Create a poster to communicate and amplify an important message that expresses your dreams of a better future.

At the end of this activity, send us a scan or a photograph of your work to be included in a zine created by Laura Rojas, 2021 Creative in Residence.

Materials:

A sheet of paper (I’ll be using 11×17″ tabloid size)
Scissors
Ruler
Glue stick or tape
Construction paper
Pencil + Eraser
Misc: markers, newspapers, fabric bits, magazines, etc.
Experiment and play with anything that catches your attention!

Step 1:

Take a moment to reflect on your experiences: what is one issue that affects your life today? This can be personal, economic, societal, or environmental. Looking at the challenges that exist in our world, what is one specific thing that can be done to contribute to making things better? This will be the theme of our poster.

Based on this prompt, brainstorm some text and/or images that you want to include in your poster and make sure you have ample materials to play with for your composition: this can be old newspapers, magazines, coloured paper, scrap fabric, or any other item that calls you.

Step 2:

A margin is a grid line drawn with a certain measurement from the edge of the paper, creating a separation between the edge of the page and the canvas you’ll use to create. Margins help organize where the content will sit on a page and give the composition structure. The margin measurement can be anything you want depending on the size of the page you’re working with and what looks good to you. In this poster, I’ll be working with a margin measurement of 0.5” all around.

Using your ruler or another measuring tool, decide on a margin for your poster and draw a light outline with a pencil that you can later erase.

The grids and margins are there to support your composition, but not to limit it. You can always place something outside of the margin lines, like the artist Dio Kramer does in their Stop Line 3 poster with the wings of the raven.

If you’d like to do a deep-dive on graphic design terminology, you can download a free PDF of The Visual Dictionary of Design to get you started:

Step 3:

Create the separate elements that will make up your poster but don’t glue them on your page just yet. If you want to use text, you can draw a quick mock-up of what it will look like on scrap paper. Experiment with size, placement, and positioning until you find a combination that feels right.

Step 4:

It’s time to glue everything down and finalize the typography!

Step 5:

If still visible, gently erase the margin grid lines that you added at the beginning.

Step 6:

Scan, photocopy, distribute! Share your work with us below!

SUBMIT YOUR POSTER

Printing: You can send you finished poster to artsprogramsatnycl@tpl.ca using the subject line “Culture Day Posting” by 5:00 pm on Wednesday November 10th.

Poster pick up: From Tuesday October 26 to Wednesday November 10, between the hours of 9am to 8pm, participants can pick up their colour printouts at the Information Desk on the 3rd floor of North York Central Library at 5120 Yonge Street.

This activity was developed by Laura Rojas, one of our 2021 Creatives in Residence. Learn more here.