Wanted: Poster Designer

[blobbo]

Hi all,

I thought I'd throw this out there before I take a shot at it later this week.

I'm a musician, as many people here know (violinist, just about to start my Masters in Music Performance at Rice University). I'm doing 3 (2 confirmed) recitals this summer, and I need to publicise as best as I can in order to (hopefully) make a bit of money to put towards tuition/living next year. I need to make 2 posters to advertise. But here's the thing:

I'm not a graphic designer. I don't have an eye for graphics, or for layout.

Would anyone here who likes graphics and has an extra half-hour be willing to help me out with a poster design or two? I'd be greatly appreciative. Thanks in advance.

[FCCovett]

Do you have any good photos of you practing or performing? Is it a solo recital? I am not sure posters would be the best way to publicize your events. You'd be looking at spending at least $100 to $250 in the best case.

How many posters do you think you'll need? If you are going to print just a few, you can probably go to a convenience print shop like Kinko's and get the posters printed off a color printer (I'd guess about $5 per unit). If you are going to need 50 or more, I think it'd cheaper per unit to go to a print shop. You might need to make a digital proof of the poster in that case, and that alone costs about $50. Also, there's a basic setup cost involved in that process, so you gotta check with the printer what's their minimum run/batch.

I've helped my ex-GF with her doctoral piano recitals and, from that I've seen, I wouldn't expect to get a lot of money off of this type of event, unless you've got family and friends helping out with donations.

[blobbo]

FCCovett: Excellent, informative post. Thanks very much.

I understand that I won't make a lot of money, and I don't expect to. In my experience organizing such concerts, I usually make $300-$500CDN with Free Will Donation and a suggested amount. Family/Friends usually give a little more, and people tend to be generous when it's for a student they know.

I guess I was misunderstood, however, with the posters. I have no intentions of making color posters - I understand the cost involved, and there's no way I could afford it. The most I could do is print on colored paper ;)

A grayscale design would be best. Any ideas?

FCCovett: As it seems that you have some experience organizing such events, do you have any pearls of wisdom to guide me?

[diordna]

I could take a crack at it. Send me a photo or two of you and/or your instrument, as well as times and prices and all that. Also tell me your IM thingy. I've got Skype as well, if you prefer that (I certainly do).

diordna@gmail.com

[FCCovett]

Well, B&W copies may not be significantly less expensive, but that's an idea. I am not sure I would have much to add in terms of how to organize the event - just make sure you print enough programs for everyone, I guess, with a map, address, time, contact info. You may need to get clearance from the Fire Dept. depending on the location and number of attendants. :)

I could design something simple for you, but since Diordna offered to help as well, maybe you guys could give it a shot and let me know if you need a hand.

[FCCovett]

Ah, get someone to be at the door and request people to turn off their cell-phones and pagers; you may not want people using recording devices as well. It's good to offer some snacks and drinks after the performance, so people get to talk to you.

[AnotherJake]

I guess I was misunderstood, however, with the posters. I have no intentions of making color posters - I understand the cost involved, and there's no way I could afford it. The most I could do is print on colored paper ;)
In the professional world of music promotion this is called a "Flyer". You print these flyers for as cheap as you can and put them EVERYWHERE. Give them away, staple them to every staple-able surface on campus, hand them out yourself on the most travelled corner of the student union, ask the school newspaper to slide them in, recruit friends, and any other way you can think of to distribute them. The more, the merrier. Quantity is far better than quality in this case. The life of the successful professional musician is hinged upon their ability to promote their music, no matter the genre.

And I guarantee you, if you flood enough of those flyers out there, it's gonna intimidate the pants off any competition you may have. It may seem completely cheesy and cheap, but the pay-off can be unexpected, and heavily in your favor I might add...

[Carlos Camacho]

Do you think you can podcast the concert for us here? ;)

I'll look into providing some concepts for you. I need some work for my portfolion. You want 300DPI, CMYK, TIFF, etc??? Also, when is the deadline?

Cheers,

[diordna]

I already sent it to him, but here's my half-hour attempt:

http://diordna.macintoshdevelopers.net/AaronPoster1.pdf

[FCCovett]

Not bad at all. The design is very minimalist and ubber-clean, but very good. I guess you just forgot to add the contact info, e-mail address or a phone number.

[FCCovett]

Carlos, for print works, always try to use your bitmaps about 300 dpi. The format is somewhat irrelevant - I guess you've been working a lot with Photoshop, most printshops also have Photoshop there. For line art and text, they usually use Illustrator (Freehand too, but less often). It's a good idea to save/export a version in PDF as well - just be aware there's a bug on OS X that saves the bitmaps of a PDF as 100 DPI. You should use InDesign or another application to export your PDFs that contain large bitmapped art.

[Carlos Camacho]

>print works, always try to use your bitmaps about 300 dpi.
I knows 'dat. :) But I figure I would ask him in case he is unable to download a large MBs file. Didn't know about the PDF bug. As for me, I tend to use Adobe Illustrator for this sort of work. :)

[blobbo]

I've got broadband - don't worry about filesize.

First of all: my AIM name is amcfar333. I'm not on often, but it IS a legit way to get in touch with me realtime. I'll make a point of being on for the next few days.

Deadline for the May 29 concert poster: Tonight at Midnight, Eastern Standard Time. I want to print them off tomorrow morning and start posting them everywhere. For the June 12 concert, I'd like a poster by Monday.

Also, a quick reminder that I require it to be grayscale. I can't afford color printing!

Now, with all that said and done, thanks so much, Diordna! Excellent layout - it flows nicely and the information is displayed quickly and cleanly! I like it a lot. A few changes I'd like if you have time:

* Get rid of "Accompanist" -> I'd like him to be another performer. He has significant influence, so could we make his name a bit larger?
* Could you add Beethoven to the list of composers?
* Change the title to "Love's Joy, Love's Sorrow"
* Add ", Violin" after my name. I want it clear that this is a violin-piano recital.
* Add "For more information, please contact (514) 996-7880 or a.mcfarlane@gmail.com" line at bottom.
* Is it possible to make the picture slightly less stylized for comparison? I.e. more shaded? I like it the way it is - I'm just curious what it looks like if it's slightly less traced...

All-in-all great, though. Just what I was looking for. Thanks so much. Incidentally, if you have the original files that you used to create this and don't mind sharing, I'd love a copy.

Carlos: Thanks for the offer - I'd be delighted to see "a few concepts" (fun!). As per details, I'll leave that to you, the graphics specialist. All I require is that it's grayscale and 8.5" x 11" (and could be reasonably photocopied). You're more than welcome to take a shot at the May 29 concert, but as Diordna's done an excellent job already, I think you'd be better served to tackle the June 12 one? I'd like to try for this weekend, next Monday at the latest. If you need an extra day or two, please let me know. Thanks - I look forward to seeing what you come up with...

Do you think you can podcast the concert for us here?
I plan on making a CD of the repertoire in advance of the concert to sell afterwards for a bit of extra profit - certainly putting a few of those tracks online isn't a terrible idea ;) It's about time I have a website!

[diordna]

Your wish is my command ;)

Same link again: http://diordna.macintoshdevelopers.net/AaronPoster1.pdf

I'll make another version with a different picture style. Don't worry, it'll be done by 9:00 at the very latest, unless something random happens. I might also try a different style for the same poster, but I did this one first because it's kind to your standard inkjet - it won't kill your toner and doesn't have a lot if in-betweens.

Minimalist is definitely my favorite style for a lot of things, because I'm not really that great at filling empty spaces :)

Edit: Oh, and when I'm done with all this, I'll package the files I used and send them to you. I used Gimp, AppleWorks, and Expression 3, all of which can be obtained with little hassle and for free. (AppleWorks because I couldn't get Gimp to do a plain old invert. Grr.)

Edit 2: Here are 2 other versions of the picture, you can pick one to change it to if you'd like. The second link is just the first link with the original's head on it so it doesn't look quite so messed up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/diordna/aaronbase2invert.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/diordna/aaronbase3invert.png

[blobbo]

Much better. Thanks - this is shaping up nicely.

Ok, this is it, I think. I've forgotten to include French translations (required by law in Quebec for all public posters). While I'm not worried about the police hunting me down, it's impolite not to include basic translation.

I'm sorry to be a pain, but could you add the following translations to the poster (English on the left, French on the right)?

Love's Joy, Love's Sorrow :: Amour Heureux, Amour Douloureux
Free Will Donation :: Donation Ã* Volonté
Works by :: Oeuvres de
For more information: (514) 996-7880 or a.mcfarlane@gmail.com :: Pour renseignements: (514) 996-7880 ou a.mcfarlane@gmail.com

Also, could you possibly take out the "and" before Michael Woytiuk's name? One less thing to translate ;)

As per the pictures. I like the second one, but the first one makes my head look bloated! aaronbase3invert.png is the one that I'd like to see by comparison - would it be too much work to make two versions for comparison, one with the original graphic, and one with aaronbase3invert?

Thanks in advance - you're being a great sport.

[kemalyun]

If you are sure you want to do not only one of those "concerts":

- Make color posters in offset-print (500 or 1000 pieces).
- Leave a blank field at the bottom part of the poster
where you can later paste a simple photocopied $0,10-sheet of paper
showing the date, time and place of the concert.
- By doing so, you'll have high-quality color posters
which can be used for all the concerts,
you don't have to print them again and again for each concert.
In fact you'll have color-posters for the price of b/w posters.

[MacFiend]

I'm just curious, do you have any recordings of your music I could listen to?

[blobbo]

Kemalyun: nice idea. I might use that one.

MacFiend: Sure do, as I just did a CD. I'll stick a few tracks online in a few days.