Need some feedback please

I have been working on my exhibit for an upcoming coin show. I am open to suggestions as to how to improve the presentation. Keep in mind that the final size will be 30 x 20 inches. Coins will be placed beside the photo. I still have to add a Henry VIII to the second slide.

 

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Make the text below the coins larger. and one other thing where will the coin show be at???

 

The text is already size 14. The images are greatly reduced from actual size. The show is the RCNA Royal Canadian Numismatic Association meeting in Mississauga Ontario Canada.

 

I'm not a member but know several who are. Have fun. Display looks great Andrew.

 

The subject is "Historical Figures on Coins." Make the name of the historical figure REALLY BIG so the viewer can be attracted to it.

I like pictures as least 3 times the size (5 times is not too large) of the coins because denarii are too small to see unless you are sitting with them in hand at your desk. I'm not sure of the scale of your OP--maybe they are already. Maybe make a blank white circle (above? to the left? below?) in which to place the coin itself. Attract the eye with large photos and names. Then some (small) fraction of exhibit goers will slow down and look at the coins and read the rest.

 

That looks super awesome. I do find the overall background a bit distracting with the texturizing. Any chance a 'smoother' look there, maybe with a fade (like my icon top to bottom)? Also, I would try (knowing it may not be possible) to justify the text fields to the edges of the photos.

Those are purely cosmetic and the display is fantastic!

 

Thank you Jay. Your feedback is appreciated.

 

Thanks very much @Valentinian

I will try to at least bold the name. Perhaps I can increase the font size of the Name of the ruler.

As for the photos, they are quite large at about 8X3 inches each.

 

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I will consider them. I am still playing with the background.

 

Here is the second attempt with some changes incorporated.

 

wow great job, there's a coin club in my city i recently found out about and they do large shows sometimes and monthly meetings and stuff, i went to a large show recently and no one had anything but US coins, many of them there thought roman coins were things only found in museums and stuff, so i thought i should bring some along one time, maybe i could be the first ancient coin table there

 

The overall idea is good but fixing the visual inconsistencies will make it look more polished and appealing.

Suggestions:

1. All pictures should be the same size (the pictures themselves, although it would also be good for the coins to be the same relative size within those images)

2. All text boxes should be the same size and should be the same width as the coin images. Text box heights should also be the same even if that means having extra space below some of the shorter attributions.

3. All elements should be centered and spaced consistently within the poster.

4. (this is very subjective) I'm not fond of the Forvm-style center justification of the attribution. It is at odds with the visual rectangles in the poster and center justification is difficult to read. Re-do with right-hand text justification or with center justification for the first line only with the remainder of the attribution in a block of paragraph (perhaps with left and right justification of that text block). Keep in mind that for most viewer at the show, they aren't going to read or care about the attribution details-- they're going to focus on the person's name and on the coin pictures.

5. If you have one more coin it would balance out the second poster. If not, use that leftover space as a collector's bio. Write a brief paragraph about your collection or collecting goals. Also include your blog/website address.

6. In the interest of readability, consider having fewer coins in the posters, perhaps with just six coins per poster.

Also note that you'll need to create this digital graphic in very high resolution so it will not be to pixelly when printed at 30" x 20".

If the poster is going to be flat on a table with the coins placed on the poster itself, the placement of the poster elements will need to be adjusted to allow a place for the coins.

 

The legend for the first coin needs to be all caps AVGVSTVS. I agree the text needs to be larger. I could see deleting text that has little meaning because it is obvious looking at the photo allowing the more important parts to be larger. Do viewers of this exhibit need to know the grade and source of the coin? Getting the public to read several lines of small text is not always all than easy. For that matter, getting people to look at the exhibits at a coin show is an uphill fight. Many do not want to see coins that are not for sale when they have limited time and primarily want to see coins they can add to their collection.

 

All great suggestions. I would also remove the bottom 2 lines from each attribution. The RIC# and the provenance can be provided if anyone asks. 99% of the people will not be interested in that... they want to know the name of the Historical Figure, dates, and a description of what they are looking at.
This would allow the text to be larger and the overall presentation to be more inviting to the casual viewer.

 

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I am going to work on this again. When I have another draft I will post it here.

 

Greetings, @Orfew —I think you have a great start on your layout! It would certainly get my attention if I were attending a coin show.

I did a couple of quick layouts based on your original one. I just used placeholder type for most of it but I used the coin images from your layout and the headings. One of the layouts has the light colored wood and the other the Roman crimson background color that you use on your coins. The space above the images is the space that you could place your actual coins.

 

Very nice, DR!! That looks fantastic!

The writing is probably too small but if Orfew puts only 6 coins on each poster the writing can be larger. If I understand correctly, he'll also display the actual coin in the exhibit. Perhaps a placeholder "virtual tray slot" can be created and he can place the coin there.

 

Wow @Deacon Ray that is a wonderful virtual tray. Thanks for doing that.

 

Deacon Ray has improved on an already good design. Looks like you're on your way to a fabulous presentation.

One quibble: You've listed Caligula as "Gaius." That's reasonable for specialists "in the know." But for the casual passerby, a big, fat CALIGULA is going to command more attention that "GAIUS"; most folks won't know who Gaius is. Everybody knows Caligula. Consider a name swap, or list as follows: GAIUS ("CALIGULA").

 

Wow! Leave it to Deacon Ray to take an already VF design and make it EF!

One observation/suggestion: Will everyone know that AR means silver? If not, you really should just substitute the word "silver" for "AR" everywhere in the description.