People use posters for different reasons, and they are in fact one of the most used items for different marketing campaigns. Posters make it easy for a business to get the attention of people to events, sales, fundraisers, and many other reasons. That is why we have different types of posters, and it’s key to know how to design event posters.
There are many ways that people design event posters, and one thing to note is that there isn’t one right way to achieve this. However, there are a few best practices to follow if you want to end up with the best design.
If you’re here to learn how to design event posters, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll go through the best way to design event poster. However, to know how to design event poster, you need to know how to design event poster from scratch.
Continue reading to find useful tips on how to design event posters from scratch, and you can apply these tips in when you design event posters or any other type of poster.
Designing a Poster from Scratch
These are the steps to follow if you want to design event posters from scratch:
1. Identify the Goal of the Poster
The first thing you should do when you design event posters is to identify the goal of the poster. It could be for sales, a fundraiser, or for any other type of event. Posters are aimed to address different goals and events, which is why it’s important to determine the goal of the when you design an event poster.
When you determine the goal beforehand, you’ll be able to guide your choices to suit the determined goal. For example, if the poster is to invite people to a conference, you’ll need to design it in a manner that will help you achieve that goal.
Basically, you hope to achieve that you can provide key information about the event. You can also provide information about the time and place in the poster, as well as the name of the event and possible theme. The background image should also be a perfect representation of the theme of the event.
2. Consider the Target Audience
When you design event posters, the target audience is an important thing to put into consideration. Events are always channeled to a target audience, and it’s not everyone that you’ll want to invite to the event.
Before you start designing, you need to answer this as it will help you make the right design choices. This is also a key thing that will help you choose the right colours, design, and layout. It’s a key thing that will keep your design as professional as possible.
The target audience is a key thing to consider because the design decisions that you make are not the same for every target audience.
3. Decide How you want to Share the Poster
As you design event posters, you also need to determine how you would share the poster with your target audience, and for this, there are so many options that you might want to consider trying. You can decide to hang it on a wall, place it on a billboard, or even post it on any social media platform. Everything completely depends on your preference, but you can rest assured that you have different options to choose from.
The importance of determining where you want the poster to be seen cannot be overemphasized. This is also a key thing that will determine how you optimize the poster because each of the options you have has different specifications. Therefore, you’ll need to be able to optimize the poster appropriately to fit well.
Optimizing Poster for Print
Regardless of where you plan to place the poster, there are a few guidelines that you’ll need to follow. They include the following:
Visualize the location you have in mind
If your plan is to place the poster on a wall, it is very likely that there’ll be so many other posters on that wall. Therefore, you’ll need to print yours larger so that it can stand out easily. However, you can make it smaller if you’re pasting it on a bare wall with no other poster on it.
Select a paper size
The next thing you’ll need to do is to select the paper size. However, you may not need to do this if you’re creating a big poster. For this, can you choose from A1 to A5 paper size, and this can be done from the print tab just before you print the poster. Another option is to resize the poster base on centimeters, inches, or even pixels.
Set bleed marks
After you have selected the paper size of the poster you want to print, the next thing to do is to set bleed marks. The reason for this is so that the images and content on the poster do not extend to the edge of the paper. If there’s a bleed on your document, you may need to print it on a larger paper to avoid the bleed.
Optimizing Poster for Social Media
Unlike when you design event posters to be printed, in the case of social media, you only have a few restrictions. With this, you can make it fun and more exciting. However, there are still a few guidelines to follow.
The most important thing to consider if you’re uploading the poster to a social media platform is size. You may need to make different versions of the poster because the size specifications vary for the different social media platforms.
Here are the dimensions for the different social media platforms:
Instagram: 1080 x 1350, or 1080 x 1080
Twitter: 1024 x 512
Facebook: 1200 x 1200, or 1200 x 628
4. Begin with a Pre-made Poster Template
As you design event posters, you’ll realize that having templates to work with will make things a lot easier for you. Poster template will create a solid foundation for you to start your design. One thing that you should have in mind is that the template you choose should align with the goal of the poster. This is because there are so many types of templates available, and you wouldn’t want to end up selecting the wrong templates.
Here are some things to consider when you pick poster templates:
Ensure that the template matches your goals and visions. Part of the things to consider include icons, placeholders, images, header placement, and more
Choose the right dimension for the poster, and this should be based on where you want the target audience to see the poster.
Feel free to customer the template to suit your design
In addition, you’ll also need to pay attention to the type of information that is contained in the template that you choose.
5. Choose a Relevant Colour Scheme
This should probably be the first thing you should do when you design an event poster because it’s among the first things that your target audience will see when they view the poster. The interesting thing is that you don’t need to overthink your decision because it’s mostly very obvious. For example, if the design is for an event during winter, then you might want to choose a colour scheme that is warm red, white, and green. These colours have a way of evoking a holiday feeling.
In other cases, you may want to be strict and use only your brand colour schemes. The choice is left to you and depends on your preference. If you’re finding it difficult to come up with a colour scheme that works, you might want to consider the emotions and meanings of each colour.
Every colour has a distinctive meaning, and checking these meanings can help you select the right colour scheme for the event poster.
6. Add a Call to Action
With everything we have mentioned above, you would have gotten the attention of your target audience, and once you have it, the next thing is to drive them to act. This is known as a call to action. There’s no point in creating a poster if you don’t plan to include a call to action.
For a marketing poster, you might want to include a call to action like Register Online or something similar. If the poster is for an event, you’ll need to ensure that the call to action is relevant for the event.
7. Font Hierarchy is Important
As mentioned earlier, the goal of the poster is the main factor that will determine the type of information that you include in the poster. For best practices, is bests to use font hierarchy when creating posters for your event.
If the poster is for an event, then you’ll want to include information like the name of the event, time and date of the event, a description of the event, location of the event, and a call to action. You’ll also need to include the name of the organization, department, or company in question. Each of these information should have different font sizes and style, as it’s also a way to get the attention of your target audience.
8. Use Icons to Visualize the Design
Another important thing to remember when you design event posters is that using icons is a great way to visualize the overall design of the poster. These icons are symbols that will simplify the concept of your design. It creates a perfect way for you to enhance your design’s appearance.
With icons, you can quickly and easily illustrate any type of idea. They can also serve as the main focal point of your design. Here are some things you should have in mind when you choose a poster for your design:
Choose a poster that has a consistent style
Don’t overuse the icon
Add a simple background shape or border to the icon
Ensure that the icon has a relevant meaning
9. Use High-quality Stock Images and Photos
Another interesting thing to do when you design event poster is to include high-quality stock images and photos to the design. This is a great way to enhance the visuals or the poster and also connect with your target audience. These stock images and photos can be the whole background of the poster that you are creating. The amazing thing is that there are so many places where you can get stock images and photos to download, and you can download them in different file formats.
A great site that we recommend for you to download all the stock images and photos that you can include on your event poster is illustAC. On this website, you’ll find different stock images and photos to use in your design and for any personal or commercial use. With these stock images and photos, you can be sure that your event poster won’t be boring and will also get the attention of your target audience easily.
10. Download and Export the Event Poster
The last thing to do after you have done with the event poster design is to download and export or print the poster. When doing this, you’ll need to ensure that it’s in the right format, and this would depend on where you intend to use the poster.
Conclusion
We have covered everything you should know about designing posters from scratch, and from all the information above, you can see that designing posters shouldn’t be an arduous task. The interesting thing is that you can apply all the steps mentioned above when you design event posters.
If you’re looking for a place where you can get templates to use, samples of event posters, or stock photos and images that you can use for the background of your event posters, you might want to consider the options we offer on illustAC. There are different images and photos that you can use, and you only need to type a keyword in the search options to find what you’re looking for.
