The idea of inking a message on paper and tacking it up in the public square to gather support or advertise wares has been around nearly as long as ink and paper themselves. Evidence of posters used for commercial purposes has been found in ancient civilizations from Egypt, to Pompei, Rome, Greece, and China. Posters remain one of the most popular forms of advertising today.
In our modern world, you will see posters used for everything from advertising music concerts, movies, and other events to promoting political campaigns or selling products and services.
Why has this particular form of advertising stood the test of time? It’s simple…posters are effective. A clever, humorous, or artistic poster tacked up in a bustling public location is a great way to grab attention and share your message with a large number of people in a short amount of time.
Of course, it takes a bit more than a compelling message nailed to a tree to generate attention and stand out from the crowd these days. Contemporary advertising posters need to pop with a spunky message, large font, bright saturated colors, or dazzling imagery to ensure that busy passersby take notice.
So let’s take a look at the core elements that make for a great advertising poster, and the best options for generating attention-grabbing poster designs for your business.
Benefits Of Good Poster Design
Whether promoting a business, an idea, an event, or a political or social message the benefits of a “stand-out” poster design extend far beyond the words or images printed on the paper.
Visibility
The days of townfolk gathering and mingling in the public square, taking in the various posters, and discussing the messaging with their fellow viewers are long gone. Life moves fast, and the average person is likely to be moving past your poster quickly. A strong poster design will ensure that your message stands out and grabs that fleeting moment of attention as your viewer passes by your poster.
Brand Recognition
Trust is a vital commodity in today’s competitive market. Consumers tend to interact most with the brands that they know. That means that no matter how awesome your product or service may be, you are going to need to generate a solid amount of brand recognition to gain consumer trust and get them to take the leap to become customers.
A knock-out poster design with clear branding can make people take notice of your brand name, logo, and colors. This notice will start to build familiarity. When they are ready to buy, your brand will have already made an impression in their minds thanks to your memorable poster design.
Focused Messaging
Consumers are bombarded by messages from all directions. There would be no way that the average person could get anything done if they stopped to consider every message that they encountered. For this reason, people tend to unconsciously filter out and ignore any input that is deemed unimportant or irrelevant. An effective poster design will contain focused messaging that speaks to your target audience about the things that matter to them. This will ensure that your poster breaks through those automatic filters and gets noticed.
Call To Action
Posters are generally created to elicit some type of action from the viewer. Whether you want your audience to buy your products, sign up for your services, vote for your candidate, or support your cause, a persuasive poster design with a compelling call to action is the secret to getting results.
Choosing The Right Poster Design
There are many different types of posters and each is designed to serve a unique purpose. Let’s take a look at some of the most common poster types that you will encounter, their intended use, and how to choose the right poster type for your goals.
Advertising
Essentially, the vast majority of posters are created to advertise something, be it an idea, a product, a service, or an event. That being said, the classic advertising-type poster will generally feature an overt promotion urging viewers to purchase a particular product, service, or brand. These posters often contain specific details like sale dates, discounts, special promotions, pricing, or product images and descriptions.
Cinema
Cinema posters are one of the most beloved types of poster designs. These posters line the walls of theater lobbies showcasing “Now Playing” and “Upcoming” feature films. Cinema posters are so popular that they have become not just promotional tools but legitimate collectibles. A well-preserved cinema poster for a cult-classic film can often fetch a handsome price on the second-hand market as nostalgia buffs and movie fans vie to add it to their collections.
Political Campaigns
Poster campaigns played a large role in spreading both legitimate political and social messages and propaganda aimed at garnering support for the wartime effort both at home and abroad. Like cinema posters, many classic propaganda and political posters from the past have become valuable collectibles. While propaganda posters have fallen out of favor, modern-day political campaign posters still borrow heavily from the bold “Americana” and patriotic styling of these wartime posters.
Educational
Education posters are generally text-heavy designs that aim to convey information in a visual format. Similar to an infographic, educational posters may incorporate graphs, images, and illustrations, along with concise blocks of text to communicate their message.
Events
From concerts to sporting events to local fundraisers, event posters advertise a specific gathering, meeting, or experience. These posters are designed to generate excitement for the event through vibrant imagery, but also to provide the important details viewers will need to attend including the event dates, times, location, and admission prices.
The Core Components Of Awesome Poster Design
Posters are creative expressions at their core so there is no hard and fast rule to creating a poster design for your business. That being said, paying particular attention to these core concepts can make the difference between a “blah” poster design and a truly memorable poster design.
Contrast
Remember, your viewers are likely to be viewing your poster while on the go. You will want to design your poster to make an impression or convey a message clearly. High-contrast imagery, graphic designs, and text colors will make it easy for your audience to gather the information they need to know most.
Location
Where will viewers see your poster? Will you be hanging posters in a physical location? Will you be posting digital posters online? For posters displayed in physical locations, you will want to consider the background, and the decor of the surrounding area to ensure that your design fits into the environment while simultaneously standing out from the backdrop.
The same goes for digital posters. Your design should be appropriate for the website where it will be displayed, but your design elements should generate attention.
Typography
While minimal, text is likely to be a part of your poster. Using interesting but readable fonts is important for good poster design.
Flexibility
If the answer to the location question was both online and offline, you’ll want to be sure you have a poster design that can adapt to various formats.
Remember that often, less is more. Keep all the elements in your design adaptable for both formats with a clear call to action and legible typography for any medium. You’ll also want a good resolution that fits various platforms.
One-Glance Design
Viewers are busy, distracted, and usually in a hurry. The biggest challenge any poster faces is getting someone to actually pay attention to it. That’s where the “one glance” rule comes in.
To achieve your goals, your poster needs to proclaim its message successfully in just a single, quick glance from someone who’s likely on the move.
How To Get Posters For Your Business
Not everyone has a professional graphic designer who they can tap anytime they need to draw up a poster. What’s more, not everyone has the ability to create a successful poster design, and you can see just how important that is. Good poster design is all about marrying creativity with the necessary formatting to achieve optimum memorability and visual appeal. When you need a poster, you also want to be sure that it’s done in the best resolution, format, and size for your specific needs.
With all that in mind, it can be pretty expensive to hire someone with all the necessary qualifications when you’re a sole proprietor, small business, or startup. You could go the freelance marketplace route, but vetting quality is tough, and knowing when exactly you’ll get your poster design back can be a battle. What if you need several versions for simultaneous campaigns? Will the same freelancer be available to get them all done on time?
So, what do you do? Do you have to settle for a poster you don’t love because you can’t afford to hire in-house or wait weeks for a design because you went with a freelance marketplace?
No!
When you want talented graphic designers for an affordable cost, a flat-rate subscription service with Flocksy is the way to go. When we’re your creative services provider, you’ll get all the creative services your company needs to produce consistent, high-quality marketing assets, including posters, web design, social media ads, landing pages, video editing, illustrations, and even copywriting – all on one creative service platform.
A Flocksy flat-rate subscription delivers the professional work you want for a monthly fee that doesn’t yo-yo up and down. While we handle your creative projects, you’ll be able to focus on all the other important aspects of running your business.
The no-contract, all-in-one format means you won’t have to juggle all your freelancers because your entire team of professionals will all be available through the Flocksy dashboard and just a message away.
Getting Your Custom Posters At Flocksy
With Flocksy graphic design services, starting a “poster design” project is simple. From the intuitive dashboard, request your poster from our graphic artist team, and you’ll get results in as little as 24 to 48 hours.
How do you put in a request? It’s easy.
First, click on the “Create new project” button on the main dashboard. This will take you to the project request page. Then choose the “graphic design project” option. From there, find the subcategory option for “poster design.” You’ll see the page update so that you can provide all the details about what your poster needs.
When you’re starting your poster design project, be sure to explicitly state what you need from the design and how you’ll be using the poster, including any references the team should use, the necessary info to display, and your brand style guide or the fonts and colors you’d like to see.
Your graphic designer will produce a professional poster design that checks off all the boxes above. With information on your brand’s purpose, style, and personality, your designer can craft a poster that provides the strong call to action and visuals you need to create a lasting impression on your target audience. You’ll also be able to work with the same designer over and over again whenever you need brand assets. That way, you’ll always have a consistent design style, just like an in-house designer could provide, without the hefty price tag.
Soon, you’ll have an eye-catching poster ready to use however you need, and for any type of sale, event, or informative update you’re promoting. Sit back and relax as your effective poster brings in the awareness and action your business is looking for.
Start your poster design project today!