Earth Day Poster

Make one. Tutorial on how to make a planet Seriously, this is so easy. Give it a try and post how it looks :thumbsup

What I have so far:
http://www.vividreams.net/misc/crybaby3.jpg

Super large file, but it's for a poster that's 17 x 11 inches. Far from finished, and I have to use Quark for page layout, but this is how I figure it will look like.

Want to put a landscape background where the big white I is. Also need to work on typography (which I can only change at school). But what do you guys think of the general concept? One of the Earth eyes is fully opaque, and the other is faded out. Does it effectively convey the message?

How about the power plant pic to the right? Been trying to play on the word Eye and I. Also realize the borders are disproportionate.

Keep on getting moved. I must be totally clueless :(

haha No worries. Some things are kind of a fine line, but seeing as this thread has turned into a WIP for you, I figured it was more suited here.

It's my opinion that the poster relies too much on the small text at the bottom to relay the important message. Unfortunately, with the dark statement going across the top and the pretty depressing images, I don't know how many people would stop to read the fine print. I would try using one of your positive statements, like "It all starts with You," across the top and do a more simple, two or three sentance follow up, like "This world is not a trash can. Recycle, burn less fuel, and use resources wisely. Play your part in perserving this precious planet." Just for an example; the point is, I think it could be tightened up a bit and have a little more focus. People aren't going to be as receptive to "the world is falling apart" as they would be to "Here's some things you can do to help treat our planet well."

As for the images...the baby isn't scanning for me. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be thinking; when I see the baby I think of world hunger and AIDS, not the environment. Also, the two pictures being positioned the way they are make me think I'm supposed to be drawing a connection between the two. I get the "eye" "I" deal, but it's not enough to pull the message together. I think you have a set up with your layout to pack a lot of punch with this poster, just have to figure out what you're hitting and stay with it. Perhaps using the two picture frames to show a cause and effect situation depending on what you want to focus on. Say, someone littering on the left and a pretty park covered with garbage on the right, or something. Start with the main idea and then think of ways to bring the images together to make your point in more subtle ways.

I like the idea of having the images being kind of shocking and dark. Let your pictures speak the dramatic negatives to inspire people to do better, and then tell them how loud and clear.

I'm not sure on the specs of the assignment btw. If you're required to have smaller text, or more text, or whatever, maybe you could use smaller type to list phone numbers and/or websites to local organizations where people can learn more and do more.

Oh, I forgot to mention:

http://www.sxc.hu/

Is a nice place to go for free photography. It's good manners to credit what you use (this can be a clever exercise in design; creativly integrating your credit!), or just mention in the comments section that you're using this image for a class project. The only problem is that you're mostly going to find jpgs that may or may not be as big as you need. Does your school have any stock photography resources? I know mine didn't and we were pretty much on our own, but I went to community college in the middle of nowhere, so maybe fancy schools have a bit more in the way of resources. I made friends with photography majors :D.

Registered on sxc, as well as morguefile.com. E-mail the photographers when I can, to let them know I might use their pics in my projects.

Maybe I should re-arrange my message. The headline is a little sadistic. Call it mood or the teacher's interest in creating something dramatic. After all, shock sells, but I could be going about it too pessimistically. Thinking the headline should be It all starts with You, instilling a sense of hope, then remind the audience we shouldn't take things for granted.

I pulled back and looked at the poster, then looked up close and noticed earth for the eyes. I think full scale looking at it, it'll make more sense about the baby crying. It is very dark and dramatic and so far I think it conveys the message well. Are you going to make any changes to it?

Found out today I have to use dummy text :( Well, except for the headline. So that parapraph goes out the window. I don't suppose anyone is familiar with typography? If I should use old style, serif, sans-serif, or script for headline?

Classmates said the power plant looked a little too phallic, so I might change that. Have a time constraint though, and they're perverts anyways :-P

Well, this is what I'm turning in tomorrow:
http://www.vividreams.net/misc/earthdayposter.jpg

Looks a little more pixelated because I scanned the colour print. Not much Photoshop involved because it's a page layout project (Quark). Basically everything at the bottom half I had to use.

You can still comment as I might be keeping it for my potential portfolio (in Photoshop though, Quark is caca imho).

That looks great:) The baby kinda scared me at first, until i noticed the earth in his/her eyes. Looks good hon.