Hints and Tips:General Rules

The basic rule of display is that it is split into four
elements-
.THE BORDER
.THE TITLE
.THE BACKGROUND
.AND THE CONTENT ITSELF
Knowing this simple fact will allow you to decide how to go
about tackling your display.

You should only ever concentrate on two of these elements
otherwise the display can start to look too busy.

Also, creating any pictures you create for a background
will be distorted by the content you place over it. You can
see the effect in the picture below. There is an
over-ambitious, hand-painted picture which ends up looking
very overcrowded, thus it is best to keep to simple scenes
or patterns for your background.

The next important thing is to always keep in mind: it is
the content that is the most important element so should
always be the most prominent aspect of the display (sounds
obvious, I know, but can easily be forgotten in the throes
of display-making).

You need to decide whether the display is informative, or
for sharing children's work (it could be both). If it is to
convey key ideas or vocabulary, it may be best to keep
the display simple and reasonably plain, any decoration
should aide the information being displayed, not detract
from it. Themed displays such as History or Art can afford
to be a little more flamboyant.

Always consider the time element, it can be frustrating
spending an afternoon on a single display, you need to
consider how long it is intended that the display be there.
Can you extend its shelf life by increasing its wow factor?
Sometimes spending a little more time means you won't be
taking it down at the end of half-term.