be professionally printed, that would be a different story.

Which btw, I did the schedule posters for the basketball teams and I posted them on here several months ago. I got a lot of great help with those too.

Thanks everyone!

12-10-2006, 05:48 AM

tZ, those are a lot of excellent points. I haven't had much training in design, when it comes to specific guidelines for flow and contrast, etc...

Just think of using contrast as way to show people something. Decide what you want to show them first, second, third, last then address the contrast based on that.

So if I have a rectangle, a square, star and I would like my audience to see the star first, the rectangle second and square last (assuming they are near in proportion) I would utililize contrast to this. If my ground(background) was black then my star could be white, the rectangle could be 30% gray and the square could be 75% gray. This way the eye will go immediatly to area of highest contrast then follow to next and so on. You could also introduce the rule or thirds into this but, I won't get into that. Design knowledge is about 90% whats left is the computer. So its important to know these types of things…

jm1786

12-10-2006, 05:52 AM

Its really not all that hard of a concept to grasp.

Just think of using contrast as way to show people something. Decide what you want to show them first, second, third, last then address the contrast based on that.

So if I have a rectangle, a square, star and I would like my audience to see the star first, the rectangle second and square last (assuming they are near in proportion) I would utililize contrast to this. If my ground(background) was black then my star could be white, the rectangle could be 30% gray and the square could be 75% gray. This way the eye will go immediatly to area of highest contrast then follow to next and so on. You could also introduce the rule or thirds into this but, I won't get into that. Design knowledge is about 90% of all projects the rest is the computer.

right, I get that...I'm saying that in the past I haven't put much thought into that, as easy as it may be. And that is something I definatley need to do in the future. Right now, I'm not overly concerned with this project, as it is not that important. I'm a student intern doing this work for credit, and eventually hopefully, getting a co-op with them. So in the next couple of years I will have plenty of time to apply that stuff on not only my more important projects but the lesser ones as well.

this thread has been an excellent excersize. more than I've learned in some classes ;) I do have a Design theory book, Design Basics....perhaps I should read that. :D

12-10-2006, 05:55 AM

jm1786

12-10-2006, 06:53 AM

2nd post down

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13048&page=2&pp=10&highlight=contrast

*edit*

2d design basics,lol

you havn't read that yet,ha… might be a good thing read. That was one of the books that was required for my 2d design course. Allthough it doesn't really get into anything to advance it does set a sturdt foundation for basic principles and elements that you should understand before you start to look at controlling visual hierachy with them.
yeah well, the course was messed up big time. It is really complicated. I'm not really a design major. I am in what is called Electronic Critique or Digital Media Studies. It is, or at least it used to be more about Theory of Digital Media or Theory of Technology. Although there was design involved, it wasn't heavily critiqued for that, more for the content and the theory behind it.

Thtey are moving towards design with the program...but this class and prof that used the book was horrible.

jm1786

12-10-2006, 07:49 PM

tZ, I tried tilting the text....I think if I've got 2 straight lines (This is, and the info at the bottom) and 2 slanted lines, in my mind that would be balanaced.

I tried to line it up with his arm tilt. Do you think it works?

I also added that extra info...it just keeps getting smaller and smaller. But I suppose if the poster looks good enough, but will stop and look for the details.

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/1746/final6wm2.jpg

Ms.O

12-10-2006, 08:58 PM

That looks great! Good job. :-)

1ooScreamingTrees

12-11-2006, 04:37 AM

I don't know if it has been mentioned yet - but I would definitely remove the outline surrounding the player.

Don't go back to the glow you had on the original piece either - let it stand by itself. Of course, that means you need to do a very precise extraction of the figure from the original image.

12-11-2006, 04:58 AM

Having titan territory overlap the arm is a poor design decision.

This is why:

The first thing your doing is interrupting your focal point.

The second things your doing is creating an implied line to the figure in back.

What this does is causes even more tension between that player and your intended focal point since, you have created an implied line to it when really the figure in back isn't whats important. That figure should go out of focus so that the forground figure is the emphasis.

The other promblem I am seeing with this approach is it creates a very akward large negative gap. That gap would be the upper left. Something I forgot to mention previously is that the arms of this figure are using a compositional device known as framing. Framing can be good- it causes the eye to view whats in the frame first rather then what is around it.

So taking that into consideration you are framing negative space. So your telling your viewer to look in the frame when nothing is there- that is important at least. This is why you should place the typography there. So you are framing the text causing a visual tendency toward it over other unimportant components of the piece.

Lastly, if you can't live without the outline then repeat the outline throughout. Outline the upper typography in the same style you have the figure for increased unity throughout the whole via repetition.