If you are looking to make an impression, a poster is a great form of advertising that is well worth considering. Posters are eye-catching, striking, and they immediately capture attention.
Of course, this is only going to be the case if you design your poster with care. Considering that, we are going to take you through seven steps that will enable you to design a poster that is guaranteed to make a great impression.
1. Identify the goal of your poster
There is only one place to begin, and this is by determining the goal of your poster. Do you want to let your customers know that you are running a sale? Maybe you want to inform people of an event you are hosting?
Determining your main goal from the beginning is important, as this will guide every design choice that you end up making.
For instance, if the objective of your poster is to attend a conference, your design will be professional, clear, and simple.
2. Determine your target audience
Next, you need to think about the type of people you want to reach with your poster. This is the only way you are going to be able to make design choices that appeal to them.
After all, two companies may be designing a poster with the same goal, i.e. to promote a fundraising event. However, if one poster is aimed at those over 50 years old, and the other is for 18 to 24-year-olds, the design choices are going to need to be different to cater to the different customer personas.
3. Think about where you are going to be sharing your poster
This is the final thing to consider before we actually get into the design side of things. Where is your poster going to be shared?
Will it be shared on social media? Or, are you going to print posters and place them on your store walls?
It is important to figure out where you want your poster to be seen before you start designing. Sharing a poster on the likes of Instagram and Twitter is very different when compared to optimizing a poster for print.
4. Choose a color scheme
Your color scheme is one of the first things that people are going to notice about your poster. In most cases, the choice will be an obvious one, so try not to overthink this.
If your business has strict brand guidelines to follow, incorporate these brand colors into your poster design. You can use some photo editing software to achieve the best result!
If you are finding it difficult to select a relevant color palette, think about the emotions and meanings associated with each color. For example, blue is a color associated with loyalty and trust. Red is associated with urgency, strength, and courage. Green is associated with peace and the environment. You get the point!
5. Devise a clear call-to-action
Make the next steps clear with a striking and effective call-to-action (CTA). This is something every poster needs to have, no matter your objective.
CTAs are usually placed at the bottom of the poster, as this is a natural position for them. They tell the reader what steps they should take next, whether this is to call your business, visit your website, or make a purchase.
6. Create a hierarchy of information using fonts
The goal of your poster will dictate the information that is included. However, if you are creating a fairly standard poster, it is best to follow a hierarchy of information.
If you are creating an event poster, for example, you will typically start with the event’s name, followed by the date and time, a short event description, the event’s location, a simple CTA, and then finally, the name of your company.
You will use the largest font for the title, and then the font will typically get smaller, with bold highlighting the important points. Don’t mix and match too many fonts, as it can look messy and confusing.
7. Visualize concepts with the use of icons
Last but not least, you can use icons in your poster design to represent different concepts. Icons are a great way of enhancing your poster’s design. You can replace text with icons or embellish certain points.
Icons are also effective when it comes to quickly illustrating your ideas.
When using icons, they must have a consistent style, i.e. filled or line art, illustrated or flat, and the same line thickness.
Make sure you use them sparingly and enable plenty of whitespace so your design has room to breathe.
Creating an eye-catching poster
So there you have it: some of the different things that you should consider when creating an eye-catching and effective poster. We hope that these tips will help you to put together a poster that impresses for all of the right reasons!