This week my client has seemed to be pretty busy. I began working on the poster for the Local Food Summit. I took all the information she provided me about the event and created a legal sized flyer with head to toe text. With everything the client gave me there wasn’t much room for design. I really wanted to create something less busy with an eye catching graphic to announce that the Local Food Summit was taking place. I feel like what I ended up creating instead was a poster shaped pamphlet about the Local Food Summit. I hesitated sending the poster to my client because I really felt like I could do better, but with all the text it wasn’t really possible. My client saw the poster, but did not give me any feedback as to what she thought. She only requested that I send her a version she could edit the text herself. I’m not sure what that means at this moment, but I’m thinking of creating a second poster that will showcase the even more than a poster full of text and let her choose which she would like to use, if not both.
Also, I feel as though my client is getting lost in the details of the logo. We are still not finished with it. I am on version 10 and she keeps requesting changes. I’m not sure if it’s a case of uncertainty or a failure to commit to a design that will be the identity of her organization. I spoke with Lauren today, the director of City Fresh – Erie County, and she made it clear to me that everyone is under a lot of stress to make the Local Food Summit a success and gain support of The New Agrarian Center. They are all waiting on the final logo and poster to begin their marketing process. It’s clear to me, that I need to speak with my client and find out where her head is with everything we are working on.
I also found out that I might be creating a logo for the BGSU Reading Center. I hope the process is less challenging then what I have experience here with my client so far.
I agree with your thought about just creating a second poster that you like…it never hurts to offer an alternative to your client. Because the poster is meant to grab attention…a flyer or brochure should be the tell all piece. I would try to pick out the main points of all of the text – is there any way to consolidate information into bullet points? You can show the client that you can tell the main things she want to say but do so in an attractive, attention getting, uncluttered way. The client has all of this information they want to tell people but it is our job as designers to show them the most effective way to get their message out to the public – no one is going to read a ton of copy on a poster. Do they have a website? If so, use the website to tell all the info and the poster to touch on basic info and point them to website to get full details.
Good luck!