Too Much Language, Too Little Space? What You Can Do.

8.5x11 inch promotional sign

It should come as no surprise that writers love words, illustrators and photographers love images, and designers love organizing. It is when those interests intersect with each other that designers play the part of visual communication mediators. There is no mistaking that a written message is important, but when language is excessive, it leaves little room left for making a visual promotional piece eye catching to the casual observer whose attention you want to capture. As those sayings go: "when everything is important, nothing is important." And "when everything shouts, the message is lost in the noise." (I just made up that second one, but it sounds good, right?).

Sometimes when language crowds out all the space and there is simply no room left for images, the only solution left is to make the words speak for themselves...by giving them the personality and design features required to sell the piece. If they want all the glory, make 'em work for it! A good example of this idea is an 8.5x11 inch sign and a quarter page handbill used to advertise a library event that celebrated both the end of summer and the beginning of the school year.

The handbill replicated the 8.5x11 inch sign--4 handbills per page.

Because there was so much text, I knew right off the bat that I would want a condensed ("squeezed") typeface because it was going to need about as much "squeezing" as it could in order to fit it all in. I also wanted the text to have a little more character than a simple condensed or compressed font, so I chose something that had a distressed or "roughened" appearance (to give it a more casual appearance, not to impart that returning to school creates distress!). 

I also wanted the collective text to create a solid visual block that conformed to the dimension of the promotional piece, so I altered the point size of various word combinations until I could get them to work in justified right/left arrangements. Alternating the text colours helped to provide visual diversity within the message and to call out more important aspects of it as well. 

Finally, after all the type styling, I slipped a photo of a bright sun with its rays bursting through the leaves of a shadowed Florida palm tree behind the text to give it one last brilliant punch of colour. A word of caution: you don't want your text to become illegible due to the choice of your background image. Whether it be a photo, illustration, or other graphic image, be sure that your background does not make your text difficult to read. Generally, the simpler the image is, and a colouration different from your text helps to reduce difficulty reading. Knowing what your reader's distance will be from the image is also comes into play. For instance if you look at my handbills at the size they are on screen, you may have difficulty reading the white text and anything smaller than it to. This can emulate what seeing a sign would be like from a distance. 

Since the handbill is intended to be read at less than arm's length, this shouldn't become an issue for most people. And the 8.5x11 inch sign is intended to be seen from a relatively short distance as well. The key things work at varying sizes to draw you in a little at a time: the colour catches your eye, the event name instantly tells you what it is about, and the text gets smaller from there in order to its importance in the reading hierarchy.

So in the end, all the elements came together to create an eye-catching presentation. Its natural: sometimes the yin speaks louder, sometimes the yan. Just squeeze and massage your content, and as long as all elements get their day in the sun, everyone will be happy. =)