As days get shorter and temperatures cool, it’s also time (eek) to start thinking about going back to school. To help you get a jump on the best school (and school-related) supplies to buy for fall, we’re running a series called Cool School Stuff, in which we’ll sniff out the best backpacks, best dorm décor, and best bento boxes, among many, many other things.
The struggle of the dorm-room poster: You need something to represent everything that you are to all your new college friends, but you can’t have the same picture every other room down the hall has. It’s about marking where you fit in, while still standing out. So instead of leaving you to desperately sift through your school-hosted poster sale for something original (spoiler alert: You won’t find anything original there), we’ve collected alternatives for the posters you’re likely to see everywhere else (you can also check out more of our favorite posters on Amazon, here).
Instead of: Bob Marley smoking a joint.
Go with: a pack of cigarettes that are actually joints. (Obama smoking works, too.)
Mainstream Marijuana
Buy it: $17 at Society6
Instead of: Pulp Fiction.
Go With: Get Out.
Get Out by Hassan Irshaad
Buy it: $15 at Society6
Instead of: the periodic table of mixology.
Go with: a minimalist, graphic Manhattan.
Manhattan
Buy it: $18 at Spring
Instead of: Keep Calm and Carry On.
Go with: a colorful, Get Shit Done.
Get Shit Done
Buy it: $13 at Redbubble
Instead of: Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out.
Go with: a vintage Apple poster, because you’re fun and like new technologies and sciences. Or, for something more affordable, keep it simple with a brain.
Vintage Apple Rainbow Logo Poster
Buy it: $100 at eBay
Instead of: a beer-pong poster.
Go with: a beer tarot card.
Beer Reading
Buy it: $34 at Spring
Instead of: anything Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe.
Go with: Rihanna.
Rihanna
Buy it: $25 at Society6
Instead of: an Andy Warhol soup can.
Go with: Andy Warhol’s far-more-fun after-party.
Andy Warhol After the Party Alcohol Poster
Buy it: $12 at Amazon
Instead of: that Pink Floyd poster with all of the painted butts.
Go with: a cartoon butt.
Booty 2
Buy it: $24 at Spring
Instead of: any other Alfred Hitchcock poster.
Go with: a text-heavy Rear Window.
Rear Window
Buy it: $32 at Spring
Instead of: Starry Night.
Go with: Maurizio Cattelan’s gold toilet.
Maurizio Cattelan: “America” Exhibition Poster
Buy it: $15 at Guggenheim Store
Instead of: Kramer from Seinfeld.
Go with: Kings Landing from Game of Thrones.
Kings Landing
Buy it: $34 at Spring
Instead of: a band’s vintage day-roll poster.
Go with: a graphic designer’s David Bowie poster.
David Bowie at Dunstable Civic Center, 1972
Buy it: $50 at Swissted
Instead of: M.C. Escher’s optical illusions.
Go with: a poster that says vibrate and also looks like it’s vibrating.
Human Being Journal Vibrate Poster
Buy it: $30 at Need Supply Co.
Instead of: the Beatles.
Go with: the Migos.
Migos T-shirt
Buy it: $18 at Redbubble
Instead of: a vintage tin hot-dog photo.
Go with: dancing fast food.
Let’s All Go to the Lobby
Buy it: $34 at Spring
Go with: Frank Ocean.
Frank Ocean Poster
Buy it: $12 at Amazon
Instead of: John Belushi in Animal House.
Go with: Jonah Hill and Michael Cera in Superbad.
Superbad
Buy it: $16 at Redbubble
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