This guide is intended to help local group make their own posters and brochures. Usually, this will mean that we are talking of black and white photocopies of original or "master" posters and brochures output from laser or inkjet printers.

The information in this guide derives from material we originally produced for community groups about ten years ago. Our approach has always been that people should do their own communications as a group social activity rather than leave it up to an "expert". Even if the expert can be found in the group, leaving it up to one person will inevitably result in communication problems, while that person will find producing newsletters or posters and brochures alone is not much fun.

So, and notwithstanding the rise of computers, we have retained directions for simple cut-and-taped productions. Done with care, a photocopied brochure, made from a black-and-white photo and magic-taped print and graphics, can be better than a brochure produced with pentiums, scanners, laser printers and desk-top publishing software. And better yet, simple cutting and taping can be a group activity which requires no computer training.

Ryakuga Inc., which produced this guide, is a grassroots company that supports the communications efforts of community groups. Grassroots means we promote do-it-yourself communications activity using readily attainable materials and equipment. Our approach is to show you the way we do things, but not to pretend that it is the only way. We suggest that you use the process that we show you in this guide as the first step towards developing a way-of-doing-things that will be unique to your group and community.

Another Ryakuga guide, Newsletter-in-a-Box & Black and White Photography, will also be useful to groups who want to make their own brochures and posters.

Postmodern photocopier poster production is a direct descendant of photomontage as practised in post-revolutionary soviet Russia and also used effectively to attack the nazis in Germany during the 1930s.

Photocopier poster production is a "found" art; the procedure is to find type, logos, drawings and photographs - reduce or enlarge them to the desired size - then tape the images to another page and reproduce as many as you need.

It's also possible to produce your own type using letraset; a laser printer with fonts, or specific computer software which will produce large fonts on a dot matrix printer.

Remember to follow the principles of communication - first decide who is your audience and what are the main points of what you want to say. Write down your message before you start to work.

Some poster production tips:

1. The enlarging/reducing capability is very important. You may have to, for example, enlarge an item several times before it can be used. However, the quality will deteriorate (or become more interesting) the more times it's copied. This particularly noticeable on a newspaper photo or pmt (photo mechanical transfer) which has been "screened" or transformed to black and white pixels.

2. Use black-and-white photos not colored. For best quality, cut out the actual photo to use on your poster. Experiment with the dark/light control on the photocopier. Record the setting for other people who may be reproducing the poster.

3. Make a few alternate sketches of your poster before you begin. Make sure you have the right aspect ratio; for example, will the poster be 8 1/2" by 11"; 8 1/2" by 14"; 11" by 17"; or 8 1/2" by 7".

4. Write out your print information before you begin. The more important the information, the larger should be the type.

5. Decide what will be the "hook" to entice people to view/read your poster. Is it a slogan? A challenge? Or an unusual photograph?

6. Don't worry about filling up the entire poster. Too much type can intimidate. (Conversely, "studies" show the best read ads are the ones with the most words and information.) At any rate, "white space" can be visually-appealing and attractive. For a better look, keep the "white space" to the outside of the poster; don't trap it in the middle.
7. When you've decided on all the components, try moving them about on the page before you tape them down. Don't be afraid to discard non-essential items.

8. Take some time to centre and straighten your material for a more professional look. Try a drafting board or light table. Using a guide with black horizontal/vertical lines under the poster and a ruler/right angle triangle can also be effective.

9. It's not necessary to cut out your items closely. Scotch magic tape (not the clear kind) works best to hide the cutout lines. If you still have a problem, try a lighter setting on the photocopier or use whiteout on the original.

Don't forget poster utilization. Think of your audience and decide where it will be most effectively used. Should it be sent to the media? Sometimes it will take a small army of volunteers armed with staplers, tape and thumbtacks to get the posters out.

2. Ryakuga-style posters use a photo to catch people's attention. What is the best photo that you can use? Our belief is that one well-chosen, clear photo is better than a few tiny, murky graphics. Remember that your photo will be photocopied (and maybe scenned); choose a simple photo with big images rather then lots of detail which won't copy or be seen from a distance.

3. Catching people's attention is often called using a hook (a baited hook). Think of your photo and the largest print on the page as the hook.

4. Just as when you talk to somebody, (usually) you will talk louder when you want to emphasize something (DON'T FORGET...) and talk softer when it's not that important, use the largest type on your page for the most important information while making the next line of smaller type for less important information and so on until you say all you want to say.

5. Don't present too much information. We are expecting people to remember what they read on the poster from a telephone pole or the grocery store bulletin board. Just as we never remember what the person said who talks too much (blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...), so we won't be able to recall what we were supposed to remember on the poster crammed with information.

6. Remember the advice of the Anglo-American millionaire, David Ogilvie - KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. (Contrary to what some of the journalism students used to worry about, this doesn't mean that we have to keep it simple because we are stupid but that we are stupid if we don't keep it simple.)

7. Modern computers are coming loaded with all kinds of different typefaces - resist the temptation to cram your poster with all kinds of strange and illegible type.

2. Color photos do not photocopy very well so, to use photos on posters and brochures, you need either black and white prints or a scanner.

3. If you are taking your own photos, check out the photo tip sheet in the black and white photography guide and frame your shots carefully. Get in close.

4. If you decide to stick a black and white photo on your poster, use scotch magic tape. The tape will cover the edges and not make black lines on your poster. If you still have a problem with lines, try whiteout.

5. If you use a photo, experiment with the lightness-darkness control on your photocopier. Often, a lighter setting works better with photos.

6. If you decide to make black and white photography an activity for your group, the first step is to access a darkroom - whether it's in a high school;

cadet lab; photography business, or private home. Keep looking - there's lots of darkrooms around, often unused.

2. The most expensive scanners are flatbeds and work like photocopiers. Ryakuga uses a Logitech Power Page which is a hot dog or personal scanner. The paper or photo feeds itself through like a old fashioned wringer washer or fax machine.

3. Photos are saved as computer files (we save photos in an uncompressed TIFF format -tagged image format- for quality and compatibility with Word Perfect 5.2 for Windows). We use a black and white scanner so photos are saved as gray scale. Line drawings are saved as PCX files.

4. The Power Page attaches to the parallel port of our laptop and is powered by a 16 volt power transformer. It uses Logitech Senseware software (Power Page Control Centre and Foto Touch Color) to capture the image, save and modify the image. We make our posters in Word Perfect 5.2 for Windows.

5. Usually inserting the photo face up in the scanner automatically brings up the software. If not, open it manually. From the Power Page Control Centre, choose Picture.

6. (Note: Scanning involves lot of experimentation. You will have to discover yourself what works best for you.) You can modify the photos after you scan them. For example, in Foto Touch you can rotate or reverse the image and in Word Perfect 6.0 or Corel Ventura you can stretch the image. But it probably makes more sense when just starting out to put the photo through the scanner top first and to physically cut the photo if you want it, say, long and narrow.

7. In document mode choose gray. We use 125 dots per inch (DPI) for gray scale and 200 for line art (line drawings). You may want to lighten up the scale for your color photo. Click scan and the scanner will run the photo through the machine.

8. Save your photo as an Uncompressed TIFF on a diskette (a: drive). You may want to use the sliders on the tome control to reset brightness at about 15 and contrast about 10. The third control is for color.

9. You can usually save about four photos on a diskette.

2. Set the parameters for your poster on a new page or open a template. Or simply use an older poster or file and change the words and photo (To delete a photo, you simply click on it and then press delete.)

3. Type in the most important words - your headline - at the top of the page. Use 60 point (1 inch tall) if there is room.

4. Centre your headline (control J in 5.2).

5. Put in the disk with your photo. Click graphics; click figure; click retrieve; choose a: directory - highlight your TIFF file and retrieve it.

6. To move the photo on the poster, click it and move your mouse while holding down the left click button.

7. To change the size, click your right mouse button (while the photo is selected). Click Box Position. Change width and height in Size Box. (Note: unless you're stretching the photo with your software - your size changes are according to the aspect ratio - height and width.)

8. Note: if the command - Wrap Text Around Box - is selected you may not be able to get text near the photo. If it isn't selected, you run the risk of losing type under your photo.

9. Type in the rest of your information. Use a smaller typeface for less important information.

10. Save the poster as a Word Perfect file.

11. When you photocopy, experiment with the lightness/darkness control to get the best reproduction of the photo.

A letter size paper (8 1/2 X 11) gives you a six panel brochure while a legal size paper (8 1/2 X 14) gives you an eight panel brochure.

Putting together a Ventura document is quite complicated, so in this guide we will focus on using Word Perfect 5.2 for Windows. Using other word processing packages should be similar.

With care and a steady hand, you could easily make a brochure by taping print and a photo to a piece of paper. Be sure to make it straight.

There seems to be a difference of opinion about what is a brochure. Some people seem to think it's just an advertisement with more information while others will say that the style of the brochure is not nearly as important as the content. They will argue that, unlike an ad or poster which have to hook the reader, a brochure already has the reader's attention.

One use of a brochure is to send to people who, having heard about the business or service through, for example, an advertisement, request further information.

Our approach is to design the brochure panel by panel. In other words, the front cover is more like an advertisement or poster while the inside panels are crammed with information.

2. Make decisions about (a) what photo or graphic you should use; (b) what is the hook or headline that will catch people's attention; (c) what is your contact information; (d) a testimonial, if applicable; (e) four pages of continuous information, such as a schedule or catalog; and (f) two separate content pages giving the main points of what you want people to read.

3. You may want to send your brochure in the mail so you may consider leaving the back panel for stamp and address (Please note that some cranky post office people may only send brochures if they are in envelopes.)

4. We use the front panel as a hook to grab people's attention. So we put a photo and the most important information as a headline on front.

5. Put your contact information, including phone numbers, address and map if necessary, on the back of the brochure. If applicable, you may also want to include a short testimonial quote which ideally would encourage people to read the inside.

6. When you open an eight panel brochure, you have three separate content areas - the front leaf, the rear leaf and the four inside pages. Save the inside pages for content information such as a schedule or list of activities or catalog of prices.

7. When the reader opens the brochure, her attention normally goes to the top of the right panel (rear leaf). Use short headlines at the top of both pages to interest the reader. Treat each of these pages as a separate content area.

2. It will be easier if you add the information to your brochure page by page because the print will flow through the columns. Adding more text on a previous page will push subsequent type out of position. In other words, plan your brochure before you start typing and type from beginning to end.

3. If you are using the inside pages for continuous content, start here first because it will be simpler. You should still use small subheadings of a larger type size and space out your paragraphs for ease of reading. Retrieve the Ryakuga template "brobk". When you finish typing in your information, save the file under a new name to keep your template.

4. The outside of the brochure is a bit more complicated (Ryakuga template "brofnt"). The way it works the first column will be the right page (rear leaf) as you open the brochure; the second column will be the back panel; the third column will be the front panel, and the fourth column will be the left page as you open the brochure (front leaf).

5. Enter the information that you decided to place in the first column (use a headline and don't worry about filling up the entire column). Enter your contact information on the back panel.

6. Move the cursor to the third panel of the front template. Retrieve your photo (it will be easier if you cut it to size before scanning). Follow the directions on page six of this guide to move the photo and place it on the page. Hint: make it as big as possible. Type in your front page information.

7. Finally enter the information that you decided to place in the fourth column (the left page as you open the brochure). Save the file under a new name (save as) to keep your template.

8. Experiment to find out how to print out both sides of your brochure with your printer (when you figure it out, write down the directions). Do the same with your photocopier. Experiment with the lightness/darkness control of the photocopier to get the best photo reproduction.

9. To fold an eight panel brochure, first you fold the page in half and then you fold in the right and left pages to meet in the middle.