Steve, KD8BUN, started a thread this morning on the ARRL PR Reflector:
I was wondering if you had ever thought of perhaps putting together some full size posters for use in promoting amateur radio and then leave a small space at the bottom for groups to add there contact information. I wanted to mention it to you since you could probably get it done easier, cheaper, and make it available to more people than I have the ability to, especially with my limited resources. I thought the “when all else fails brochure” would be great material and of course one based on the hobby aspect would be good to. I thought it might be possible for you to get them made by whom ever does the ARRL brochures. It would look alot more professional than what we try to put together and there would be some solidarity in using the same posters overall. There may be some times to still make stuff but it would be a nice additional tool to make available to the amateur community and PIOs.
Lots of people jumped on this. Neal, WA6OCP, replied:
I have used posters for Field Day to communicate various aspects of ham radio. It’s not possible to engage everyone that stops by in a multi-faceted conversation. Also, some people prefer to just browse and read.
I have a trifold stand-up poster that describes Amateur Radio. I used pictures from an old ARRL calendar and added captions. I also have a poster that tells about ARES, one that explains Field Day, and one that uses press clippings of amateur involvement in fires, floods, and even the earthquake in China. Of course these are all supplemented by various handouts from ARRL.
Pat, KC8TRW, noted:
Once upon a time, there were two 8.5 x 11 posters available for download from the ARRL website, but a quick search of the site doesn’t list them any longer. I do have copies in my files. They certainly were not as slick or as eye catching as either the “We Do That” or “When All Else Fails…” brochures, but they are attractive enough. Given that these days, as I understand it, almost all graphic work from HQ is done on either Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW, I don’t doubt that the original layouts for both of these brochures are filed on disk in vector format. The nice thing about this is that it only takes a couple of keystrokes to turn off the layers with the text, and the artwork can be resized without concern that they suffer from “jaggies.” Whether or not HQ would want to do that is another matter, however.
Gary, K2GW, said:
The league has some very talented graphics designers. I’m sure they could take the themes of the three current public relations brochures (Hello – It’s fun!; We Do that- Technology, and When all else fails- EmComm) and pretty easily design three corresponding 18 by 24 posters that match the graphics, and professional, modern style of the current brochures.
Local clubs could then use them either as individual posters by adding their club name to some white space at the bottom, or cutting the white space off, apply them to a trifold “”science fair project” as the background for a tabletop display.
That way clubs have a starting point for effective PR displays.
I hope that the ARRL pounces on this. I would love to have a large poster along the lines of the We Do That! website and brochure. If it were in vector format, I’d take that design down to the local sign shop and have a large banner printed that we could hang at our club events.
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