I entirely agree with you.
That’s a good point.
I was hoping I didn’t have to do a complete redesign, but oh well.
How’s the poster looking?
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- This latest draft is significantly improved compared to the first version.
- I like the “join your neighbors …” line, it’s a very positively worded call to action!
- To trim the text further, drop the “Why not use Google Maps” question. Your “Do you like letting Google know where you’re going? If not, …” is clear without it.
- You spell out the URL twice, once as OSM.org, once as openstreetmap.org. You could drop one.
- The wording “people from this area” is impersonal. It would be nicer to use “people from Flower State”, “Treetowners just like you” or whichever place/suburb/… your local area’s inhabitants would identify with. (Also, does that map show the local area?)
- Do you consider osm.org the best starting point for people to learn how to contribute? It’s important because your whole effort is directed towards getting people to visit that URL.
- You mention that people can use their smartphone to edit, but I think you don’t tell them how.
As for the visual design: It does have telltale signs of being made by a hobbyist rather than a professional marketing company, such as the mix of styles and the “clipart” graphics. But I don’t think that prevents the poster from being effective.
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there is for example LearnOSM
or Beginners' guide - OpenStreetMap Wiki
generally wiki.osm.org is a better link to give, and there is a prominent link from the wiki to the map, these days the link from the map to the wiki has the least possibile prominence, it’s right after a nineties style list of mailing lists, irc, switch2osm information and the welcome mat for organizations
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The thing about google is not only that they get to know where you go, but that you get a map that is biased by advertisement.
I know many people who don’t care about privacy or who believe they can’t prevent being “spied at” anyway, so these considerations don’t influence their behavior. Nothing to hide etc, but getting a map that is worse for their purpose than it could be, just because someone paid to have an advantage over organic rating and importance, maybe can convince so of them
How’s the poster looking?
For the sake of beginner-friendliness, I …
- would recommend StreetComplete instead of Vespucci
- would not mention “iD editor” (I don’t think osm.org calls it by name, so this only adds confusion).
Not sure, there’s no really obvious target I can think of. Maybe learnosm.org. The Beginner Guide on the wiki feels a bit outdated to me (still gives disproportionate weight on owning hardware such as a GPS receiver, looks broken on smartphones, …)
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Is it ready to print?
These two compasses, we know what it is but we do not use them, I think a lot of people even do not know what these two images are, why is it there? What is the added value of these to the story?
The vertical openstreetmap.org text could be underneath the yellow part (bottom horizontal)
I would adjust the green box, google maps should not be wrapped in between and there should be more space above the text and less below. “Join your neighbors in” “creating a google maps alternative!”
In the big yellow box I’d give it more space above the first paragraph
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That’s ultimately your call, I don’t have any more feedback. At some point you’ll have to give it a try and see whether it works. 
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