Rationale

Event & Issue

This event is a softball tournament hosted by the sorority, Delta Delta Delta and the fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The event benefits Delta Delta Delta's national philanthropy, St. Jude Children's Research hospital. Teams sign up to participate in the tournament, and must pay to enter the tournament. The money each team pays to enter, as well as the donations from fans and those who attend the games are how money is raised for St. Jude. I chose to do this event because I am a sister of Delta Delta Delta, so the philanthropy is very important to me. An added benefit, Delta Delta Delta is now able to use my poster to attract more teams to sign up this spring.

Visual Message

Because my event is fun, I wanted to have fun with my design and convey that the softball tournament is fun by using a large, cartoon-like baseball. However, because the charity, children's cancer research, is so serious, the text I chose to include was more serious than the image on the poster.

Audience

The intended audience for this poster is college students, specifically those interested in sports, athletics or baseball. The poster would appear in any academic building, the gym, coffee shops, any location where college students are likely to be.

Design Strategy

I wanted my poster to be eye catching, yet simple. The large baseball contrasted with the bright red background catches the eye of any viewer, and encourages them to read more. The text, "Play. So they can too." was also meant to catch the eyes of the audience. The bright white text that "Play" is written in pops out similarly to the baseball. Also, the tag-line is fairly vague, making the reader want to read more and find out what the poster is for. I chose to use both grey and white type to create a hierarchy with the poster. The most important text is in white because that "pops" more than the grey, but the grey is still readable and attractive.

Style Sheet

Display Type: Syntax LT Std Bold, type size: 177, kerning 0, tracking 0

Caption Type: Syntax LT Std Bold, type size: 49, kerning 0, tracking 0

Description Type: Trade Gothic LT Std Bold Extended, type size 20, kerning 0, tracking 0

Greek Names Type: Trade Gothic LT Std Bold Extended, type size: 26, kerning 0, tracking 0

Date & Call to Action Type: Trade Gothic LT Std Bold Extended, type size 20, kerning 0, tracking 0

Extras

I have explained my reasoning for what colors I chose, however I think I should also discuss the baseball stitches I have in the background. The stitches are the same color as the background and stitches on the baseball but a lighter shade. The background stitches in this color make the poster not look flat. It gives the poster a little something extra without being distracting.