Chapter 3: Posters & Placards — Adhesives, Lamination, Mounts

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Posters & Placards — Adhesives, Lamination, Mounts (for Prop Concept Artists)

Why flat graphics matter to worldbuilding

Posters, placards, and wall graphics are the fastest way to broadcast culture, rules, and urgency in a space. They are also material objects: the adhesive used, the mount behind, and the laminate on top all age differently and create distinct specular highlights, edge behaviors, and failure modes. For prop concept artists, the camera usually reads shape, contrast, edge state, and a few decisive wear cues before it reads text. This article equips both concept‑side and production‑side artists to design, depict, and hand off believable posters, placards, and wayfinding panels that hold up at hero and background distances.

Substrates and how they read

Paper: Uncoated posters feel matte and fibrous with soft edges that nick easily; they ripple with humidity and telegraph wall texture through wheatpaste. Coated/litho paper shows tighter highlights and resists grime, but creases fracture the coating into pale, chalky lines. Synthetic paper (polypropylene, Yupo) bends without fiber cracks and shows a slight waxy sheen; edges cut clean and resist tear. Cardstocks: Cover stock adds stiffness for placards; corners stay crisp longer but delaminate in layers when wet. Chipboard and greyboard read recycled and porous; they bruise at corners and darken with oil from hands. Plastics: PVC sheet (Sintra) is lightweight with satin sheen; edges router clean but can fuzz if roughly cut. Polycarbonate and acrylic look glossier and catch hard highlights; their faces show hairline swirls from wiping. Metals: Aluminum composite (ACM/Dibond) stays flat over time and reads industrial; edges are black‑cored and very crisp. Raw aluminum panels pick up radial brushing and fingerprints. Wood: Plywood placards bring grain and screw‑bite crush; edges chip. Masonite (hardboard) has a dense, uniform face that drinks paint and chips brown when hit.

Printing methods and surface cues

Offset litho on coated paper yields very fine halftone with minimal dot gain; under raking light, ink sits very thin. Digital toner (laser) creates slightly raised, shinier blacks that crack across folds and flake at torn edges. Inkjet (aqueous/pigment) soaks into uncoated paper and feathers at edges; on coated stock it leaves smooth, slightly satiny solids. Solvent/eco‑solvent and UV‑cure large‑format inks on vinyl or PVC show banding at low res and faint pass lines; UV inks can feel pebbly. Screenprint deposits thicker ink layers with sharp edges and slight edge ridges; overlapping colors create tiny plate mis‑registrations and tactile steps—great for vintage posters.

Adhesives: types, tells, and failure modes

Pressure‑sensitive tape (office clear): Glossy, yellows over months, edges lift and collect lint; creates sharp rectangular ghosts when removed. Painter’s tape: Low‑tack, matte, leaves a subtle fibril imprint on paper; edges soften under UV. Cloth/gaffer tape: Woven texture, matte, leaves thread residue and adhesive smears. Double‑sided tape: Invisible from front but telegraphs with localized flatness and slight bleed‑through on thin stocks. Spray adhesive: Even tack over large areas; overspray leaves dark, dusty oversheen on nearby surfaces. Failure shows as gentle field detach with islands still stuck. Wheatpaste: Brush strokes show through thin paper; edges frill and feather when drying; when aged, layers tear in archaeological strata revealing older prints below. Glue sticks/white glue: Uneven tack; raised ridges and tide lines visible under light; corners fail first. Mechanical mounts: Magnets create tiny puckered dimples; pushpins and tacks leave circular bruises and rust halos; staples leave twin crescent dents and oxidize to brown starbursts.

Lamination and protective films

Cold‑laminate (pressure‑applied): Adds peelable film; edges can silver (micro‑air) if applied too cold; corners lift first and collect dust. Hot‑laminate (thermal): Encapsulates with a plastic edge lip; reads as office/laminator craft; trapped air appears as smooth bubbles with soft edges. Anti‑graffiti films: Hard, glossy, very scratch‑resistant; show directional fine scuffs. Matte scuff‑resistant films: Kill glare but show finger oil darkening where touched often (e.g., elevator posters). Liquid varnish/UV coat: Thin gloss layer; chips off in tiny flakes at heavy creases.

Mounts and frames: structure behind the graphic

Foamboard: Ultra‑light, compresses at corners; paper facers delaminate with humidity forming blisters. Gatorboard: Denser skin resists dents; edges remain sharp; reads professional and flat. Cardboard tri‑folds: School‑science‑fair energy; hinge creases crack and whiten. Acrylic/plexiglass standoffs: Clear panel floats off wall; captures bright speculars and finger smears. Watch edge reflections and dust. Snap frames: Aluminum rails clamp poster; corners show miters; scuffs and anodizing wear at outer edges. Great for transit stations and malls. Lightboxes/Backlit frames: Opal diffusers glow; printed film (duratrans) shows denser blacks but can hotspot if internal diffusion is poor. Dust behind the glass becomes dramatic. Magnetic frames: Thin metal backing with clear cover; edge magnet band leaves slight darker border; easy to swap—use in tech or corporate contexts.

Edge behavior and readable wear

Edges communicate age faster than faces. Curl: Humidity makes unlaminated corners peel away from the wall, creating wedge shadows. Fray: Uncoated papers feather; coated papers crack to white lines. Shear: Vandal cuts and clean tears show bright, fibrous interiors. Lift: Tape corners gradually peel, forming a dust‑lined arc. Dog‑ears: Repeated re‑pinning makes layered triangles with staple scars beneath. Bubble: Entrapped air under laminate forms soft domes that catch highlights and reveal application direction.

Environmental storytelling via failure patterns

Sunfade bleaches pigments non‑uniformly; blues fade faster than yellows, leaving greenish casts. Rain tracks pull ink downward in faint drips on dye‑based prints; solvent inks resist but paper still warps. Heat near radiators browns paper edges and crisps tape; cold glass windows cause condensation behind posters, generating mold blooms in circular fields around tape points. In public corridors, torn lower corners correlate with passersby brushing backpacks; near doorways, right‑side edges are dirtier from dominant hand traffic. In industrial bays, metal placards dent around mounting screws; paint ghosts reveal old safety messages beneath new ones.

Wayfinding and compliance cues

Permanent placards in institutions often follow accessibility standards: consistent contrast ratios, type sizes, tactile lettering, and Braille inserts. Materials skew to acrylic, metal, or high‑pressure laminate with chamfered corners and vandal‑resistant fasteners. Directional wayfinding uses arrow heads, color‑coded lines, and zone IDs repeated on door placards and corridor maps. For fiction, invent a coherent graphic language—type families, stroke weights, color codes—then express it across paper notices (temporary), snap‑framed posters (semi‑permanent), and rigid placards (permanent) to show organizational maturity and budget.

PBR look‑dev notes

Paper (uncoated) sits low‑spec/high‑roughness with subtle fiber normals; coated moves to higher spec with tighter lobes. Toner adds a faint height/roughness shift; screen‑printed inks should have slight thickness and sharper micro‑normals. Vinyl films exhibit mild anisotropy from manufacturing and show stretch at corners; add directionality to highlights. Laminate films deserve a separate material ID: gloss for retail, satin for museum, matte for offices. Acrylic covers: higher IOR and clean reflections; include soft surface scratches and edge bevels. Metal frames: brushed normals aligned with extrusion; fingerprints reduce reflectance in patches near the snap zones.

Concept‑side workflow: readable families first

Define three families per location: Temporary (tape, pushpins, curled corners, cheap stock), Semi‑permanent (snap frames, foamboard mounts, satin laminate), Permanent (acrylic/metal placards with standoffs). For each family, design a small set of archetype posters: policy notice, event flyer, directional arrow, emergency placard. Paint decisive edge states and a few bold events (torn corner, tape ghost, replaced date strip). Provide a miniature brand guide (type styles, palettes, icon grid) so production can multiply variants without drifting off‑model.

Production‑side workflow: modular kits and decals

Author poster bases as layered PSD/AI templates with separated ink, paper, and wear layers. Build atlas sheets for tape pieces (different lengths, tears, and lifts), staple clusters, pin holes, and torn scraps; give them roughness/height to seat correctly. Model frames (snap, standoff, magnetic) as modular prefabs with standardized hole patterns and screws; include an option for cracked acrylic and missing screw caps. Create vinyl sticker materials with edge lift masks and a tiling air‑bubble normal. For wheatpaste walls, supply a tileable torn‑paper stack material and individual hero tears to blend across seams. Provide naming conventions like FAC_A1_TEMP_NOTICE_V03 and keep a CSV to batch‑render text variations.

Camera‑aware staging and set dressing

At background distances, prioritize silhouette and a few high‑contrast beats: a white barcoded sticker, a red emergency icon, a peeled tape corner casting a triangle shadow. Avoid wallpapering identical posters; rotate, crop, and overlap to break symmetry. For hero shots, angle gloss laminates 10–15° off camera to avoid blown highlights while keeping readable spec cues. In crowded boards, layer eras: sun‑faded bottom layer, mid‑age mid‑layer with rust halos, and fresh top layer with bright tape. Align wayfinding arrows so they make sense spatially—audiences subconsciously follow them.

Storycraft and provenance

A replaced date strip over last year’s event implies budget printing and staff habits. A placard with two mismatched screw types hints at ad‑hoc maintenance. Barcode labels over older property tags suggest system migrations. A safety poster translated into multiple languages communicates workforce composition instantly. A precise square of clean paint behind a removed plaque tells of a rebrand or regime change.

Safety, legality, and cultural respect

Invent company names and logos; avoid using real standards’ exact wording or symbols unless cleared. If depicting emergency signage, stay recognizable without copying protected marks. When referencing non‑Western visual languages, research typographic norms, directionality, and color meanings; avoid superficial pastiche. If your story touches on sensitive topics, keep text neutral and rely on visual hierarchy and color to carry urgency.

Practical study drills

Build a “wall archaeology” board: layer five posters with different adhesives, then age them with sun, steam, and dust. Document how each adhesive fails. Create a poster family brand guide (type scale, color, icon library) and generate a dozen variations in under an hour. Photograph specular behavior of glossy laminate vs matte film at three light angles; translate those reads into your PBR presets. Practice a five‑minute set dress: transform a blank corridor into a believable institutional space using only a frame kit, vinyl arrows, and two temporary notices.

Troubleshooting common pitfalls

Over‑noisy paper texture sparkles in render; keep base calm and add a few decisive tears. Laminate that’s too glossy reads like glass; lower IOR and roughness slightly. Frames that float: add screw compression dimples and wall shadowing. Stickers that sit on top: introduce edge translucency, slight lift, and adhesive bleed‑through on thin stocks. Repeated posters destroy believability; vary crop, rotation, and aging.

Bringing it together

Treat posters and placards as a system: substrate + print + adhesive + mount + laminate + environment. Design families for concept clarity, deliver modular kits for production speed, and stage failure deliberately for camera readability. When edges curl, tapes yellow, and frames scuff in the right places, your walls start telling the story before a single word is read.