Poster has white unprinted edges and black printed borders enclosing a color illustration of water with birds flying overhead or standing on rocks and the shore and sea creatures swimming around. Centered at the top is "life in San Francisco Bay" in black. Poster verso has black ink printed on white paper. At the top is "San Francisco Bay: cradle of life". Below the title are four columns of text with associated images of plants, animals and a legend for the image on recto.