Overheard a print shop guy say most DIY posters fail at 3 feet

Was waiting for my own prints at a shop near Portland last week and this older employee told a customer that they can spot newbie work from across the room because the text is too small or the contrast is too weak. He said if you can't read the main headline from 3 feet away on a 24x36 poster, then it's basically dead. That got me thinking about all my own attempts where I crammed info because I thought more words = more value. Now I'm testing every layout by stepping back and squinting, and it's scary how many flops I catch. Do you guys have a distance rule you swear by for posters or flyers?

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pipergonzalez24d ago

Oh man, that print shop guy knew exactly what he was talking about! I learned this the hard way with a garage sale flyer I made last summer. I crammed like 15 items in tiny 10pt font and people kept walking right past it, then I remade it with just "HUGE GARAGE SALE" in big bold letters and the date, and suddenly cars were stopping. Now I stick to the 3-5 second rule where I glance at a poster from across the room and if my brain can't grab the main point in that time, I cut half the words and double the font size. Also, I always make the headline at least 10% of the total poster height, and I test it on my phone camera from 5 feet away to see what it actually looks like in real life. Trust me, less text and bigger type has never made my posters worse, only better.