Words on a wall
Typographic posters have no photograph to hide behind. No clever illustration, no colour to rescue a weak idea. It’s a handful of words and a typeface, and either the two belong together or they don’t.
This series was for an Etsy shop client, which is a brutal place to compete. Thousands of near-identical “inspirational” quote prints, all fighting for the same thumbnail. The brief was to make a set that looked considered, hung together as a family and stood out in a very crowded marketplace.
Choosing the voice
Every quote needs a typeface that sounds like it. “Don’t quit your day dream” is set in a tall, high-contrast serif with sharp hairlines, stacked tight so the words behave like a monument. It reads as calm and a little bit grand.
“Don’t grow up, it’s a trap” gets the opposite treatment: a chunky, rounded geometric sans that feels playful, with the line breaks doing the comic timing. Same size of frame, same soft grey background, completely different attitude.
Making it a series
A set of posters has to look like a family. Across the series the rules stay the same: black type on a pale background, plenty of breathing room, and a consistent frame and layout. That way the type does all the talking and the customer can see at a glance that the pieces belong together.
The third poster breaks the format on purpose. A black-and-white portrait carries the quote as a ghosted layer of type right across the face, so you only really read it once you step closer.
Design: font selection, composition and layout for each poster.
Client: an Etsy shop, with the posters designed to work as a matched set in online listings.
Presentation: each poster is shown framed in a room mockup, the way a customer would see it on a wall.