Marketers: improve your visual literacy by making a public information poster, then decoding it using semiotics. Part 1 of the 'Semiotics Indoors' series, 2020.

1. IMPROVE YOUR
SEMIOTICS WHILE
STAYING INDOORS
with Dr Rachel Lawes
CLICK TO GET STARTED

2. today’s brief:
make a public information
poster about covid-19

3. think up a message for the
public
make a poster using
whatever materials are handy

4. take photos as you are working
it will help you to remember your
ideas and design decisions

5. What do public
information posters
usually look like?
Are there
headlines? How do
they use the space?
Make some marks
on the page showing
how you want to use
your space for
headlines, images
and captions.

6. Start having some
ideas about visual
style.
I wanted to make a
poster about tea,
which is quite
traditional. I started
to think about Art
Nouveau ads and
posters which often
conveyed simple
messages.

7. Settling on a style will help
guide your creative process.
Research the style and make
informed decisions about
lettering, graphic devices and
composition.

9. when you are finished, note 3
semiotic signs in your poster that
help get the message across

10. headline
caption
small print
giant cup
sunburst
human faces add
emotional appeal

11. if someone you know made a
poster, compare notes
how does their poster achieve
an effect?

13. blurs the
boundaries of
official notices and
advertising
see also David
Shrigley: absurd
notices
and William
Kentridge:
besuited man in a
perplexing health
situation;
disempowered,
out of control

14. Teach yourself semiotics.
Take control of your brand’s meaning.
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