The READ @ your library campaign by the American Library Association is iconic. Nearly every public and school library in America has at least one of these posters on its wall. Almost every public library READ poster features a celebrity, author, or other public figure posing with a book.

The Naval Postgraduate School‘s Dudley Knox Library is no exception; NPS proudly displays faculty publications in the library itself. Faculty can also showcase their work through a custom READ @ your library poster and matching bookmark.

I tried to use backgrounds and images that complimented the book covers and were relevant to their topics. Bookmarks were a unique challenge due to their size, and I learned a lot about layout and typography. I also had a limited number of READ lockups to use, per the ALA’s license supplied with their templates. Design constraints foster flexibility, though, and I quickly learned how to make the posters shine.

I tailored the poster print files to the large-format printer onsite at the Dudley Knox Library. We used a modified color profile for exporting the final artwork that allowed for rich, true colors on the final prints. The posters are sized to fit a 20″ x 30″ frame with a narrow white border around the artwork. Bookmarks are printed at 6.5″ x 2.5″ on heavy coated stock.