Poster Research

1.       Definition of poster

     Poster is advertisement or announcement which is produce massively. Generally, poster is made on big size paper. A poster usually contains illustration with attractive color and some texts or trademark. A poster can be used to advertise a product, education activity, entertainment event, or propaganda. However, there are a lot of poster that be made just for artwork or decoration.

2.       The types of poster

Depend on the element of the poster; there are text poster and illustrated poster.

·         Text poster

This is the oldest type of poster. Just like the name, text poster is giving priority to the text as information, but usually there are elements like royal symbol, picture of the king, or the other ornament. At the beginning, text poster is used to give information from government to society. Poster is also used as announcement of the king’s coronation, proclamation, until advertisement.

·         Illustrated poster

Beside the text, illustrated poster also use illustration on this type of poster.

 Depend on the function of the poster; there are some types of poster:

·         Propaganda poster

·         Campaign poster

·         Wanted poster

·         Cheesecake poster

·         Film poster

·         Comic-book poster

·         Affirmation poster

·         Research and scientific-activity poster

·         Inside-class poster

·         Artwork poster

·         Society-care and living-environment poster

·         Commercial poster

·         Event poster

·         Cultural poster

3.       Text elements

The text elements of poster are title (theme), deck, subtitle, body text, and mandatories. For the title we can use fonts which are decorative and not too formal. It depends on the theme of the poster. Deck is short explanation about the poster title so its font’s size must be smaller than the title, and use different fonts and different color. For the subtitle and body text, we can use same fonts but subtitles font’s size must be bigger than body text and it will looks good if the font’s colors are different too. Mandatories contain contact person’s address or phone number. Generally, the logo of organizer, partner, and sponsor are included in mandatories. Good poster must be readable, so we must give attention for the properties of the text in poster.

4.       Principles of poster layout

A good poster must be well organized. It depends on how we apply these principles of poster layout.

·         Sequence

Sequence is order of attention. Generally, on publication media the sequence or reading-flow is from left to right and top to bottom. It is based on the general direction of eye-sight of human. However, we can change the general sequence by differentiation in an object like color, size, style, etc. There are some types of sequence; Z, C, L, T, and I.

·         Emphasis

Emphasis is giving point of interest. We can create emphasis with contrast. Contrast can be created by size, position, color, form, and contrary concept. Besides contrast, emphasis can be created by layout elements which contain unique, emotional, or controversial message.

·         Balance

There are two kinds of balance; symmetrical balance and asymmetrical balance. Symmetrical balance is fit with poster which contains conventional, experienced, and trusted message. Asymmetrical balance is fit with modern, hi-tech, friendly, and young design poster.

·         Unity

Unity is not only about physical elements, but also nonphysical elements. Unity must be created from the message and the concept design of poster.

References:

Rustan, Surianto. Layout. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2009.

Kusrianto, Adi. Pengantar Desain Komunikasi Visual. Yogyakarta: ANDI, 2007