Making a Poster

Last Friday at work I needed to make a sign.  At first I figured I’d make something on the computer and print it out. But our printer wouldn’t print anything that large.  “Have the design center print it out for you,” said one of the graphic artists, a young lady who had just graduated from college.  But the older designer suggested I make it myself, using poster board and magic markers.

So I set to work. I drew guidelines with a ruler (top and bottom and one down the middle for centering). Next I sketched where the letters should go, keeping in mind that an M takes up much more room than an I. It was a much more difficult process than just highlighting the text and hitting the command for “center.”

But it was much more satisfying.  I’d forgotten how much fun it was to work with my hands. I’d made plenty of posters this way in the past, and I remembered how enjoyable it was.

At this stage I showed it to the student intern graphic artist.  “Wow,” she commented.  “I could never do that.”

I was sad, in a way.  This young person—an expert graphic artist—would never know the joy of hand-lettering a poster on poster board.  She probably didn’t even know how to do it.

I spent the rest of the afternoon carefully coloring in the letters with red Sharpie, then outlining them in black with an art marker.  Then I erased all the pencil marks.  A fulfilling way to spend a  Friday afternoon