Poster Design
Creating a poster design is an effective and inexpensive way to advertise or simply get the word out about something that is important or interesting to someone. Long before computers and other high tech things existed, people and companies would be a considerable amount of time designing posters with information, creative characters and logos on them in order to let the general public know what was going on.
But in spite of technology soaring many still remain faithful to poster design and technology has kept up with the changing times. There are now many web design programs such as Photoshop that can assist you with your poster designs, or if you're artistic you can go at it freehand. Anyone that is embarking on a poster design journey should keep a few things in mind.
The Beginning
Before you begin designing your poster you will want to put some thought into exactly what you want to create and what your focal point will be. Most people that are looking at posters will do so only for a few seconds, so having a focal point that really drives the message home is essential.
Therefore, imagine someone walking quickly by your poster design and think about what you want them to notice in 5 seconds or so. However you answer that question should tell you what your focal point of centerpiece should be of your design.
The Theme
The rest of your poster design is also important. This will be the overall theme or message and the overall purpose of your design. The theme you choose should make sense when coupled with your focal point, otherwise viewers will be confused as to what message you are trying to convey. A well constructed poster design should mimic a storyboard; thus everything on it should gel and jive and all of it should be relative.
Computer or Freehand?
Once you have figured out your focal point and have some solid theme ideas in mind the next step is to determine how you will create your poster design. This can be done in a few ways. If you are not artistically inclined, creating and designing a poster on the computer using some type of graphics software should be the way to go if you are looking to have a professional and attractive poster design.
The downside to computer software programs is that if you don't already know them you will have to learn them and some can be very involved and complicated to understand and master. If you find that you are not technically savvy you may just want to hire someone to assist you or ask a friend to help. Some of the most popular design software programs used today includes Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. These programs can also be expensive. There are some free design programs however such as OpenOffice.org Impress and a few others.
Another option is to design and create pictures and themes online and print them out. At that point you can strategically paste or glue them to the poster board however you like.
Poster Design 101
Although you may have a million ideas of what should go on your poster design, fight the urge to put them all on one design. The end result of any great poster should be one that is designed with simplicity and should not be too cluttered. Imagine your poster divided into little boxes, and each of the boxes contains some part of the story that you want to convey. You can even separate the poster into boxes by drawing very light lines and then as you are designing assigning each section a theme or traits.
Usually near the top is where you will situate your title. Every well crafted poster should have a title (yours may be your company logo). The title should be centered and the font large enough to read from about three feet away. If handcrafting a poster it is a good idea to have the title or logo designed on a computer template so that all the letters are evenly spaced and the same size.
Any pictures or images should be crisp and legible. A good rule of thumb is to use at least 200 dpi, and in most cases a little higher. And every phrase or description should have an accompanying photo. Use at least 22-24 point fonts for lettering and phrasing; any less won't be able to be read from a distance.
If you are hand drawing or designing your poster making the entire thing evenly spaced is critical so use a ruler the entire time and measure out things like spaces in between photos and the margins alongside the entire poster.
Pictures and images are sometimes more explanatory than words, not to mention a poster full of just text and fonts is boring. When you can utilize a photo or image that conveys a message, take advantage of that.
Once the poster design is completed get a second option. Show it to a few friends or family members and gauge their reactions so you will have some idea of how the general public will receive it. Take into consideration their suggestions and make some changes accordingly, as they won't be as biased as you are about your creation.