Pattern and Design
Primary 3 · Creative Arts
Pattern and Design
Lesson 3 of 3
13 min
Keza made a poster asking people to come and plant trees at school on Saturday. She wrote down every word she could think of, in small neat handwriting, and pinned it up by the gate.
On Saturday, three people came.
Her friend Ishimwe told her the truth. "Keza, I walked past your poster twice. I never stopped. From where I was walking, it just looked like a page of homework."
And that was the whole problem. A poster is not a page of homework. A poster is a shout. Today you will learn how to make one shout.
Your poster must catch somebody who is walking past, in a hurry, from far away. You get about two seconds of their eyes.
Two seconds is enough for one message. Not three. So before you touch a crayon, say your one message out loud. Keza's message is: Come and plant trees at the school field on Saturday.
If your poster is inviting people somewhere, it must answer three questions — or nobody can come, even if they want to.
Leave out the When, and people want to come but do not know the day. Leave out the Where, and they stand at home wondering. Check all three before you colour anything.
Here is what Keza wrote the first time:
On Saturday morning we are all going to meet at the school field to plant some new trees, so please come and help us.
Count them. That is 24 words. Nobody walking past the gate is going to read 24 words.
So Keza keeps only the words that answer What, When and Where, and throws all the others away:
PLANT TREES
SATURDAY 8:00
SCHOOL FIELD
Count again: 6 words. She removed 18 words — and lost nothing! The What, the When and the Where are all still standing there.
And now look what she has won. With only 6 words on the page, she can write them huge. There is room.
That is the trade you make every time: fewer words means bigger words, and bigger words can be read from far away.
Keza's first poster was written in light yellow crayon on white paper. From two steps away, the words simply disappeared.
That problem has a name. Her poster had no contrast. Contrast means how different your letters are from the paper behind them.
And here is the part most children get wrong: the fix is never "make the yellow letters bigger". Big pale letters are still pale. The fix is always dark on light, or light on dark.
A poster needs a picture that tells the message even without words. For Keza: one big tree, held by two hands. Big, and simple.
Not five small drawings — one big one. An eye that is far away can see one big shape. It cannot see five small ones.
Leave some empty space too. Empty space is not wasted space; it is what lets your message breathe. A poster crammed into every corner just looks like noise — and people walk straight past noise.
Tip
The far-wall test. Pin your poster on the wall, walk all the way to the door, turn round and look. Can you read the big words? Can you tell what the picture is? If not, your poster is not finished yet. Bigger letters, stronger contrast, fewer words — then walk to the door and look again.
Which is the better poster title: "It is very important that all of us always remember to put our rubbish in the bin" or "BIN IT!"?
Answer: "BIN IT!" Just two words, so you can write them huge and read them from right across the yard. The long one is a homework sentence, not a shout.
Mugisha writes his poster words in light grey pencil on white paper. What must he change?
Answer: the contrast. He should write in a dark colour, like black, on the white paper. Making the grey letters bigger will not save him — pale letters on pale paper stay hard to see.
A poster says: FOOTBALL MATCH — SCHOOL FIELD. What is missing?
Answer: the When. There is no day and no time, so nobody knows when to turn up. Every invitation poster needs What, When and Where.
Umutoni's poster draft has 30 words. Her teacher tells her to keep only 7. How many words must she cut?
Answer: 23, because 30 take away 7 is 23. Keep the words that answer What, When and Where — cut all the rest.
Design task: your class is selling avocados at 100 Frw each on Friday. Write the few words for the poster.
Answer: here is one good answer — FRESH AVOCADOS, 100 FRW / P3 CLASS / FRIDAY. It answers What (avocados at 100 Frw), Where (the P3 class) and When (Friday), in very few words. Yours may look different, and that is fine, as long as it answers all three questions and can be read from far away.
What you learned today
Quick check
Match each question to the answer on Keza's poster.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
