How To Create An Effective Poster

One of the most effective and popular forms of marketing and advertising used by businesses is poster printing. Printed posters provide a cost-effective and affordable form of visual communication and are ideal for promoting all elements of business products, services, and events – and creating a poster from scratch can be an enjoyable experience as well as providing the business with a valuable marketing tool. Here are some tips on how to create an effective printed poster for your business:

Planning

The first consideration is to properly plan your design process – consider your design before starting work on the actual content – a simple sketch or drawing is a great starting point. Identify the message you are trying to convey with your poster design, and from there you can start to visualise your content and layout by drawing each of the individual elements you want to include, and where they should appear in relation to each other and the overall design.

Target Audience

Establish exactly who it is you are trying to appeal to and attract – identifying this aspect will help you to decide the important details and highlights that need to be included in your poster.

Format

Once you have established a general outline of the look and the content, the next aspect is to consider the format and the size of your poster – many online print companies offer a choice of templates from which you can choose the type of poster you want to create. Consider how and where you are going to deploy your poster design and where it will have the most productive and greatest effect – is it to be featured online on your corporate website or social media platforms, or will it just be a physical printed poster to be displayed in different locations – or do you need a design that lends itself to all display mediums?

If displaying your poster in multiple formats and locations, you will need to think about how the design lends itself to all purposes – for example, what looks great in big, bold typeface and imagery – ideal for printed posters displayed in different physical locations –  may be ‘overwhelming’ and crowded on a small screen as a display on social media platforms, so choice of typography and images is important!

Readability

Ensure your poster is easy to read – the main aim of your poster is to grab the attention of your target audience and then convey a clear, concise message to them about your business, product, service or event – so it needs to be legible, even from a distance! Create a hierarchy of content on your poster design – and use no more than three ‘layers’ of hierarchy.

The headline is the main element as that is the feature that grabs the initial attention of your customer. The headline, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that it must be at the top of the poster – it can be anywhere on the design, but it MUST be the element that stands out! The details are the next hierarchical element – this is the important information you need your customer to know – details such as the date, time, location and participants of an event, or the specific product or service and where they can be found or accessed.

It is best to use a font about half the size of your headline display and is simple, familiar to most people and is easily read. If you are to include a third hierarchical element then this will be the fine print, which is perhaps a little more detail on the event, product, or service the poster is advertising -information that is useful but not essential for the reader.

Call To Action

This can prove to be an important element of your poster design – having garnered the attention of your reader, you need to offer some instruction as to how your reader can use the information you are displaying.

Your poster should include a ‘call to action’ – instructions of what the reader’s next steps should be – it may be an encouragement to visit your website or your business premises to learn more of the service/event you are advertising, or it may simply be an instruction to inform others of your offer or event.

Your call to action should be placed near the bottom of your poster design – the top section informs the reader of the actual event or product, and the bottom section helps them to take action!

Colours

Your poster design needs to catch the attention of people – one of the first things people will notice are the colours, so it is important to appropriately select your colour scheme!

A well-considered and chosen colour palette can be the element that grabs that initial interest – think about what it is your poster is trying to convey and choose colours that are appropriate.

For example, if your poster is promoting a celebratory, summer event then bright, vibrant colours will be most effective to set the tone for the event, whereas if your poster is promoting a, perhaps, more adult, sophisticated event or product, then simple black and white colouring will be more appropriate and effective.

Whilst the colour scheme is important, don’t be tempted to go ‘overboard’ with them – ideally use between 3-5 different colours at most, as you don’t want the poster design to be too ‘overpowering’ and ‘busy’

Visual Images

Visual images are very important in effective poster design – a dominant image or graphic will have that initial impact and grab the attention, so it is okay to go big and bold with an image. Often, one big dramatic image is the thing that sets your poster apart from others and piques the customer interest, but ensure the image is relevant and of high quality – a ‘grainy’ or poor-quality image will have a negative effect on those who see it!

Simple

It is okay to keep your poster design simple – if it contains too much detail or too many different elements then your message may get lost in a morass of colour and text. The aim of the poster is to get attention, then communicate your message to people, so it is okay to go ‘minimalist’ in your design. For some promotions, a simple, straightforward display will be the most effective!

Print Process

Having decided upon your poster design you need to consider the print process and materials that will be the most effective for your poster – consult with an established and reputable print company that can advise you on, and offer templates to help with, your design, and then produce the printed posters on the best, high-grade materials of print and paper stock.