-Introduction
-Define your message
-Recognize your audience
-Decide on a type of poster
-Create a layout
-Choose your colours
-Select your image
-Send your message
-Conclusion
Introduction
When trying to send a message to an audience, promotional materials are an effective way to get your message across. They create a sense of awe by portraying eye-catching designs and a headline that attracts the attention of their readers.
Even amongst promotional materials, some stand out for their efficiency and cost effectiveness, posters being one of them. Posters are a familiar and productive way of advertising your business, services, brand, or events.
Posters, unlike other promotional materials, have the ability to create foot traffic, and when done right, cause people to pause and stare. Viewing a specific poster can really become a part of a person’s daily activity over the course of a period of time. HelloPrint offers these kinds of posters.
To get the benefits you want from your posters, you need to ensure they are perfectly made and can stay on people’s minds for a long time. Here are some steps to turn your posters into a visual masterpiece:
Define your message
Before you start to put your poster together, it is crucial to have a full understanding of the message you are trying to get across.
Are you preparing for an event? Do you want to advertise your brand name? Having a clear aim is important to set a direction on how to go about this poster.
Lack of a clear message will leave you disorganised and trying different ideas to produce something that just looks good without real substance.
Recognize your audience
Whatever poster you are trying to make must speak to the audience it is aimed at in order to move them. Understanding the audience you want this poster to reach is key to creating content that connects them to you.
Imagine you are designing a poster for a sporting event. You want to make sure that you use images of an athlete or stadium, something that would make the viewers highly interested in the event you are advertising. This would be completely different if you were creating a poster for a dance class.
Understanding your target audience is key to knowing how to go about your poster.
Decide on a type of poster
There are various types of posters; your choice depends on which is more suited to deliver your message to a specific audience.
Some posters are more worded, while others are more consumed by the image. The details of your message are key to deciding the type of poster you plan to create. Here are some types of posters:
- Educative posters. These types of posters are more word-driven. They tend to have captivating colours to attract the viewer to read the information that is provided.
- Movie posters. These are used to advertise certain movies. They usually have compelling images taken from the movie to get the viewer interested in seeing it.
- Infographic poster. Infographic posters combine images and words in perfect ratio to pass across a piece of information.
- Travel posters. These are highly visual posters that advertise certain luxurious locations. They are used by governments, airports, and travel agencies to encourage travel to certain destinations.
- Motivational posters. Motivational posters make use of a very calming, high-definition image to create a sense of tranquillity as they deliver certain words meant to stay on your mind and create impact.
- Advertisement posters. Advertisement posters could vary in the way they look depending on the business they are advertising. They make use of images from the products or services the business they advertise offers.
- Event posters. Posters like these are made to advertise specific shows, concerts, plays, and other types of events. They make use of eye-catching graphics and images to create a sense of interest in viewers in order to increase turnouts at these events.
Create a layout
A layout is extremely important for the poster you are trying to design. The layout dictates how the texts, images, and designs would be arranged. It might seem extremely simple, but it can end up being quite complicated.
Designing your layout from scratch requires knowledge of both textual and visual hierarchy. The knowledge of hierarchy teaches you where to place certain designs or texts in order to catch the eye of the reader first before moving on to the next visual or text lower down the hierarchy.
Try designing one yourself if you do not feel up to it; ready-made poster layouts are available on different sites like Canva and many other sites and can be easily downloaded.
Choose your colours
Your choice of colours for the poster will influence how your viewers react to it. Ensure to use eye-catching colours that will enchant the mind of whoever sees them.
If you are designing an advertisement poster, be sure to make use of your brand’s colours, as this poster is an extension of your business and what it stands for.
Select your image
The image on your poster plays an extremely important role in your design. The statement “an image is worth a thousand words” could not be more true, as the image you put out on your poster displays the message you are trying to send in some contexts more than the words you write.
Ensure to use high-definition images, as the quality your brand presents influences the way it is viewed.
Send your message
When it comes to the message you are trying to send, ensure to be concise and straight to the point.
Create a headline that can turn heads and create interest for the rest of the poster.
It is vital that you understand the purpose of your poster in order to decide how much information is necessary to incorporate, but it is important not to crowd your poster with words regardless.
Make sure to create the perfect balance between the images, colours and texts by selecting the right fonts.
Conclusion
Creating an amazing design does not start with the design, but with adequate preparation. Take a few practice shots first to understand how posters work, and then put all the steps together to turn this regular poster into an unadulterated visual masterpiece.
