Integrated Project

Mayhem Manor

Lessons 5 and 6:Designing a poster line

Introduction

A cartoon of a poster advertising a water ride, displayed on a wall

The Board of Directors would like more targeted advertising for the water ride (now known as The Big Splash). They want you to design one poster aimed at adults and one aimed at teenagers.

By the end of this tutorial you will be able to:

In this tutorial, we are working on the following APP Assessment Focuses:

Lesson Objectives

Must: Plan and develop structured solutions to problems which use a combination of ICT tools and techniques.
Present information in a range of forms for specific purposes and familiar audiences. (Level 5)

Should: Explain choices when presenting information for different purposes and wider or remote audiences (Level 6)

line

Get started

Have a look on the Internet for posters advertising rides at theme parks. Explain what you like about your choice. Try to say why you feel these elements are effective.

Are there any posters or adverts that you don't like? Why? What makes them less effective? Share your ideas as a class.

line

Try it out

You are going to design two posters advertising the water ride – one for teenagers and one for adults. As a class, discuss how the effectiveness of the posters will be judged. Together, make a list of points you could use to evaluate each poster – a maximum of five criteria for each. You will need to bear these criteria in mind as you work through this tutorial.

Create a sketch design

An example of sketched design for a poster advertising a water ride

On two sheets of blank A4 paper create two different posters - one poster should appeal to teenagers and the other to adults.

When you have finished sketching, you need to think about the text you are going to use. Open Resource 10b and read the information about The Big Splash. You need to include this information in your posters, but you will need to rewrite the text to suit each audience.

Focus on the teenage poster first and complete Activity 1. Try to use language that would appeal to teenagers – that means it can be informal, but don't use slang. Then complete Activity 2 by rewriting the text to appeal to adults. When you have finished, save your work to your folder for this unit.

Open a blank publication and insert images

Now you have your sketch designs and your text, you can start to create your posters on the computer. You will use a desktop publishing program called Microsoft Publisher.

Start with the poster aimed at teenagers. If you need a reminder on how to insert images in Microsoft Publisher, watch
Skills Demo 10a.

Now open Microsoft Publisher and begin work on your poster by inserting at least one image. If you wish, you can use images from Resource 10c. Alternatively, you could find suitable images online. Use your sketch to position and resize each image on the page, then save it in your folder as teen_poster.

Important!

Remember to choose ‘Blank Publications’ as your publication type in Microsoft Publisher. DO NOT click on Poster, as this option prints over multiple sheets of paper. Make sure the paper size is A4 and the page layout is portrait.

Insert a text box

To add text to a Publisher document you first need to create a text box. Watch Skills Demo 10b as a reminder of how to do this.

Now it's your turn. Create as many text boxes as you need, then copy and paste your text into them. Remember to save your work at regular intervals!

Format text boxes

Once you have pasted text and titles into the poster, you will need to experiment with fonts until you find one that is suitable for your audience.

Title fonts can be more decorative than body text, but you should not use more than two fonts altogether. Any font you use should be readable!

You can also change font colour, and add a colour or effect to a text box. Find out how to do this by watching Skills Demo 10c.

Now format your text boxes. Don't be afraid to experiment, especially with Fill Effects! If you don't like one, use Ctrl Z to undo the effect.

When you have finished your poster for teenagers, save the final version, then create the second poster – the one aimed at adults. Save this one as adult_poster.

line

Round it up

Display your finished posters, either by printing them out or by using Print Preview, and look at as many other students' posters as you can.

Select your favourite poster from among those that other students have designed, and be prepared to explain your choice to the class.

line

Homework

Make sure you can access your own posters and the poster you chose as your favourite in the class from home. Evaluate each of them using the criteria you decided on as a class at the start of the tutorial.

Level 7 challenge

To aim for a Level 7 in your evaluation of the posters, include as much detail as possible, for example:

 

© Smart Learning Ltd 2011