In this post-manystuff* internet environment, it seems pertinent upon my person to make a list. A list of all the different ways that a modern graphic designer can hold a poster! When a poster is held correctly, it is done great justice! When a poster is held correctly, it is totally blogged all over the internets!

*manystuff will actually live forever. It is like an immortal superbeast.

Peek at this quote for a moment:

Why does everybody shoot work like this?

Arms outstretched, they nip the work gingerly between finger and thumb. Who are they? Is it the same person each time – some kind of professional poster holder-upper who, seizing their chance, has carved out an unlikely career in the graphic display business?

I can see the advantages of doing it this way. We’d far rather feature images of physical objects than Illustrator files any day – the latter being so anaemic and, obviously, one-dimensional. With these images you get a sense of scale and a feel for the quality of whatever print finishes have been used. And if you could see the face of the holder-upper, well, I guess it might detract from the work. -Patrick Burgoyne

How many roads must a typographer walk down? Let us count the ways.

A) Space for Ideas with the “Two Person Handle!”

B) Kevin Wade Shaw with the “Backwards Fingerpinch!” I should mention that this photo basically inspired the whole world to start holding their posters differently. No joke. For real. The real deal, Kevin Wade Shaw.

C) Nick Sanchez with the “Mutanagenic Poster Hold” — three at once!

D) Stephan Müller with the “Relaxed Low Hold!”

E) Craig Oldham with the “I Am Questioning This” grip!

F) Stuart from the now-defunct We Are Thoughtful has a grip on the rather-specific subject-matter-wise “OLE!” – it only works when you’ve got a poster like this, as you can imagine.

G) Craig Robinson from the loltastic Flip Flop Flyin does it “WHY” Style.

H) After that we need a little rest so Eric Wrenn takes a little snoozer on a poster – what’s that?! You mean that’s a hold too? Yes! It’s called the “Carry Me P!”

I) JK Keller turns this thang on its HEAD by taking 90 portfolio images of designers displaying their posters. All taken from links listed on the Manystuff blog and putting them on a poster where all the posters are CUT OUT! Holy CRAP you can see his face. This is called the “Holy ManyStuff!”

J) Alex Trochut takes it to the NEXT. LEVEL. by holding not the upper left and right corners, but the middle of the bottom and the top! My god! It’s called the “Up-n-Down!”

K) Bryan Dalton of Mistake the Beautiful uses a unique tree-like apparatus in this completely people-free technique entitled “Double Huge Clip Nightmare!”

L) Straight from the STREETS is this perfectly illegal in every country, city, state, and little town technique from Den Smirnov called the “Wheatpaster!”

M) Illustrator and screenprint poster printer and artist extraordinaire Jay Ryan with the majorly successful use of a friend to hold the poster – yes, always a good idea – in the “Middle Gripper” technique.

N) Oh wow holy goodness it’s Jay Ryan again. He is using what might appear to be a modified “Up Down” – but it is NOT! It is actually what’s called the “What Poster Am I Holding?!” And it is generally very successful indeed.

O) The team at JustGoneSix have teamwork on their side with the “Teamwork!” technique. It is important to note that teamwork means two or more people working together.

P) Ice-cream connoisseur Justin Leibow takes a page out of the Bryan Dalton book and uses no human at all! But unlike Dalton clips on a tree, there’s no clips involved at all. This technique is completely “HANDLESS.”

AND THAT’S ALL WE GOT SO FAR!

But that’s not the whole of it! If you’ve got the lodown on any more techniques like something Bruce Lee wouldn’t do like HIYA hold the poster! Then leave a comment! Holy crap! This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies celebration category.