If You Won't Test It, They Shouldn't Have Too

 Anti Animal Testing

Research:

According to freebase.com, animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. The research is conducted at universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, farms, defense establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to industry. It includes pure research as well as applied research. Animals are also used for education, breeding, and defense research. The practice is regulated to various degrees in different countries.

Animal testing can be both a social and political issue. A social issue is an issue that influences and is opposed by a considerable number of individuals within a society. A social issue is defined as the source of a conflicting opinion on the grounds of what is perceived as a morally just personal life or societal order. Different societies have different perceptions. A political issue is defined as one that has to do with government or politics. This may include issues related to party politics or a political system or social, environmental or other issues as determined by the voting public.

The harmful use of animals in tests is not only cruel but also often unsuccessful. Animals are not affected by human diseases the same way we are. For example, they do not get many types of cancers, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, etc.  Because of this, signs of these diseases are artificially induced in animals in laboratories in an attempt to copycat the disease. Experiments like these depreciate the complexity of human conditions that are affected by wide-ranging variables such as genetics, socioeconomic factors, psychological issues and different personal experiences.

Design:

Imagery 

I do not want my poster to be too graphic where people are forced not to look. I want to be able to get my point across without showing the horrible things that are done to animals during animal testing. I will use pictures that portray the message either in a simple and clean way or in a firm and direct way. The pictures below are the examples of the types of images I would possibly use in my poster.

Adjectives

1. Cruel
2. Dangerous
3. Disturbed
4. Immoral
5. Evil
6. Outrageous
7. Repulsive
8. Terrible
9. Horrible
10. Juvenile

Font

Libre Baskerville is known as one of the most serious font types out there, which is fitting for a serious topic such as animal testing. This font also has a large family to it which allows for greater use of the font. This font and its download can be found HERE. Bondoni is another font style that I would consider for my poster.  The face has contrast between thick and thin strokes, and geometric construction that makes it aesthetic pleasing to the eye yet serious. This font also has a large family that will help add texture to the poster. This font and its download can be found HERE.

Theme

The theme of this poster will be powerful. I will be using heavy colors, for example, deep purples and greens or black with dark shades of red or bright shades of yellow. I want the colors of the poster to represent the serious of the matter. It has to be eye catching without having the “fun” factor of multiple bright attention grabbing colors. Design Crowd gave me a lot of ideas when it came to how I want to set up my poster. I want it to be able to be serious without being boring. All the different layouts that I found that could apply to my poster are HERE.

MLA Citation

"Animal testing - Freebase." Insert Name of Site in Italics. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2015 <http://www.freebase.com/m/017rsy>.

"Social issue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Insert Name of Site in Italics. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2015 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_ill>.

"Political Issue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Insert Name of Site in Italics. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2015 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_ill>.

Did You Get Your Message Across?

Design Hierarchy For The WIN

This poster has a certain simplicity to it. The plain ice cream cone on top of a blue background makes the image pop. This is good because the cone is where the important text is. The design on top of the ice cream cone lets the reader know that it this poster is about a film before they even read it. The use of the colors in the film on top fit together nicely. They stand out but do not overpower one another. The way the text fits in the cone is very pleasing to the eye and easy to read. There is not too much information on the poster yet you have all of the information that you need to understand what it is about. The white text on the bottom is neat and organized with a website for additional information. The creator only used one font throughout the text but used different sizes and colors to draw attention to certain parts of the information. 

This poster has a lot going on, but every part of the design brings you a piece of the text. The arrows point to the center making you look at a new piece of information. This poster is organized, and the information is appropriately laid out on the poster by importance. The biggest size text is used for the title that allows for it to be a  focus point. That way people will know what the poster is about before reading into it. From there the information trickles down straight. The lines in the poster also help bring attention to the center part of the poster. The colors are bold but not overwhelming which is another reason this poster is well designed. Without all the focus on the text, this poster could have gone terribly wrong. With the right use of colors, text and visual hierarchy this posters turned out well.

This poster is on a plain white background and yet is extremely eye catching. The way the images float out of the book in different colors is what really draws the attention to the poster. The images are neatly placed around the text, which brings your eyes there. Without even reading the poster you can tell what it is about. The fact that the images tell you what the poster is for leaves room for it to be able to be neat and simple with the minimal use of text. Because there is so much color in the books and the title the fact that the creator decided to use a plain font and black text for additional information was a good idea. It doesn't let the colors overpower the poster. It's really hard to overlook what this poster's meaning. It has the simplicity and creativity to it that would make someone want to take notice in it.

The Bad, The Ugly and The Terrible

This poster is a disaster. It may grab your attention at first because of the crazy colors on the background, but those same colors are what make this poster extremely hard to read. From a glance, people should be able to get an idea of what your poster is about. However, with this specific poster it is close to impossible to tell what it is for. The headline of this poster is too small, making it extra hard to read. On top of the size, the font is at a small size is extremely messy and disheveled, making it look like was no thought or time put into the design. Why would people care about a poster if it looks like the creator doesn’t. There is information at the bottom of the poster but once again, it cannot be read without straining your eyes. This poster does not seem to give any information on the location besides the name of the theater. There is also no website to look for more information on tickets, location or the event in general.

This poster could be great, but, unfortunately, it went terribly wrong. The white against the back is attention grabbing, but there is too much information jammed on one page. The overload of information makes people less likely to read or look at the poster. There is some separation of information but even with that there is too much going on. Each section has different fonts, text that is slanted and text that is straight. There is no need to have 15 different fonts in this poster. It would be okay to keep the fonts of band names the same and one universal font used throughout the poster to give addition information. When it comes to visual hierarchy, having specific information stand out is important but the way this is laid out you can’t tell what is crucial by looking at it. Some of the font at the top and the bottom is so small that you could hardly read it. This information is obviously not important and could have been left out by including a website that would lead to more information for the view if they were interested. 

Once again, the colorful graphic/picture on this poster along with the black background is very attention-grabbing.  However, all those colors in the graphic/picture with the of use of rainbow text in the title makes the poster look messy. The title should be one solid color that is also used in the picture/graphic, that way it would bring the whole poster together while remaining readable. The font is fun for the title but makes the additional information in the smaller sized font, too hard to read. The background color behind the small text does not help the readability either, it makes this poster look too busy. The colors  are too close on the spectrum and does not make the text stand out in a positive way, it just makes it look like a block of color. The text size has not rhyme or reason to it. The title is small then smaller and the large. The size of the font does not seem to be used to distinguish the importance of the information.