Team Recruiting Poster

[Camren]

Since the forum download is only 2 meg i have troubles posting my photoshop pictures for discussion so here is my recruiting poster. critique please.

http://s1256.photobucket.com/albums/...compressed.png

[Tori]

you seem to have a lot of black space. I would enlarge the photos a bit. It seems a little off balance. Otherwise the design is great and original. I really like the simplicity.

[Alexa Stott]

Have some space around the edges of the pictures as well. It looks weird when they're right up against the edge.

(Also, protip: imgur or minus or something is way better for image hosting.)

[Camren]

Originally Posted by Tori

you seem to have a lot of black space. I would enlarge the photos a bit. It seems a little off balance. Otherwise the design is great and original. I really like the simplicity.

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

Have some space around the edges of the pictures as well. It looks weird when they're right up against the edge.

(Also, protip: imgur or minus or something is way better for image hosting.)

Do you think I should add a different color border, or just add space around the images? Also what do you guys think of a gradient background?

[msimon785]

For a recruitment poster, your biggest goal is to rhetorically attract incoming students. This is usually best accomplished with at least some text. While the images you have chosen do represent your team professionally and accurately, they may not be the most effective choice for purposes of recruitment.

Attached is a poster I put together for 1515 a few weeks ago. Notice the stress on team branding rather than information or images describing FIRST or even specifically what we do. Remember, the poster is just a hook.
Of course, my design is but one style of poster; many others are equally effective.

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by msimon785

For a recruitment poster, your biggest goal is to rhetorically attract incoming students. This is usually best accomplished with at least some text. While the images you have chosen do represent your team professionally and accurately, they may not be the most effective choice for purposes of recruitment.

Attached is a poster I put together for 1515 a few weeks ago. Notice the stress on team branding rather than information or images describing FIRST or even specifically what we do. Remember, the poster is just a hook.
Of course, my design is but one style of poster; many others are equally effective.

You're missing a lot of text. Who are you? What does the team do? How do I get involved? etc.

At the very minimum, say that you are looking for new members and for more information, go to your website (include the url) and/or when/where your meetings are.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

You're missing a lot of text. Who are you? What does the team do? How do I get involved? etc.

At the very minimum, say that you are looking for new members and for more information, go to your website (include the url) and/or when/where your meetings are.

I guess it's not universal, but we've found that lack of information can actually draw students in--but only in some cases when showing up to find out is easy.

This may actually work in 1515's school because it hopefully raises a question in some students that's relatively easy to answer (drop by at lunch) but still gets them in a one-on-one interaction with the recruiting members. It's also a school culture thing though; when I was in high school we had a sudden and rapid drop off of after school activities and students staying (lunch meetings were already impossible). This tactic definitely worked better before rather than afterwards.

EDIT: To the OP, I'll also add that the benefits of your poster depend on your recruiting campaign itself. Are you priming your audience long-term to go "oh yeah, Robotics, those clean black posters with the sharp photos" so you can eventually grab them? Or are you on a more short-term path (and thus want to include more contact info)? Does the place where you're posting these have a lot of other flyers, or are you standing alone? Especially if it's a crowded area, this may not "pop" enough. But if you're just posted at empty and strategic hallway locations (if allowed at your school), I'd guess the sparse look is more workable.


We're currently lucky enough to have a wonderful parent mentor who's also a graphic artist. Her style is like these these two posters, which students so far like. We're hoping they help in the fall school recruiting drives.