‘BE GREEN’ STREET POSTER

California Institute of the Arts The following project is optional but highly recommended particularly for
Undergraduate Program in Graphic Design applicants who lack examples of graphic design in their admissions portfolio.
Optional project for admissions portfolio

BE GREEN STREET POSTER

Demonstrate your abilities in designing a visual message. According to
the specifications below create a street poster for the Be Green campaign
and include it as part of your portfolio for admissions to the CalArts
Program in Graphic Design.

PROJECT BRIEF
Design a 12” x 18” vertical street poster for the Be Green campaign. Your
audience is the general public. Imagine that your poster will be displayed
at bus stops and train stations in any big city. The goal of the Be Green
campaign is to motivate people to adopt a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
Your poster must combine type and image to create a powerful, clear, and
memorable visual message. You may work digitally or with traditional
materials or any combination of both.

Focus on creating an inventive and communicative visual message and a

well composed design. On page 3, you will find a selection of historic and
contemporary posters by professional and student designers that may be
helpful and inspirational. HAVE FUN!

PROCEDURE
Step 1 choose a topic
The Be Green campaign consists of five topics. Choose ONE topic from
the list on page 2 and design a poster for that topic.

Step 2 develop an image concept

Brainstorm and conceive of an image that will motivate your audience.
Thumbnail sketches are a great way to think visually.

Step 3 create your image

Once you’ve decided on your image concept, create your image using a
medium of your choice: digital, drawing, painting, photography, photo-
copy, collage, mixed-media, etc.

Step 4 design your poster

Next, integrate your typographic information with your image to create a
dynamic composition. Your poster must include a title and sub-title from
the choices on page 2. Create your type with a medium of your choice:
digital, hand-made, collage, etc. Be sure to consider style, color, and how
they relate to your message. Compose your type and image elements any
way you wish. Elements may rotate, overlap or bleed off the edge. Your
poster must be 12”x 18”, vertical.

1
 BE GREEN STREET POSTER

Be Green Topics and poster specifications:

Choose ONE topic and include both the
title and subtitle.

SHARE RIDES
12” TITLE: Be Green
SUB-TITLE: Share Rides
Sharing rides to school and work reduces emissions and helps reduce
global warming.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
TITLE: Be Green
SUB-TITLE: Use Alternative Energy
Electric cars, solar and wind power are just few sources of alternative,
non-carbon energy sources.

18” BUY LOCAL

TITLE: Be Green
SUB-TITLE: Buy Local
Purchasing food and other goods from businesses in your area reduces
energy and emissions that would otherwise be used to transport the same
goods to your area.

RIDE A BIKE
TITLE: Be Green
SUB-TITLE: Ride a Bike
Riding a bike to work or school reduces emissions, fossil fuel dependency,
and promotes green living.

CHANGE YOUR LIGHT BULBS

TITLE: Be Green
SUB-TITLE: Use Energy Efficient Light Bulbs
Replacing traditional light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs is an easy way
to conserve energy and help reduce global warming.

N T S
LEME
E Y
MA TATE,
RO

OVERLAP,
OVERLAP,
OR BLEED
OFF THE EDGE 2 PROJECT TOPICS
 BE GREEN STREET POSTER

Poster examples

LESTER BEALL, 1953, U.S.

A simple, stylized image, and minimal elements are used in a dynamic
composition to create an urgent visual message. Lester Beall’s famous
series of posters for the Rural Electrification Administration informed it’s
viewers about the importance of assuring basic utilities to all citizens of
the U.S., particularly those living in rural parts of the country.

JOSEF MÜLLER-BROCKMANN, 1953, SWISS

A dramatic use of scale is employed for one of Müller-Brockmann’s most
well known posters for the Automobile Club of Switzerland. The jumbo
motorcycle is too large to fit in the poster and the ground-level point of
view makes a menacing impression as the bike speeds toward the young
boy. Schützt das Kind! or “Protect the Child” uses a minimal amount of
elements and dynamic photography to create it’s memorable message.

STUDIO DUMBAR, 1995, DUTCH

Dynamic photographs of dancers are combined with human-sized musical
notes to create an image that communicates modern dance & music to
promote The Holland Dance Festival. Organic forms and contrast in
direction mimic the movement of dance in a composition that doesn’t
even need color to create a memorable visual message.

3 POSTER EXAMPLES
 BE GREEN STREET POSTER

Poster examples

DAVID DAVIS, CALARTS DESIGN STUDENT, 2010

For his poster promoting an exhibition of the plight of the printed book
in the digital age, David Davis used a photocopier to create his image. A
book is captured in a precarious moment, as it either evaporates into history
or as it is being converted from a tangible object to digital information.

AARON VINTON, CALARTS DESIGN STUDENT, 2006

A image of dismembered, floating trees is used to represent an exhibition
of contemporary landscape painting. The surreal and eerie mood of the
image suggests that the exhibition depicts the traditional subject of the
landscape in a new and unexpected way.

KAORU MATSUSHITA, CALARTS DESIGN STUDENT, 2011

Kaoru Matsushita used a simple photograph of her friend as the base for
her exhibition poster which promotes figurative art in the digital age. The
poster suggests that the proliferation of images via cell phone cameras
and the internet has changed the way we consider representations of
familiar subjects.

4 POSTER EXAMPLES