Tips to Create an Effective Poster Print

A good poster includes an eye-catching color scheme, a focal point, skillful graphic design, and a call to action. A great poster should remain in the viewers’ minds, creating potential customers for your business.

Creating a poster takes focus and skill. Business owners have long used posters as a savvy marketing tool. To design a poster that will linger and potentially expand your customer base, target your audience, develop some themes, and reflect your themes in the poster design elements.

One thing to keep in mind is that simplicity should be the rule when designing an effective poster. Don’t overload your poster, or it will be more of an eyesore than an attraction.

Target Audience

The first thing you need to do when you’re designing an effective poster for your business is to define why you’re making a poster in the first place. Are you informing new customers? Telling people about an upcoming event? Identify the aim and expectations of your marketing technique.

You also have to consider who your audience is. Ask yourself critical questions about potential customers’ age range, preferences, and spending habits. Are they tech-savvy, impetuous, and mobile? Are they settled, wealthy, and wise?

Defining the aim of your poster – education, information, exposition – and your target audience help shape the theme, colors, and design you use to convey information.

Visual Balance

You can find many poster templates online, and amongst them all, you’ll notice that most include a focal point and a visual balance.

You’re trying to achieve equilibrium between the words, colors, and images on your poster. Many templates include only one big graphic, although other smaller images may be suitable. Be careful about layering images, as this can be confusing from a distance.

Many posters use close-ups or cropped images for a punchy statement. This same idea – bold yet straightforward – also works for your color scheme.

Color Palette

Most graphic designers advise a limit of four colors to a palette for a poster print, and three is a popular choice.  You can choose a coordinated color scheme, like different shades of blue (usually with a white or black background) or contrasting colors, like orange and blue.

Contrasting colors is an excellent choice for your color palette because they amp up your poster’s visibility, even if it competes with other signs for viewers’ attention. Ensure the lettering and its background contrast appropriately, so the information is legible.

Legible Typography

Your typography is another place to  make your poster stand out. The most important aspect of the information you’re presenting on your poster is that the words are easy-to-read text, even from a distance. If people can’t read what’s on the poster, they will become frustrated and give up, even if it’s only the first few words.

Although most professional fonts used for external missives like emails or letterheads are sleek and polished, consider choosing something more unique when designing a poster print. A futuristic font like Impact makes a statement, whereas cursive Pacifico has a laid-back vibe.

Think about how the letters are shaped, the color of the text, the background colors (in comparison to the text especially), and their size. If the letters are too close together, some fonts are almost illegible; others create different letters altogether, so take note of negative space.

Negative Space

The images, words, and colors are crucial to a successful marketing tool, but so are the areas around these elements.

Think about the negative space or white space and how well your poster uses it. Using white space well, balancing it with the other components on your poster is essential for marketing success. If your poster has too much on it, it will seem crowded, busy, and unappealing.

The aim of using negative space well is to make the main element of your poster, one graphic image and some text usually, stand out more. You can add space between letters, words, or lines or inside the margins to create a stunning visual effect.

Poster Visibility

Where you put your poster is almost as crucial as what you put on it. Think about the different locations where you could place your new marketing tools. The locale will influence the material the poster is made out of, the colors you use, and how much info you include.

Vinyl or lamination is best for outdoor use, but you can use thick stock paper for any type of indoor poster. If it’s a high-traffic area, like on a bulletin board or a wall in a public place, use a bold palette and a few simple words as there may be other competition nearby.

Call-To-Action

Many posters, especially those for concerts or shows, are used to communicate particular dates. Even if you’re using a poster print to inform rather than announce, you should have a prominent call to action.

People scan posters, taking in colors, words, and images all at once. Your business’ name, social media tags, or any other highly relevant information should be in a prominent position; upper right or lower right corners are often popular.

At the very least, make sure to include your physical address if your business has one or your website. More high-tech options include QR codes that open your website when scanned by a smartphone.

Make a Splash With a Well-Designed Poster

Some posters include brash colors or fonts to stand out, but poster design is mostly about balance and simplicity. Your poster should draw potential customers in, create a pleasing visual effect, and include easy-to-read information about how to find your business, either physically or digitally.

Comix Well Spring’s professional printing service can guide you through this complicated yet satisfying process. Your marketing tool can be successful with the right balance of elements and some solid graphic design