Space, whether private or public, is also a place for communication, which can easily be transformed into an unwanted and undesirable amusement park, created from ineffective outdoor advertisements.
Beyond style, beyond good taste, out of turn, everyone wants to say something about themselves.

Do you, dear Recipient of advertising messages, sometimes feel like clearing the space
of illegible and hideous advertisements?
But wouldn't a complete lack of outdoor advertising limit your access to information about what might be interesting, beneficial, or useful? Advertising was created for people.

So what can really bother you about out-of-home advertising?
To a large extent, it is certainly horror vacui, the so-called fear of emptiness in design art.
How does this manifest? Through decorativeness, overloading of graphic and typographic forms, a tendency
to fill the entire composition surface. Adapting press and television advertisements to outdoor media. In public spaces – using every free spot for advertising purposes.

And in reality, in outdoor advertising, the love of Japanese minimalism is more effective. Empty space, a uniform, gradient-free background functions as an integral element of the composition, directing the viewer's gaze to the messages. It affects its readability and clarity. When designing an outdoor poster, remember!: Your advertisement doesn't have to be a horror for your audience. Minimize content, use keywords
and symbols in the form of one or two main elements. Your design will be legible
and clear thanks to this. Unless you stretch or lengthen the lettering, use decorative fonts, accidentally let a small printing imp creep in somewhere, or use too much, too little kerning
(spacing between pairs of characters) and leading (spacing between lines). And additionally, you apply shadow effects under the slogan. Then you can be sure that the texts on your advertisement will be illegible.

Virgin Atlantic Advertisement / Source: Www.Chrisrawlinson.Com/2010/06/Virgin-Atlantic-England-Team-Airline/

What can you do to avoid distorting information? Use proven typefaces,
by well-known authors, with Polish diacritical marks, not those added manually. Use both lowercase and uppercase letters in their large font size so that they are clearly visible from a distance.
Use one typeface in a few variations, e.g., bold and regular. And most importantly, choose typefaces with a uniform, simple structure, so-called linear sans-serif antiqua.

McDonald's Advertisement / Source: Www.Adsoftheworld.Com

Then you can be satisfied with yourself; nothing will disturb the reception of texts on your outdoor poster. But still be careful, because your design can still become an eyesore in the space.
Why? It's enough for your advertisement to show unethical graphics, permeated with aggression and sex instead of love, inconsistent with good customs, or offending human dignity or religious feelings.

Sisley Advertisement / Source: Www.Adsoftheworld.Com

You might also accidentally use an outdated symbol that only a small group of people can recognize, or mislead the recipient instead of clearly presenting the information.
The poster will evoke emotions – but negative ones. The recipient may feel aversion or disgust.
So don't forget about moderation, ethics, and good taste. Evoke empathy, positive emotions.
Use symbols understood by the general public, shown in an interesting, surprising graphic form that stimulates the imagination. Of course, not kitschy! Without using pastel, candy tones. Give up washed-out pink or desaturated celadon.
Don't overdo it with excess, pompous forms, and colors.
A kitschy poster is always out of place, directed at the wrong audience, too common
to be remembered, and too convoluted to be correctly interpreted.
Unless the kitschy form is dictated by a deliberate informational action.

What else can an outdoor poster be criticized for?
For being ill-suited to perception: we use too small a logo, we arrange elements on the poster ineffectively, we create optical illusions for the recipients that distort the text, or we choose the background color poorly in relation to the surroundings. Do not use a blue background on a poster if it will be placed against a blue sky. Ask where your outdoor poster will be displayed.
In the city? Near forests? In an open space? And choose contrasting, strong colors that stand out from the surroundings, just as human skin tones stand out from the background on blue
or green blue boxes.

So kitsch, ugliness, deformation, and horror don't have to be your lot.
Transform space in a proper and aesthetic way.
Instead of changing the environment, change your approach to poster design.
Your success depends as much on choosing the right strategy
and brand positioning as it does on effective outdoor creation.

"Artykuł został wcześniej opublikowany 
w portalu NowyMarketing.pl w maju 2015"