'Letter'

In the chapter, 'Letter,' Lupton describes text design as a process that helps the reader, not to read. We also talked in class, during our Resume projects, about the need to create a hierarchy of information, so that the most important things become obvious pieces of information.

As I'm putting together my poster project, I've been having trouble figuring out how to add in my text. 'Letter' gave me the idea to create a hierarchy and use my picture to lead the reader to various information. Because my audience is college students, I looked at some examples of other posters targeted for young adults, and how they created a textual hierarchy.

This poster is for a night club in New York City. The designer of this poster decided thought that the DJ's were the most important information on the poster judging by the size of the font, perhaps this would be the most important information if they were well known. The second most text that your eye is drawn to is the date. Although the size of the font highlights the most relevant information, I wouldn't use this poster as a good example of good text layout, judging by the Lupton reading, because the placement of the words is so chaotic, and the spacing between DJ and the name is too close and makes it look like nonsense words: DJLEV and DJBERNIE. Also the slanted text doesn't serve an purpose it just draws the eyes off the page.

This poster is actually from Syracuse University, and it's for a lecture on "Panning." This one is different because the first thing your eye is directed to is the word "lecture," which could be an interesting tactic for me, because my event is a concert, but the singer isn't that well known. Maybe attracting attention with the idea of a concert, rather than introducing an unknown name first.

This poster uses the call to action to attract readers, it also tells the readers who they're 

targeting. Another piece of information that the poster highlights is the slogan, or statement of purpose-"Bring the troops home now!"-this allows readers to skim through, passing over specific information, to see if this appeals to them or not. Instead of attracting the reader with a call to action and the date, the slogan helps quickly narrow down the appeal, so that time isn't wasted for those who are uninterested, or helps people not read, as Lupton would say. Also the type in "SPEAK OUT" is capitalized with little leading, making the call to action urgent and loud.