Any design advice.

[HappySnail]

I'm designing some anti piracy posters for a school project and i need any advice possible on how to improve them, if anyone has any help or advice i'd be grateful. The window in the second one is not mac as i thought getting viruses on macs is so uncommon it wasn't worth it.

Thanks.

 

[SwiftLives]

Hey! Did you copy those posters from someplace else?

(Kidding)

Here's my 2¢:

The first one reads as a guy wearing a bright necktie - I'm still not sure what it is.

The second one doesn't read well from a distance. Maybe make the Windows window larger? Show a detail or one side of it?

The third one works really well. If you want to get really really nitpicky, I'd make the jail bars look a bit less computer-generated. Some good rusty dinged-up ones would be a nice subtle improvement. But as I said - that's nitpickery on my part. Good concept.

 

[jdl8422]

I cant get passed the top and bottom black gradients. I dont think it works for any of them. The backgrounds look simple enough to put the type right over it.

 

[wongulous]

The photography and editing are okay, but I really feel that everything else around it needs to be pumped up, with larger text and more punch and maybe some more visual personality (a more stark font, perhaps). I feel the "piracy is a crime" line has more spacing between the letters than between the "don't do it" line below it, which leads to a visual struggle IMHO. But I could also see going away from the spaced-out text in favor of SUPERLARGE, very closely-kerned text, movie poster style.

I also echo the previous poster's thoughts about the black gradient... it looks shabby, not professional, it won't print that great on the middle one, and just doesn't jive with the aesthetic I'm getting of black and white extremes and hard knocks and seriousness of the issue at hand.

 

[HappySnail]

Retry

Cheers everyone, unfortunately the images aren't the full page length which was the reason for the black gradient although although i now just have strips, i can change that if really needed but i quite like them. Removed the colour from the CD (hopefully more identifiable) and added rust effect to the bars. Looking at fonts and ideas now to make it more bold and hard hitting. Any other suggestions welcome.

 

[THX1139]

While the concepts are nice, you have no sense of visual hierarchy with the type. Large bold always reads first no matter where you put it on the page. Are you trying to say "Don't do it" first? Confusing.

What I suggest is that you go larger type on "Piracy is a Crime" and leave it on the header. Bump down the type for "don't do it" and move it under the image or float it over the top in a manner that looks good. This way it will read as: Piracy is a crime... then the image... then "Don't do it."

Another issue I want to mention is you have everything very symmetrical and that lends to being balanced and calmer. For your message, you might want to consider adding tension (supports the message) by moving the elements so that they are more asymmetrical.

 

[Phormic]

Agreed. The images are good and nicely executed but the type looks crunched and crowded towards the top of the page. You've really tracked out the lines (wide letter spacing) but jammed the two lines close together, which makes it difficult to read.

Experiment with a few different typefaces. Verdana is so common as to be pretty anonymous. With such dramatic subject matter you can get away with using a distressed typeface (distorted letterforms) used nice and big. Don't be scared to splash a huge "DON'T DO IT!" over the images if need be.

I really like the second image by the way. The most effective of the three.

 

[HappySnail]

Third edit due to what people said, i may have to re-align the text but as a font style i tried this, What do you think? Thank you for advice i'm very grateful and the posters are looking miles better than they did before so cheers.

 

[jecapaga]

The bars used for the 'jail effect' are way too close together to be believable..gives it a cheese look. Look for a stock photo of real jail bars.

 

[pit29]

Actually, isn't it about "illegaly downloading music" instead of "downloading illegal music"?

 

[jdl8422]

I still dont understand the need for the black bar behind the headline. I also think you need to bring the headline down and give some larger margins, The picture can bleed to the edge, but the type should have more space around them. I am not a fan of the kid behind the bars, he has the weird pouty crying face that just looks odd.

 

[dkhuynh]

i like the idea of the 2nd one, but the 3rd one makes a bold statement.
though i would suggest removing the sony and viewsonic logos keep it generic.

 

[Krebstar]

On the originals, it seems like your apostrophe is way too close to the "t" in "don't".

As for your updated style of text, I say absolutely not. Don't try and get fancy with your type in an attempt to make it say more than it needs to. Good typography and a well chosen typeface will go miles further than some silly effect on your text.