How to create an advertising or event poster?

The poster is one of the oldest communication media but also one of the most used and most effective
for advertising or event promotion. The display has been able to adapt to each era and to all
technological developments with exceptional graphic creations. Take advantage of all the creative
potential available to you to design your own poster and follow the steps recommended by your
Graphicstyle communication agency to help you with your poster campaign. If you want a professional
poster, do not hesitate to contact us for a quote.

Identify the nature of your poster

It is essential to determine your communication objective up front in order to tailor your poster content
accordingly. Depending on your needs, you will have to design:

An advertising poster (bus shelters, 4 x 3 format, etc.)

To promote your product, your service, or your brand, as well as for a promotional campaign, notoriety,
the launch of a product or a special event.

An event poster (show, trade fair, festival, etc.)

To inform about a promotional or festive event.

An informative poster

For a business, store or public place, both for internal and external communication.

A cultural poster

For an exhibition or event of a cultural, museum or educational nature, graphic design plays a major role
in strengthening or even legitimizing communication where the visual is important.

An election poster

During a political campaign, to present and increase the visibility of a candidate or a party during an
election, the stake of this communication requiring a strong symbolic reflection and a graphic work of
the subtle and sober image .

A decorative poster or poster

For the decoration of stores, offices, places to eat, homes ... The harmonization of your display with the
style of your premises or your graphic charter to enhance the image of your brand.

Define the target audience for your poster

The design of your poster should specifically target your audience. It is important to identify where and
how to reach this audience as effectively as possible, in the street, in targeted places in public or private
space, in shops or businesses, in exhibition or performance venues. Each type of audience has associated
types of events that you will need to identify in order to optimize your poster campaign: exhibitions,
concerts, sporting events, entertainment for children, trade fairs, etc. It is also necessary to be familiar
with the tastes of your audience in order to adapt your communication medium to their expectations by
defining your upstream marketing positioning:

Your target audience (age, location, B to B or B to C ...)

Your offer (product or service, promotion, game, contest, etc.)

Your competition (in relation to your product or service or in terms of communication).

Find the relevant and original style of your poster

The marketing study carried out and the positioning that you will have identified will determine the style
of your poster, that is to say its guideline to be taken for its graphic creation. Take into account the
specifics of your audience. For example, depending on whether you are addressing a young or senior
audience, in a casual field, such as sport or entertainment, or more serious, such as the medical or
banking sector, the design of your poster will be different.

You will also have to adapt your message to your communication objective. The poster for the
presentation of a new accounting firm will not have the same tone as that of an event for the
anniversary of the same firm, because the festive aspect is obviously a criterion to be taken into
consideration, although the sector of activity is the same. Each poster design is to be studied on a case-
by-case basis depending on the brand's universe and the context of the communication operation in
question. Therefore adapt the style of your poster to your objective, in a modern and original way, while
respecting your graphic charter and the values of your company.

For example, take inspiration from poster styles from different eras that you will adapt with more
modernity thanks to current visuals, sans serif fonts, a trendy slogan. Define the style of your poster with
an adjective that qualifies it: technical, childish, futuristic, art deco, humorous, cubist, ecological,
prestigious, ethnic ... This approach will allow you to better define your style for a more coherent visual
and adapted to your communication message.

Choose the right format for your poster

The choice of the format of your display is to be determined at the start of your process of creating your
poster. This format will be used to develop the content and visuals of your poster. Study carefully where
your poster will be placed, what its use will be, in a store window, under a bus shelter, in a public or
confined space. If the 4 x 3 poster makes perfect sense in the street to be seen and read from afar, it is
not necessarily necessary in these dimensions to promote a product in a window. In addition, think of
thinking outside the box with offbeat or unusual poster formats, to surprise your consumer.

Question format, you are spoiled for choice. The size possibilities of your poster are endless but you will
be faced with the limits of the place and the display medium chosen, as well as your budget. Also take
into account your display context and your communication objective in order to be in phase with the
desired message. Adapt the format to the image you want to convey of your product, service, brand or
event. Here are some examples of classic display formats:

Large format posters:

400 x 300: Classic format for large displays in the street or on shop windows.

120 x 176: Standard bus shelters format, also called Decaux poster or lollipop poster.

100 x 150: Format suitable for large windows, for good visibility.

120 x 160: Classic cinema poster, often used in the metro.

70 x 100: Second best-selling large format poster.

60 x 80: Format most used for advertising posters or posters.

60 x 60: Square format which always remains original, but used in a marginal way.

Small format posters:

50 x 70: Format often present on the panels free display and showcases.

40 x 60: Format with dimensions easy to remember, for ease of use.

40 x 40: Square format for an original and functional poster.

20 x 60: Elongated format for artistic or cinema posters especially.

29.7 x 42: This A3 format is the most common, either for events or posters.

21 x 29.7: Classic A4 size, used for small posters or large flyers.

Gather and structure the information needed for your poster

No need to add too much information to your poster. Concentrate on the essentials. To help you put
together the data that will be useful to you, there is a foolproof methodology which is the 5 W rule. This
technique, which was originally based on five questions, now includes a sixth. Responding to each of
them will allow you to develop the essential content for your poster:

Who? WHO communicates?

What? WHAT do we communicate?

Why? WHY do we communicate?

When? WHEN is the event concerned by this communication planned?

Where? WHERE will it take place?

To Whon? TO WHICH target audience?

You will thus have most of the information that will be used to construct the content of your poster. This
prioritization of your data will allow you to structure your poster by positioning your content in the right
place, respecting certain rules that allow you to optimize the reading efficiency of your visuals. You will
need to organize them into three levels starting with the most important:

The name of your event:

Launch of product X, start of new service X, 10th anniversary of brand X, open house of company X…

Practical information concerning your event:

The date and place, the type of entertainment, concert, show, personality or notable speaker, etc.

Additional information relating to your event:

Booking contacts, access map, sponsors and partners, website, social networks, QR code, etc.

Choose creative illustrations for your poster

To illustrate the body of your poster, you have the option of either using a single, unique and impactful
photo, or several original illustrations. It is these visuals that will first and foremost grab the attention of
your target audience. The quality of your photographs and the creativity of the graphics must be neat
and sought after for greater visibility and better memorization of your brand. Take inspiration from
existing poster models on the internet, in Google Image or on the canva.com site for example, or use
your own photos if they are of excellent quality, with a resolution of at least 300 dpi for paper printing.

From a strong image in a central position on your poster, decline the accompanying visuals with a
coherent style by adapting the colors, either in a nuanced way with gradients, or with contrasts, titles in
large characters, overlays of texts, geometric shapes to highlight them, smaller and harmonious graphic
elements that complement the main image. The whole must represent a balanced and harmonious
design for a coherent overall result. In case you do not have the skills to create the visual of your poster,
do not hesitate to contact a Graphic Designer who can create a personalized poster graphic creation.

Pay attention to the image rights of your illustrations

You will also have to ensure the right to the image of your visuals and seek the source of each illustration
found on the internet because many come from image banks and are chargeable. Free tools make it
possible to identify their sources on the internet such as TinEye, a reverse image search engine, or
Google Image. Note that the right is variable depending on the type of image chosen:

The creative image is created from several elements that do not exist in reality. This type of image
requires the permission of its designer, the person who served as the model, the owner of the brand
represented and all recognizable places in this image.

Editorial image is a realistic photo taken by a photographer, often used in journalism. Its use requires the
photographer's permission only. If you use such an image for commercial purposes, you will have more
rights to be obtained.

There are two types of licenses:

The royalty-free license, which is payable the first time for the use of the image, which you can reuse
later without paying again. A royalty-free image is therefore not a free image, contrary to what the
meaning of this formula might suggest.

The rights-managed license, which requires you to pay rights for each use of an image.

There are other licenses which supplement the applicable law but do not replace copyright:

The six Creative Commons licenses: intended to facilitate the distribution and sharing of images, they
allow works to be made available to the public under well-defined conditions. Visit creative.commons.fr
to learn more about how to use these licenses.

You will find that image rights are very complex and that compliance with the relevant legislation can
prove to be time consuming and difficult. When you have recourse to a communication agency or a
graphic designer for the realization of your poster, it is up to this service provider to take care of all the
required authorizations. This can represent for you a considerable saving of time for a guaranteed
professional result.

Determine the colors of your poster

While color is a great way to draw the eye to your poster and give it energy, not too much is needed.
Each color carries symbolic values, and multiplying these representations on your poster risks blurring
the image of your brand. If possible, limit yourself to a palette of five colors integrated into your graphic
charter, and which will be the basis of all your communication media, to bring harmony, personality and
consistency to your message, while distinguishing yourself from your competitors.

Be inspired by your main visual and decline your titles and graphic illustrations from the colors of this
image. Be consistent with the colors of your logo and your graphic charter. As the main color, choose the
one that most symbolizes the strong value of your brand. You can use Adobe Color to build your graphics
palette and experiment with different color combinations with ease.

Select the typographies of your poster

As with the colors, you should be parsimonious in the choice of fonts for your poster, with three
typographies at most. These will have to harmonize with each other. If you use a fancy font, use
secondary fonts that are more understated and modern, so as not to overload your poster and make
your message clearer and understandable.

There are many typographies, free or paid, that you can download from the internet. To help you choose
your fonts, determine in what context you will use them: for titles or in the body of the poster, for which
target audience, in French or foreign, with special characters , for a large amount of text or a very short
and punchy sentence… A serif font does not lend itself to long text because it is not very readable. Prefer
a sans serif font, which is lighter and more modern. The font, which is similar to handwritten letters, is
more intended for children. Experiment with matching fonts to each other, using the bold and italic
options, or the more or less tight spaces, to suit your font to your needs.

Structure your poster using the rule of thirds

You have in hand all the components to create your poster: its style, format, content, illustrations, colors
and typography. The positioning of this information should not be done lightly and on a single aesthetic
criterion. One essential rule allows you to highlight your content: it is the rule of thirds, which allows
your information to be arranged in a harmonious and balanced way but in specific places on your poster,
recognized for their enhanced visual impact.

Divide your poster into three vertical columns and three horizontal bands using imaginary lines to arrive
at nine boxes. Each axis of these boxes is an important point on which you will position an element of
your poster. Place the most important element to the left of the image, as this is where the human eye is
used to starting a reading to go to the right, then up and down, as if drawing a z imaginary.

The more elements there are to position, the less easy it is to respect this rule. This is why you should
only retain the essential information. Be sure to keep empty areas or add white to ventilate your content
and bring lightness to your poster. Consider perspectives and main lines when composing your poster. It
is a question of directing the reading towards a precise place thanks to judiciously positioned visuals. The
one you put in the foreground will be seen immediately, but it should encourage you to look at the other
elements of your poster.

Respect the implementation of your three types of information based on this principle:

The teaser is positioned at the top center, in the headline, because this is the location that will be read
first. Your content should be immediately seen and remembered for better recall

The main image, text or other graphic elements, will be placed in the center, in the body of your poster,
the close-up visual or pack shot being there to reinforce the creative aspect of your poster.

Practical information such as booking methods, contacts and contact details, website, QR code, will find
their ideal location at the bottom of the poster or baseline, in order to encourage your audience to take
action.

Choose the best printer for your poster

For the printing of your poster, the use of a professional printer is almost mandatory because of the
printing formats which almost always exceed the capacities of conventional office printers. Unless you
carry out the printing of your poster up to A3 format yourself, for other dimensions, you will use a
printer offering online services or a print shop near you. If the Internet solution may seem attractive,
using a local printer allows you to better express your expectations and to check the quality of service of
this provider in situ. It is also easier to turn to him in the event of a defect observed in your work, with a
faster response if necessary.

To choose your service provider, find out about the prints made by the printers that interest you in order
to be sure of the quality of their work. Look at the reviews on social networks, get flyers or other
communication materials on display in their premises to check their professionalism. Make sure that the
selected providers respect ecological standards and have an eco-responsible approach.

You can also entrust your printing work to a communication agency which will supervise the entire
service. Our communication agency Graphicstyle works in partnership with several printing companies in
Grenoble and Lyon. We guarantee the follow-up of your prints with the printer most suited to your
project, whether for digital printing, reprography, screen printing or labels, and in the quantities and
finishes you want.

For all specialized printing works, gilding, varnish, special folding, creative papers, embossing, scent inks,
laser cuts ..., our communication agency can advise you and ensure quality follow-up, as well as for the
choice of paper, finishes, color control, proofreading, creative advice and meeting deadlines.

How about a digital poster?

When we talk about posters, it is often the paper medium that comes to mind, because this traditional
mode of communication is part of our culture and contributes to the most essential exchanges of
information in our life in society.

Digital signage, which is developing today, does not compete with paper signage but rather
complements and enhances it. Nothing prevents you from designing a traditional poster that you could
take digital in order to reach your target audience at different levels. A poster campaign can perfectly
combine several types of print or digital posters as it can focus on just one of these media. Depending on
the nature of your communication objective and the profile of your audience, you will have to choose
the most suitable display medium.

Start by designing your poster by following the various recommended steps. This creative process will be
the same for a paper or digital display, but the concrete realization of your poster will require technical
skills falling more than a professional graphic designer or a communication agency depending on the
degree of creativity and quality desired. Our communication agency Graphicstyle can provide you with
advice and skills to guide you in choosing the most suitable medium for your poster campaign or creating
the print or digital poster that suits you