How To Create A Poster: The Ultimate Guide

A poster is active marketing collateral to evoke emotions. Its size is somewhere between brochures and billboards. It has four elements: headline, graphic(s), text, and blank space. Factors such as layout, flow, and color effect, and style affect these elements.

You can deliver a lot of bang for your buck if you follow these easy tips –

• Grabs viewers from a distance – Increase your poster’s readability to ensure it draws attention from a distance.
• Focus your target audience – You have to keep an eye on your target audience. Knowing your viewers in advance paves the way for better. Their cultural setup, taste, and preferences matter while designing.
• Grab their attention – The headline is the first cue to your message. Create a headline that hooks easily!
• Convince to keep them coming back – Keep your readers informed through your content.
• Avoid unfavorable fonts – Use friendly fonts to set the mood. Keep these tips at the back of your palm –

Align your content with font

Limit to 2 or 3 fonts

Font weight

Easy to read

Kerning

Pick the perfect partner

• Appreciate contrast – Monotony sucks. Set differences when there’s a variety of elements.
• Play with colors – Colors trigger emotions. Choose eye-popping colors.
• Use images that make a statement – Photos are louder than chunks of texts. However, arrange the photos in order. When photos are clumsy, the audience gets confused.
• Allow breathing space – Nobody likes to be in a mess. The cluttered design creates a wrong impression. Leave room between line, shapes, images to help them stand out.
• Don’t take minimalism lightly – Embrace brevity – way of expressing more with less. Have a simple layout that makes all the difference. A simple poster can be visually appealing too.
• Balance brings out the best – Strike a balance between positive and negative elements.
• Create a visual hierarchy – Prioritize your elements to set an order of importance.
• Be mindful of placement – Where would you like to position your poster? You can go both online and off-line. Position it in such a way that it fetches more visibility.
• Keep it scalable – Be flexible with poster size. Different platforms require different versions. The standard length of a poster is 24″ x 36″ inches. Although this is the recommended size, you can also make posters in various sizes based on your convenience. Here are the commonly used poster sizes –

Large 24″ x 36.”

Medium 18″ x 24″

Small 11″ x 17*

Letter 8.5″ x 11″

Retail poster sizes – 24″ x 36″ and 22″ x 34″.

The movie poster has two dimensions –

One-Sheet – typical size is 27″ x 40″ inches (686 x 1016 mm). Commonly used in theatres for advertising movies.

Bus stop – typical size is 40″ x 60″ Inches in size. (1016 mm x 1524 mm).

• Include call-to-action – Use words that set urgency and drives more result

Why should you design a business poster?

• You can face the competition
• To promote your product/service
• To spread the brand image to the broader audience
• It’s versatile
• It follows you everywhere
• You get long-term exposure
• It’s feasible
• You can distribute it easily
• There’s the flexibility of shape and size

When should you use a poster?

• When you want to stand out in the market
• To reflect your business to the outside world
• To launch your product/service
• To lead your prospects to take an action
• While opening a new store
• To create an online event
• To announce offers/discounts

Where should you place your poster?

Use these locations to skyrocket your sales –

• Your own company
• Shops
• Cafes, restaurants, pubs, and Hotels
• Public events
• Small groups
• Bulletin boards
• Public spaces

Today’s world is highly competitive. Everyone wants to take the extra mile to promote themselves. Well-designed posters create a lasting impression on their viewers’ minds. Here are some commonly used protesters in the market –

• Infomercial posters – It’s the most common poster you may notice on the sidewalk.
• Formative posters – You can use this type when there’s a niche audience. Your message is more focused and revolves around a particular message.
• Show posters – Show posters are also known as cinematographic posters. You can use it to promote upcoming TV shows, theatre plays, or musical concerts. It includes an image of the show with the show name, details of its release, and the venue.
• Political ad posters – These are also known as propaganda posters. Political parties use it during electoral campaigns. If you take a close look, you’ll find footer ads of sponsors.
• Fashion posters – They have a very straightforward structure. The large image with a catchy tagline usually covers the center space.
• Corporate posters – As the name suggests, big brands use this type of poster. You can use it to promote multi-line products/services. These posters stick to the uniformity of design to promote the brand message.
• Campaign posters – If you are running a campaign such as ‘Cancer awareness,’ these posters help you a long way. You can keep your audience engaged.
• Subject posters – It deals with a single subject. You can use it for art galleries along with the antique and description.
• Affirmative posters – Like posters that create awareness, there are posters for affirmation. You can feature an inspirational quote to motivate the reader. Such content increases positivity and adds a smile to users’ faces.
• Digital posters – In a content-driven world, the internet has taken over traditional marketing. In fact, things have become much more comfortable than they were before. You save time and energy by doing online. You can target a worldwide audience.

Now, it’s time to design your poster.