In this post, I walk through how I revised my original Shaw Center for the Arts promotional materials and turned my draft into a more polished final design. This project required me to create an event poster, an Instagram post, a Facebook post, an invitation, and a social media comment using Adobe InDesign. What follows is my walk‑through of the whole process—from the draft, to the feedback, to the revisions I made in InDesign.
Revisiting My Draft and Identifying What Needed Work
When I created the draft, I approached the assignment as a novice trying to learn the basics of layout, hierarchy, and typography. I relied on intuition and the course readings, but I knew the draft had issues. The poster felt dense, the text overlapped the main image in ways that hurt readability, and my alignment wasn’t as precise as it needed to be. I also realized that working on a 13.3‑inch laptop screen is not ideal for layout work, but it’s the computer I have, so I made it work.
Before revising anything, I reread the assignment instructions to make sure I understood the expectations for the final. I also reviewed my own draft with a more critical eye, paying attention to where the hierarchy felt unclear and where the layout felt cramped. That gave me a clearer sense of what actually needed fixing before I opened InDesign again.
What My Classmates Noticed in Their Feedback
The peer feedback was genuinely helpful. My reviewers pointed out that my draft had strengths—especially in visual organization, consistency across formats, and the way I used size hierarchy to guide the viewer’s eye. They also noted that using the same theater image across multiple pieces created a unified visual identity, which was exactly what I hoped would come through.
At the same time, they identified several issues I needed to address. One reviewer noted misalignment between text blocks and images, which made the layout feel less intentional. Both reviewers mentioned that the white text blended into the bright areas of the theater photo, making it difficult to read. Another reviewer pointed out that my line spacing was too tight, causing letters from different lines to overlap. All of that basically confirmed what I already suspected: the draft needed more breathing room, better alignment, and improved readability.
How I Revised the Design for the Final Version
Once I had the feedback in front of me, I started making changes. First, I redesigned the title so it appears more prominent and bold. That small change made the hierarchy much clearer and made the event name easier to see at a glance. I also reduced the size of less essential text so the most important information stands out more clearly.
Next, I introduced more white space throughout the layout. In the draft, I tried to fit too much text into too little space, which made the poster feel heavy. Adding white space helped the design breathe and made the content easier to read. I also experimented with an alternate layout, influenced both by revisiting my own draft and by looking at how my peers approached their designs. Looking at their work helped me rethink my own spacing and alignment choices.
Finally, I corrected the readability issues by moving text off the brightest parts of the photo and adjusting the contrast where needed. This made the event details much clearer and more accessible.
InDesign Techniques I Used to Improve the Final
As I revised the project, I relied on several InDesign tools that I didn’t fully understand when I created the draft. I used more advanced typography tools, including adjustments to leading and kerning, which helped fix the spacing issues my classmates pointed out. I also used the fitting tool to match images to their frames more precisely, which solved some of the alignment problems.
Another big improvement came from finally getting more comfortable with moving, resizing, and aligning things. In the draft, I relied too much on eyeballing placement. In the final version, I used InDesign’s alignment features to make sure text blocks and images lined up cleanly. This made the layout feel more intentional and professional.
Finally, I used zoom in and out quite a bit more often, working on sections at a time, so that even with my small laptop screen, I was able to revise all the deliverables.
What I Learned Through the Revision Process
For me, this project really drove home how iterative design actually is. My draft wasn’t perfect, but it gave me and my reviewers something to react to. The feedback helped me see what I couldn’t see on my own, and the revision process helped me understand InDesign a bit better. I still have a lot to learn about layout and visual communication, but I believe that with more practice—and more time experimenting with the software—I’ll be able to work faster and make stronger design decisions.
Overall, I’m proud of how the final materials turned out. They feel clearer, more readable, and more intentional than the draft. And honestly, they show what I learned along the way.
Strategic Communications by Kevin 
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