Guest posting by Kylie Balotin
As I stated in my previous post, I am part of a team trying to design a poster for an HIV campaign. In addition to deciding on what images we want displayed, we are trying to figure out what text on the poster should be. Throughout this process, we have been asking the question, “What makes text on a poster effective?”
According to an article by Seth Noar, we must create a clear message for the audience first. Next, we can use different communication and persuasion theories to frame our message and create credibility with the audience. (Noar) The message should precisely explain what we are asking our audience to do, but we can still trying to use “creative and unconventional messaging” to get the attention of our audience.(Noar) Since we are trying to design a poster, we should also try to make our message as concise as possible.
Even with this information, I was still not sure how to design an effective message for a poster campaign. As a result, I began to search for examples of other campaign posters. For example, I found a physician-targeted poster from a C-diff campaign, which is pictured below. This poster caught my eye because of the text, which says, “Dispense less [pills] and more [soap].” (“DFWHC Foundation | Non Profit Advertising Case Study”) This text is clever and creative, which should help catch the audience’s attention according to Noar’s article. However, I did more research about the campaign’s message and realized that the text did not seem to match the message. This poster was designed to remind physicians to prescribe antibiotics sparingly, but I thought it was a poster that reminds physicians to wash their hands. (“DFWHC Foundation | Non Profit Advertising Case Study”) The campaign could have worded their message better so the campaign’s actual message was understood.
(“DFWHC Foundation | Non Profit Advertising Case Study”)
In contrast, the antismoking campaign’s posters, such as the one below, from my last post clearly convey the message of the campaign. Just from reading the largest text on the poster, I understand that the campaign’s message is physicians need to talk to their patients about smoking. The rest of the text works to support this idea by stating that the patients need physicians’ guidance and that physicians can save their patients’ lives by changing their behavior. This poster’s text, while not as creative as the last campaign’s poster, is clear and concise about the message of the campaign.
(“Media Campaign”)
Finding the right text to put on a poster is critical to a poster campaign’s success due to the limited space to convey our campaign’s message; the text needs to be concise but still explain the campaign’s goal. Currently, my team has decided that the message of our campaign is that we need to end physician silence on HIV testing and remind physicians to ask their patients to get tested. As we decide on the text we want on our posters, we need to remember that the text needs to be clear about this message like the antismoking campaign poster and does not seem to imply a different message like the C-diff campaign poster.
References
“DFWHC Foundation | Non Profit Advertising Case Study.” Agency Creative. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
“Media Campaign.” Don’t Be Silent About Smoking. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. <http://talktoyourpatients.org/media/2010.php>.
zNoar, Seth M. “An Audience-Channel-Message-Evaluation (ACME) Framework for Health Communication Campaigns.” Health Promotion Practice 13.4 (2012): 481–488. NCBI PubMed. Web.