What are the Best Practices in Poster Design?

Article Date: September 27, 2024
Posters can be a powerful tool for advertising and promoting a product, service, or event, but only if they are designed with the right elements in mind. This is where expert poster design comes into play.

In this article, Signs.com explains the best practices for designing a poster — principles you can apply as you create your own poster — so you can convey your message effectively to the viewers and encourage them to engage with your brand.

1. Determine the purpose of your poster.

Do you want to educate viewers or do you need them to take a certain action? Do you aim to evoke certain emotions? It’s important to establish the purpose of your poster so you can use the right combination of image, text, form, colors, and other design elements.

Remember that words are not the only thing that convey ideas. When complemented with the right visual vocabulary, you can communicate your message even better.

2. Identify the location where your poster will be installed.

Before you start the design itself, visit the intended location and gather as much information as you can about the area. Will it be displayed indoors? Will it be hung on the wall of a retail store? Will it be used for an outdoor concert where a huge crowd is expected? These are some of the details that would clue you in on the poster size, the type of material you should print it in, and how you should install them.

Let’s say you intend to create billboard-sized posters and the location allows for it. You’d have more space to work with between the text, illustrations, icons, and other design elements. By contrast, smaller venues and more intimate events typically use smaller posters that people can inspect from a closer distance.

Another thing you keep in mind is the lighting condition. If you’re installing posters in locations with excessive lighting such as outdoors under direct sunlight or lighting from bright lamps with no cover, you may want to print your posters in paper with matte coating to help disperse light and reduce glare.

3. Consider the viewing distance.

The viewing distance i.e., short, medium, and long range, will determine the best poster size, which in turn would also affect the size of your poster’s design elements such as images and text.

For long-range viewing (30-40 ft.) – There should be more space between the text, graphics, and other design elements. You can also experiment with a dramatic image or typography to catch the viewers’ attention.
For medium-range viewing (10-20 ft.) – Ensure that secondary information such as contest mechanics, band lineup, and prizes remain readable even viewed from a medium distance.
For close-up viewing (1-5) – Use a catchy title and highlight the call-to-action with a bigger font size and choose a smaller font size for the fine print which you can place at the bottom of the poster.

4. Strike a balance with white space.

White space creates breathing room within your poster, guiding the reader’s eye as it moves from one detail to the next. As a general rule, it should consist around 30 percent of the space, while the text and graphics must account for 40 percent and 30 percent of the poster, respectively.

For text-laden posters, the use of sufficient white space becomes even more important, as they guide the viewers’ eyes and make the content easy to read and digest.

5. Arrange information based on their importance.

Did you know that fonts also help you create a hierarchy of information? This is also why an event’s title is typically the largest and most prominent element in your poster design.

Secondary information, such as event dates and venue, are displayed at medium size, whereas minor details including fine print and promotion permit numbers) are positioned in less prominent areas.

To help you understand the optimal hierarchy of information better, imagine that you are designing a poster for an event. The details should be in this order:

Event’s name
Date, time, and location
A short description of the event, which can be a catchy tagline that’s easy to understand.
Website, social media page, or contact number

6. Less is more.

Since posters need to be concise and effective in communicating your ideas, simpler designs are the way to go. By contrast, using too many colors and different fonts can make your poster look too busy and can overwhelm the viewers.

Here are some additional tips to ensure readability:

Use no more than three different fonts.
Use no more than 3-5 colors. As a general rule, 60 percent of the space goes to the primary color, 30 percent goes to the secondary color, and the remaining space goes to the accent color.
Try experimenting with different colors and fonts to make sure the combination won’t overwhelm or distract the viewers.

Remember that all effective posters prioritize readability by selecting clear and legible fonts, using sufficient white space, and choosing the right color combinations.

7. Create contrast.

When you create contrast, you can highlight the most important information, guide the viewer’s eye to a focal point, and ensure legibility.

These are some ways to create contrast in your poster design:

Choose a nice, readable font pairing in which there is an obvious contrast in size, weight, and style — this allows you to establish visual hierarchy. Pressed for time? Consider using one serif font and one sans serif font of different sizes to execute headlines and secondary information.
Try using lighter colors and saturated elements over a dark background (or vice versa) and see which combination provides excellent legibility and high impact.
You can also create contrast by juxtaposing two different graphic elements.

8. Use visuals to make a bold statement.

You can use a dramatic image or a beautiful or novelty typography for a bold statement.

Another common trick is the use of one big image that people can see from a reasonable distance. It can be a close-up face, a dramatic scene, or a captivating illustration.

Whatever you choose, make sure it comes in high-quality resolution so it will look clear and crisp when printed.

Frequently Asked Questions About Poster Design

What colors make a poster stand out?
Bold colors, such as red, orange, and yellow, are an excellent choice if you want your poster to grab attention and create a strong impact. You can also use contrasting colors i.e. pair of colors positioned opposite to each other on the color wheel to create contrast.

What is the best color scheme for a poster?
Picking the best color scheme for your poster is not an exact science. After all, it really depends on many factors, such as the poster’s purpose, brand, location, etc. However, try experimenting with contrasting, monochromatic, or triadic colors and see what works best for your poster design.

What font works best on a poster?
Garamond, Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma, Futura, Bodoni, Trajan, and Franklin Gothic look great on posters because they have no or very little strokes on their ends, giving them excellent readability.

Which design tool is best for poster design?
Use free poster templates with bleed and margin from Signs.com. In this way, you can make professional-looking posters in no time. It is beginner-friendly and you don’t need a design background to use it. Alternatively, you can use a design program you’re comfortable with and upload your design file to Signs.com when you’re ready to place an order.

How much text should be on a poster?
Although there is no hard-and-fast rule when it comes to the word count limit for banners, it's highly recommended to keep your text down to a few sentences and to use bullet points instead of paragraphs. Oftentimes, viewers don't want to spend a lot of time reading long bits of text. Additionally, it’s critical to organize the text into sections (or section headings) to help them navigate and “digest” the content easily.

Now that we’ve shared our poster design tips, you may want to check out our free templates with bleed and margins. Simply use the search bar to find a design or the filter results through the categories located on the left side of the page.

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