Ad agencies, big brands, fashion houses, artists, and the likes use posters as marketing collaterals on a huge scale. They are a great way to express, build a brand, and decorate spaces and walls.
But it’s not a piece of cake to design one, especially when it comes to creating a marketing poster, which has to be on point—delivering your message to thousands, and even lakhs of people.
Back in the day, such posters were handmade and sketched by artists. But as the world embraces technology, anyone can create with the help of design software like Illustrator, Photoshop, Inkscape, CorelDraw, etc.
It’s not limited to graphic designers, artists, and the likes. Even customers can design posters easily on poster design software integrated with an e-commerce store.
If you are one of them, and are looking for tips to design eye-catching posters, then we are here with the eight-step process to design an unforgettable poster.
Before you dive deep into your inner artist, make sure you have a message; an intent you want to convey.
A poster, or anything, without a solid message amounts to nothing, no matter how many hours you spend making it look pretty.
So, unless you are clear on your message, don’t indulge yourself by picking the font style, the color of the poster, and what not.
And if you’ve fixed the message, then make sure you have a solid impression-making headline that goes on the poster. Something that can be the center of your customers’ attention.
Good copy to go with an impeccable design is the recipe for a perfect poster.
With the right message and copy, it’s time to figure out the visual hierarchy of the poster. Which words are the words worth highlighting and giving the most importance? What is the secondary information?
Basically, in this step, you decide where you want the maximum attention, and accordingly, you devise a layout for your poster.
Now, it’s time to put the message down, and visualize it with a proper sketch.
This will give you an idea of how the final design might look. Moreover, once you have your vision on paper, you can make the necessary changes to the design to deliver the right message.
This step might look insignificant at the beginning; you might think they are just colors, what could be the difference; only to find out its importance with the final outcome.
Just like words mean things, colors do too.
A fiery red color signifies passion and rage, sky blue provides a calming and soothing effect.
Hence, picking the right colors and combinations is of utmost importance.
Now comes the detailing.
You’ve put together the copy, colors, and design. It’s time to fine-tune the poster design.
Too much clutter in the design can hurt the eyes of the viewer, and it takes away the attention from the central message you want to deliver.
So, make sure you declutter the design, and only keep the necessary elements.
“Every element should serve a purpose. Even the 'just for fun' elements of the designs.”
And that’s how you make an unforgettable poster design using the right poster design software.
Whenever there’s any talk about images, a thought rushes into our heads:
“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
And that’s absolutely true.
Choosing the right image is, again, one of the most important things for a perfect poster.
And if you are clear on the message, then this step shouldn’t be difficult.
You can surf the Internet for free image libraries like Unsplash, freepik, pixabay, etc. to find the right image for your poster.
And if you are designing the poster on an e-commerce store, then you can just download the image, and use their product design software to upload it on your poster.
Like we mentioned earlier, every element should serve a purpose. It should either add pleasantness to the viewers’ eyes, or should be supporting the main elements.
Similarly, white space plays an essential role.
Not keeping enough space between words or elements will make the poster look cluttered and unorganized, definitely losing its meaning and purpose.
So, our advice would be to add lesser, irrelevant elements, and keep more white space.
Sometimes you can deliver a strong message without using many (or any!) words with the right utilization of space.
If your end goal from this poster design is to generate leads or drive traffic then don’t forget to add a CTA.
The CTA should be relevant and eye-catching, but shouldn’t hog the attention you are planning to give to your message.
Additionally, your CTA should look the part. As in, it should conspicuously look the part, and at the same time, stand apart.
Additional tip: make it for your audience!
In this adrenaline-fueled creative rush, don’t forget that the poster is for your audience. So, you should design, keeping your ideal customer in mind.
The poster itself should speak to your audience. A bland poster that doesn’t speak to them will just amount to another scroll.
Posters are something that can create a long-lasting impression on your customers’ minds. It’s an opportunity that you don’t want to miss.
If you are planning to design a poster, then look for an online store that lets you create customized posters. Such stores will have a quality product designing software integrated within their website to let you create an eye-catching poster.
Mr. Pratik Shah is Creative Head of Brush Your Ideas, a Web-to-Print technology solution offering Web-to-Print Storefront and Software Solutions. He has been giving his valuable tips and suggestion about Web-to-Print Software.