i have to make a 3x4 ft poster for my senior design project. i've never made anything this big so i have no idea what programs would be best to use. best as in easiest, fastest, lots of options, etc. what should i use?

12/2/2006 3:57:34 PM

Since you're not familiar with page maker or indesign or quark or anything like that, maybe just stick to publisher. It'll also encourage you not to try goofy graphics that make your poster look gay.

12/2/2006 3:59:00 PM

construction paper and squiggly pens

12/2/2006 4:00:11 PM

^^ damn didnt think of publisher

^ maybe elbow macaroni too?

12/2/2006 4:04:39 PM

YES

12/2/2006 4:06:15 PM

powerpoint.... i made a poster using powerpoint, just set the dimensions, design the poster...and you can print it out in the digital media lab in DH Hill or other places on campus that have a poster printer

12/2/2006 4:09:07 PM

haha plotter aka poster printer

12/2/2006 4:22:25 PM

why not photoshop?

12/2/2006 5:20:43 PM

PowerPoint, as recommended above. Photoshop's strengths are not directed towards your needs for this poster. If you aren't familiar with more sophisticated graphic design or desktop publishing software, PowerPoint will offer you the easiest layout of text, graphics, and integration with Excel charts.

12/2/2006 7:10:08 PM

photoshop on that big of a canvas size will require HUGE amounts of ram.

12/2/2006 7:56:41 PM

who cares

most everyone has enough RAM to do this kind of crap now

12/2/2006 8:47:31 PM

posteriza

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/posteriza.html

12/2/2006 8:53:39 PM

Photoshop for a poster is going to be a painful exercise in futility at best.

If you had asked this question a couple of weeks ago, I would have suggested learning enough Illustrator to get you by and to use that.

But being that you waited till the last minute, POWERPOINT.

Publisher is going to do weird shit, powerpoint will help you keep it nice and simple.

12/2/2006 10:26:43 PM

Im adding no value to the thread

dont use photoshop

use powerpoint

12/2/2006 10:30:09 PM

thanks for the help guys..i ended up using powerpoint. i tried photoshop but with 2 gigs of RAM and about 3 gigs of virtual RAM i still had issues. and this isnt last minute because the poster is for thursday and we only found out about it the week of thanksgiving; last minute would have been wednesday night. but anyway, thanks again for all the help guys.

12/2/2006 10:59:47 PM

i've designed PLENTY of posters in photoshop...i find it hard to believe you had issues with RAM

powerpoint has just about as many design options as a box of colored pencils compared to photoshop (or illustrator). i'd rather gouge my eyes out with the red crayola colored pencil rather than pretend to "design" something using wordart and shit in powerpoint

12/3/2006 12:22:23 AM

^I feel sorry for you then man. I love photoshop, but for big stuff, illustrator is 1000 times faster, better quality and easier to work with.

Actually, powerpoint is a pretty damn robust vector illustration program. It can do a good 50-60% of what Illustrator can, and about 90% of what the average joe will ever use illustrator for.

12/3/2006 1:01:28 AM

yeah, i would have guessed photoshop's complexity would have been more of a problem than RAM if you had never used it.

12/3/2006 11:35:14 AM

I can't stand powerpoint, but it's fine for quick and dirty posters. Stick with straight graphics and clean text and you're golden.

12/3/2006 1:54:18 PM

^^Illustrator is more complex than Photoshop, the problem is Raster versus Vector.

12/3/2006 3:16:05 PM

http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/ ftw

12/3/2006 3:26:00 PM

^^yeah illustrator cs was a waste since i just use it for lineweights - no clue how to do most of the stuff

12/3/2006 10:42:36 PM

Pagemaker is bestest

12/3/2006 10:56:50 PM

I have used Photoshop for each and everyone of my 25+ flyers/poster with no problems. Ran okay on my laptop with a 1.7GHz P-M with 1.5GB of RAM. With that said, there is a learning curve.

12/3/2006 11:10:59 PM

http://www.superwarehouse.com/HP_DesignJet_800PS_(42)/C7780C/p/118883

thats what we have @ work...

i <3 it

12/4/2006 11:51:03 AM

http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US


and I second the rasterbator

http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

12/4/2006 2:01:53 PM