This document describes the design process for an educational poster about developing digital writing skills. It summarizes 6 iterations of the poster design, highlighting the key visual, textual, and design choices made in each iteration. The goal was to convey the message that writing is critical for careers and opportunities through experimenting with images, colors, typography, and layout. The final design pairs an image of a globe with a laptop to connect tools for writing with global opportunities and emphasizes taking action through strong verbs and nouns.

1. Design Process
By Tamara Mitchell

2. Poster
Design Rationale
Goal: Using an educational poster design, move the
viewer to develop digital writing skills by recognizing the
computer as an object of opportunity and writing as an
action critical to careers.
Audience: The design is directed toward young adults and
adults capable of pursuing internship and career
opportunities.
Message: Convince viewers of the relevance of writing
skills to boundaryless careers (a term used by career
counselors), global opportunities, and personal
advancement.

3. Initial
Design

4. Key Choices
The first design was an attempt to create a visual representation of career possibilities
without boundaries by creating the feeling of open space using a muted image
of the world.
Visuals A satellite image of the earth, taken by NASA (available at
unsplash.com), was selected as a background image. A white
overlay was placed on top of the image to make the text
legible. I drew the globe using design software. I found an
open source map at http://d-
maps.com/m/world/centreameriques/centreameriques04.svg .
This accurate map of the world was wrapped behind the
globe lines to add accuracy and visual interest.
Initial
Design

5. #2
Design

6. Key Changes & Choices
After evaluating the first design, I wanted to make the poster more visually interesting.
Connecting the text to the image of the map helped to reinforce the educational
message of global career possibilities.
Visuals A semi-transparent blue overlay was placed on 2/3 of the
NASA image to expose the image to view and add visual
interest by using the rule of thirds.
Alignment The text was aligned on the left side of the page to
improve legibility.
Color White text adds legibility and contrast to the subheader
and body text. The blue overlay reflects the color of the
areas where the land meets the ocean.
Typography Three fonts are used on the design: Alura Brush to enhance
“Write”, Sans Serif as a foundational font, and Stencil as a
map-type font.
#2
Design

7. #2
Design

8. Key Changes & Choices
This slide represents an initial experiment with color. I wanted to use the background
Image of the world to experiment with a triad color scheme.
#2
Design
Visuals The overlay was removed completely to reveal the
blue in the photo. The message in the body text was
divided into three main points. Each point was
separated by whitespace.
Repetition The red from the text highlight on the word “Write”
is repeated on the globe.
Color Red and yellow text highlights were used on the
subtitle to develop a triad color scheme with the
blue background image. The body text was changed
to a light blue for readability purposes.
Alignment To add visual interest, I left-aligned the subheader
and text to contrast with the right-aligned globe.

9. #3
Design

10. Key Changes & Choices
In this design, alignment was used to imply an emphatic message and emphasize
that writing skills are critical to accessing job opportunities and achieving career
success.
Alignment Text is shaped into an exclamation mark on the left 2/3 of
the poster.
Contrast The shape of the exclamation mark coupled with the
exclamatory phrase “Write Now” adds contrast to the
seemingly tranquil image of the land and sea. Key words in
the text are bold to help them stand out from the rest of
the text and to quickly communicate key terms to the
viewer.
Typography ”Write” appears as written text and is curved to complete
the top of the exclamation point. The blue and yellow colors
mirror the colors in the image.
#3
Design

11. #4
Design

12. Key Changes & Choices
To emphasize that writing strategies and career opportunities are available to the
average person, a less-sophisticated style is used: bold triad colors and contrasting
alignments help with this mode of design.
Visuals The globe reminds the viewer that careers can be unlimited
and opportunities are available throughout the world. The
globe moves slightly beyond the border on the page to
emphasize the size of the globe and visually repeat the
without boundary concept.
Proximity Since the computer is a tool of writing, the text is placed
on the computer to connect the tech to the theme of the
text. Contrasting text alignments lead your eye diagonally
down the page.
Color Using the briefcase color as the base color, triad colors are
used: blue, green, and reddish-brown.
Typography The font used in the body text mimics the on screen text
of many computers. The focus on tools used for writing
also occurs in the word “Write” to mirror a typewriter font.
#4
Design

13. #5
Design

14. #5
Design
Visuals I wrapped a portion of the NASA image from the first
three designs around a globe to build a new element. The
circular shape of the globe is repeated on the page.
Typography The NASA image is used as a fill in the title text. The
“Write Now” is restructured to emphasize “Now” (“Careers”
is also emphasized in the title text). The body text flows
into a circular frame. Each portion of text is divided by a
circle repeating the round elements on the page.
Color Blues and yellow-oranges are used to repeat the colors
from the image and form a complementary color scheme.
Key Changes & Choices
This poster was designed to be visually understated and emphasize interesting
typography by using plenty of whitespace and a repetition of shapes. The whitespace
repeats the without borders theme and is primarily placed around the header. The
circles are placed on 2/3 of the page and add visual weight to the are with lengthier text.

15. #6
Design

16. #6
Design
Key Changes & Choices
The image of the globe is paired with the computer to help viewers consider
the computer as an object of action, strategy, and outreach.
Visuals The laptop from design #4 and the globe from design #5
represent the connection between tools for writing and
global opportunities. The laptop is used as a visual anchor
on the right of the page.
Typography The body text grows larger to emphasize the last line of
text calling for a mastery of digital writing strategies.
Color Triad colors are used in the text to maintain visual interest
with contrasting colors.
Text Stronger verbs and concrete nouns are used to revise the
message into a call to action.
Alignment The title text spans the page and hovers above the globe to
connect text and image. The body text is left-aligned for
legibility purposes.
Proximity The slant of the body text leads toward the computer.

17. Final
Design