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How to Make a Poster: Beginner’s Design Guide (& Templates)

Written by: Mahnoor Sheikh

Posters are excellent marketing tools that can be used to advertise movies, events, fundraisers, sales, businesses and more.

If you’re looking for an easy way to make a poster online, you’re in the right place.

In this article, you’ll learn how to create a poster in 7 simple steps.

We’ve also handpicked 25 stunning poster templates for various purposes that you can edit and download right now.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

What are the dimensions of a poster, 7-step process for making an eye-catching poster, bonus: make your digital poster interactive, 25 poster templates to help you get started, poster faqs.

• A poster is a printed or digital design that promotes business-related activities like events, grand openings, special promotions, etc.
• Posters have a set of standard sizes, but it’s best to check with your printing service or home printer first before starting on the design.
• The poster-making process includes identifying its purpose, choosing a template, adding text and visuals, customizing colors and fonts, adding a call to action or online form, and sharing with your audience.
• Poster design for beginners is easy when you have Visme as your content creation tool. Not only can you design using professional poster template s, but you can also create a myriad of client-facing and branded content.
• If you're running short on time and need to create eye-catching posters quickly, try out our AI poster generator !

When designing a poster, there are no set rules for the poster size or dimensions.

However, some printing companies use the same, consistent poster sizes, so it’s always a good idea to ensure your poster fits those dimensions.

Here’s an infographic summarizing the standard poster sizes used by printing companies worldwide. Keep reading for a brief explanation about each poster size.

• A4 Paper: 8.5” x 11” (21 x 29.7 cm). These posters are ideal for printing at home or at your local printing shop for personal use or for sticking on your shop window.
• Small Poster: 11” x 17” (28 x 43 cm). These posters are normally used as flyers or for sticking on street lights and bulletin boards. You can also use these posters for decorating offices, as they don’t take up a lot of space.
• Medium Poster: 18” x 24” (46 x 61 cm). These posters are mostly used in places like clinics, offices, shop windows and university walls. They can hold more information than small posters, but you should still keep the text minimal.
• Large Poster: 24” x 36” (61 x 91 cm). These posters are used by organizations for advertising businesses, films, events, fundraisers and promotions. You can usually find these posters outside malls, events and clubs.

The poster size that’s best for you will depend on your poster’s purpose and how you plan to use it. Make sure you ask your printer about the sizes and formats before designing one.

If you’re creating a digital poster that you plan to share online on social media or your website, you can check out this blog post on the best image sizes for different social media platforms .

Now, let’s get to the fun part: creating a poster!

Follow this poster making tutorial in order or jump ahead to a section of your interest.

Step #1: Identify the Purpose of Your Poster

Step #2: choose a poster template, step #3: add in your text content, step #4: add photos and graphics, step #5: customize colors and fonts, step #6: include a call-to-action, step #7: share and download your poster.

The first step of making a poster is to identify its purpose.

Answer the following questions before moving on to poster design:

• What’s the goal of your poster?
• Who is the audience?
• Where do you plan to share your poster?

Addressing these questions will help you determine the right poster size, draft appropriate poster content and find the right poster template.

For example, if you’re designing a poster to advertise an event, you need to understand what you want your audience to do after they see it.

Do you want them to register online? Do you want them to go to a physical place to buy tickets? Do you want them to scan a QR code ?

Knowing this will help you pick a poster size that fits in all the important information without looking cluttered or difficult to read.

If your audience is female students, for example, you’d want to start with a poster template with colors and a design style that appeals to them.

This leads us to the next step.

Once you’ve identified the purpose and audience of your poster, it’s time to choose a template that best fits your needs.

The first thing you need to do is log in to your Visme account. If you don’t already have an account, you can create one for free here .

Inside your dashboard, click on Create New . In the drop down menu, select Project then Printables .

This will open up the templates library. Click on Posters to browse through the various options and designs that appear below. When you find a poster template you like, hover on it and click on Edit to open it in the Visme editor and start customizing it.

Poster Templates

We Are Hiring Poster

Restaurant Poster

Life is Like Riding a Bicycle Quote Poster

Elephants Poster

Job Fair Poster

Swimming Poster

Create your poster View more templates

Alternatively, you can also search for relevant templates by typing in a keyword in the search bar at the top, such as “university poster” or “art poster.”

You can also browse through other template categories, such as flyers and social graphics, to find a design you like and customize the dimensions.

If you don’t want to move forward with a pre-designed template, you can also start from scratch by clicking on Custom Size at the right side of the screen. Then, simply add in your size requirements to open a blank canvas in the editor.

If you don’t want to move forward with a pre-designed template, you can also start from scratch by clicking on Create from Blank at the left side of the screen, above Generate with AI. Then, input content boxes, design elements and images.

And if you’re short on time, another option for creating your poster is to use the Visme AI Poster Generator . This AI-powered tool can design a visual poster from a single text prompt. In the template library, click on Generate with AI and a chatbot will open. Write your prompt in the text box, select one of the suggested styles and let AI do its magic.

Now, it’s time to customize your poster.

The first thing you need to edit in your poster template is the text.

Visme has realistic placeholder content written by professionals in almost all of the templates, and you can use it to inspire your own content.

For example, this minimal template already has a title and subtitle. You can replace this text with your own, and even add more text boxes.

If you’ve already written the content for your poster separately, you should add it to your poster in this step.

Double-click on any text box to edit it, and copy and paste your content. To add more text, click on the Header & Text in the left sidebar to choose from pre-designed text blocks.

Make sure you use separate text boxes for different parts of your content so you can move them around and so your content doesn’t end up looking like one big block of text.

Don’t forget to add details like event timing, contact information, location and more depending on the nature and purpose of your poster.

A part of the poster-making process is ensuring that the text is not too long or has any grammar mistakes. If you need some help, use the AI Writer to help you finesse your poster text by editing and proofreading it. Additionally, craft headlines that really grab the attention of your audience.

Once you have all your text content in place, it’s time to add some visuals.

This is the fun part! Make your poster speak volumes with eye-catching visuals.

Whether it’s a meaningful photograph, an illustration that sets the mood, an AI generated graphic, or bright and colorful icons that balance out the text — visuals can bring your poster to life.

In Visme, you have several options to add photos and graphics to your poster design:

• Browse millions of free stock photos in the built-in image library. Search for relevant keywords and scroll to look for options. When you find an image you like, drag and drop it onto your poster.
• Upload your own images by clicking on Photos and then on Upload. Your images will be saved in your Content library.
• Use the AI Edit Tools that help you unblur and upscale legacy photos, and remove pesky backgrounds or unwanted objects from photos.
• Generate unique, branded images and graphics with Visme AI Image Generator . Choose from the suggested output styles: photos, illustrations, paintings, and more.
• Add free vector icons, illustrations, shapes and more by browsing through the graphics library inside the editor.

Regardless of how you add visuals into your poster, you can edit them using Visme’s photo editor .

Resize your photos and graphics, crop them into shapes, apply filters, color overlays and borders, tweak the opacity settings and more.

When you’re happy with the text and visual content of your poster, it’s time to adjust the design style to pull everything together.

Great, your poster is almost ready.

All you need to do now is adjust the colors and fonts in the template so they are aligned with your brand style, theme, topic or vision.

If you have set design guidelines to stick to, you can easily set up your Brand Kit in Visme — upload your logo, color palette and fonts to use in your poster and any other Visme design project.

If you’re designing a poster for personal purposes, or if you don’t have any brand guidelines in place, you can always choose from the preset color themes that come built-in with the editor.

Simply click through the themes to change the entire color scheme of the poster in one go. Pick the color theme that works best with your poster topic, mood and visuals.

You can also use the color picker tool to adjust the colors of the background and each individual object.

The next thing to pay attention to are your fonts. Make sure you keep font pairing best practices in mind when designing your poster.

You don’t want to use a font style that clashes with your poster idea. Also, you want the font to be clear and easy-to-read, depending on where you plan to use the poster.

Woah — you’re almost done with your poster design! This takes us to the last step, adding a call-to-action. This ensures your poster is as effective as it’s good-looking.

For business and advertising purposes, adding a call-to-action (CTA) to your poster is one of the most crucial parts of poster design.

Before adding a CTA, go back to the first step and think about the goals and purpose of your poster. What do you want your audience to do when they see it?

Do you want them to register for an event, buy tickets for a movie, or visit your website or store in person? Whatever it is, articulate it into concise and compelling copy, and place the CTA where it’s prominent and doesn’t interfere with the design.

That’s it! You’re done with your poster design. When you’re happy with the result, it’s time to get your poster ready for printing or publish it online and share it with the world.

Finally, with Visme, you can share or download your poster in multiple formats, including high-quality JPG, PNG, PDF, HTML5 or social media posts.

The format you choose will depend on your printing and distributing needs. It’s better to ask your printer what format they prefer to use. They will typically accept a PDF file, which you can download from Visme with or without bleed marks.

If you’re planning to share your poster digitally, you can also download it as an HTML5 file (offline web), or share it via a live URL or embed code.

Additionally, when you share your poster as a live link , you have the ability to track its performance thanks to Visme's analytics dashboard . View data about who opened the file, saw the poster, from where, for how long and more.

And finally, from inside the Visme editor, you can also share your poster as a social media post. Use the integrated content calendar to schedule your poster design for your favorite social media platform.

If you’re working on a digital poster rather than a printed one, we’ve got great news for you — Visme lets you make your posters animated and interactive!

Other than photos, you can also add audio clips, video clips, animated backgrounds, animated illustrations and characters, animated icons, special effects and more from the built-in library.

You can also enable hover effects and pop ups on click, and add links into your poster to make it interactive.

For example, if you’ve added a CTA to register for an event in your digital poster, you can link it to your registration page to direct the viewer!

Furthermore, you can include a form on your poster, turning it into lead generation content . Use Visme Forms to create branded sign up forms you can then embed on posters; as well as websites, newsletters and more.

It’s easy to share your animated or interactive poster in Visme by generating an embed code and adding it to a web page or sharing it via a public or private URL.

Now that you know how to create a poster in Visme, let’s look at some beautiful poster templates to give you a head start.

Create beautiful posters in minutes with Visme!

• Choose from our fully customizable templates
• Customize fonts and colors to match your theme
• Access built-in photos and graphics that tell your story

Visme comes packed with dozens of pre-designed, customizable poster templates that you can edit and download right away.

Just pick a template that works best with your topic, industry or design style, and click on the button below it to start editing it in Visme.

Alternatively, create your poster with AI using our AI Poster Generator . In the template gallery, click on Generate with AI and input your text prompt into the chatbot window. This tool doesn’t just for creating posters, it also helps you make first draft versions of plenty of other documents and printable designs.

Template #1: Social Distancing Poster

This social distancing poster is informative and attractive.

It can be used by doctors, health organizations, nonprofits, schools, universities and anyone who wants to communicate guidelines, best practices and important information to the public.

Customize this social distancing poster with your own information or use it as it is to spread awareness about the pandemic and prevention measures.

Template #2: Real Estate Poster

This real estate poster is ideal for advertising property listings of all kinds, such as offices, apartments, villas, shops and commercial land. Put the features of your property front and center and showcase them in an attractive way.

Make this poster template your own by changing the image, editing the text and color scheme, customizing the fonts and adding more information.

Save time before every open house and reuse templates for new real estate listings. Make them even more practical by adding dynamic links for the realtor’s name or the home’s address. With this feature, you can edit multiple templates without messing with the design.

Template #3: Conference Poster

The professional conference poster will make everyone want to attend your business events. With an eye-catching color scheme and a modern layout, this poster design puts focus on the things that matter — the topic, the speakers and the dates.

Personalize this template with your own text, colors, fonts, images and more. Swap the icons for other, relevant ones from Visme’s built-in icon library.

If you’re planning to share this poster online, you can even add animations and interactive links to take your audience immediately to the event registration page.

After you’ve finished the poster, complete the marketing stack and start working on your conference flyer using the same fonts, colors and information.

Template #4: Fashion Sale Poster

A trendy, colorful picture and the word “Sale” in big, bold letters is everything you need to catch your shoppers’ attention.

With this poster template, you have the perfect layout and design ready-to-go — all you need to do is plug in your own content and download your poster in high-quality for printing.

Template #5: Inspirational Education Poster

Inspire students and teachers alike with this quote poster with a saying by Malcom Forbes. Use icons and design elements to create a composition with the text and make it more memorable.

Change the colors of this poster template using Visme’s preset themes or upload your own brand colors. Personalize each and every detail so your poster is unique and engaging.

Template #6: We’re Hiring Poster

Get applications pouring in from the right candidates with this hard-to-miss we’re hiring poster template. If you have a job opening at your company, you need to ensure as many potential candidates know about it as possible.

Customize this poster with your own brand colors and fonts, add your logo, edit the text, and share it on social media or print it out and stick it in areas where your audience spends their time.

Template #7: Garage Sale Poster

Announce a garage sale with style using this poster template. The clean and modern layout puts all the important information front and center, and you can always move things around, remove elements or add more content to personalize this poster.

Make this poster your own by swapping the image with one from our stock library or by uploading from your computer. Change the color scheme, modify the fonts and do much more in Visme’s powerful drag-and-drop editor.

Template #8: Business Poster

Create a sleek and professional poster for your business with this customizable template. A poster like this is ideal for businesses of all sizes, and you can get it printed in large, medium, small and even A4 sizes, depending on how you plan to use it.

Personalize this poster with a photo of your own business, products or office building. Change the text, colors, icons and more in minutes using the drag-and-drop poster editor. Download it in high-quality image or PDF format when you’re done.

Template #9: Brand Promotion Poster

This conceptual geometry poster is a great pick for architectural firms or other business organizations with an eye for design. The photos in the triangles are easily replaced with another from your media library, or generated with AI.

Use shapes and frames to emphasize the visual aspect of your poster. You can also customize this poster template with your own colors, text, fonts, images and more.

Template #10: Yoga Class Poster

Spread the word about your yoga, meditation and fitness classes with this sophisticated poster template. This poster has a serene, calming design that can work for any topic related to health and wellness.

You can also customize it extensively to fit practically any theme. Change colors, fonts, photos, icons and more in a flash with Visme’s drag-and-drop editor. Download your finished poster in JPG or PNG format, or save it as a PDF to send off for printing.

Template #11: Fitness Gym Poster

Motivate your audience to join your gym and meet their fitness goals with this clean and modern poster template. This poster works as both an advertising tool and as an aesthetically pleasing addition to your gym’s exterior.

Customize this template with your own colors, fonts, text and photos. Add more information and text boxes by dragging and dropping from the left sidebar. Emphasize key points and visualize contact details with vector icons.

Template #12: Social Studies Research Poster

Get more eyes on your research with this social studies research poster. Use this design to share your findings with students and members of the faculty.

This poster template is super easy to customize with your own data. You can even animate the charts and add interactive links to it if you plan on sharing the poster digitally. Download your poster in high-quality to get printed in virtually any size.

Template #13: Restaurant Poster

A classy restaurant deserves a classy poster. And that’s exactly what you get with this restaurant or cafe poster template.

Personalize this template with your own images, food photos, text, colors, fonts and more. Drag and drop icons, cutouts and more onto your poster from the built-in editing panel.

Template #14: Poverty Foundation Poster

This poverty poster is thought-provoking and can easily be used by nonprofits to raise awareness for their campaigns. Even for-profit organizations looking to draw attention towards their social projects can take advantage of this template.

This poster is fully customizable, so make it your own by adding your own brand’s images, logos, fonts, colors and more.

Template #15: Elephants Poster

This inspiring poster is a great pick for all individuals, professionals and nonprofits looking to raise awareness and funds for their social campaigns.

It comes with stylish fonts that go well with the high-resolution stock photo in the background. Use this poster template as is or customize it by adding your own logos and fonts.

Template #16: Class Rules Poster

This fun-looking class rules poster can work well in most educational settings. It includes basic etiquette and manners expected from students in the class and promotes positive behavior.

It can easily be used as is by educators, or customized with different content and for other purposes, such as for employee rules in organizations.

Template #17: Music Workshop Poster

The music workshop poster template immediately draws attention and encourages the audience to read further, thanks to the colorful graphic and eye-catching fonts.

It can easily be used by all kinds of musicians, schools, community centers and more looking to promote their events or music classes.

Template #18: Scientific Research Poster

Looking for the perfect science poster to present at your next symposium? This scientific research poster is just what you need. This poster design is ideal for medical research purposes, but you can also customize it for any other health industry. Edit the text, colors, fonts, images and more in minutes using Visme’s drag-and-drop poster maker.

Template #19: Motivational Graffiti Poster

Looking for a fun, artistic poster to inspire students or colleagues? This poster template might be just what you’re looking for. Customize this motivational quote poster with your own colored font, background image and bold design elements.

In the template the background is of a man walking in front of captivating graffiti, but you can easily swap it for another image by uploading from your computer or choosing one from our free stock library.

Template #20: Photography Art Exhibition Poster

Advertise your art and photography events with this beautiful, clean and modern poster template. The best part about this template is it’s so versatile, you can use it for practically anything.

Get started with this template by customizing it with your own brand colors, logo, fonts and images. No brand assets? Choose from our preset color themes, built-in premium fonts and millions of free stock photos.

Template #21: Psychology Study Research Poster

This sleek and sophisticated poster template is ideal for presenting a research project on the rise of depression in New York City. But you can use for any type of research by customizing it in Visme’s drag-and-drop editor

Change the colors, fonts, images, icons and any other elements used in this poster template. You can also add animation and interactivity if you plan to share your poster digitally.

Template #22: Learning Quote Poster

If you’re looking for a quote poster to motivate your students, employees and any other audience, your search has come to an end. This quote poster is highly engaging, colorful and versatile — it will look just as good with any quote of your choice!

Customize this poster template with your own colors, fonts, text and more. You can also add an image in the background if you want to give this poster a thematic look.

Template #23: Political Finance Research Poster

This political research poster template is a great choice for you if you’re working with financial research and fundraising statistics. Likewise, it’s the ideal template for presenting any type of research that needs visualizing.

The design of this poster is minimal and versatile, and you can replace the charts easily from within the chart and graphs settings. Choose from bar graphs, line graphs, histograms and more.

Template #24: Farmer’s Market Poster

This colorful farmer’s market poster is an excellent pick for anyone looking to organize a local community event, such as one for local grocers and farmers to sell fresh fruits and vegetables.

The delightful font selection and color scheme of this poster immediately attracts the reader’s attention. Stick to the existing design or customize it extensively in Visme’s drag-and-drop editor with ease.

Template #25: Education is Essential Poster

If you're looking for a modern poster template with beautiful colors, fonts and icons, then get started with this education poster template.

This poster template is ideal for private organizations and nonprofits looking to promote a cause they believe in, and even for schools and colleges aiming to raise awareness for education for all.

Curious about other poster making topics? Here, these FAQs might help.

What Is the Best Tool to Make a Poster?

The best tool to make posters is Visme, the all-in-one content authoring tool. Not only can you use Visme to design a poster, you can also manage brand assets, collaborate with team members and create content for internal and external communications effortlessly.

Alternatively, you can use any of these other poster making tools like Canva but you can imagine which one we’re partial to.

Can I Print Posters Myself?

Yes, you can print your own posters. All you need is:

• A Visme account
• A computer, tablet or phone
• A printer with ink
• Poster paper

If you don’t have a printer at home, you can take your Visme designed poster in a USB stick to a printing shop or send it to them via messaging service or email. Finally, you can take your design to a self-service printing store like FedEx Office and print them there.

Can You Turn a Picture Into a Poster?

Yes, you can turn a picture into a poster. But first, make sure you have permission to use said image. When you create posters with Visme, you can use any of the millions of high resolution and royalty-free stock photos without worrying about licensing rights. Another option is to use photos you’ve taken yourself or that you’ve got the rights to use. Simply upload those to Visme and create your poster.

What Paper Do I Need to Make a Poster?

Depending on your needs, you can print a poster on glossy paper, matte paper, satin paper or vinyl paper.

• Glossy is shiny and is ideal for images and graphics.
• Matte is best suited for text heavy posters
• Satin is a combination between glossy and matte.
• Vinyl is durable and ideal for outdoor use.

How to Make Posters at Home?

Poster making at home is straightforward if you have a Visme account, and optionally, a printer. With Visme, you can make a poster at home in no time. All you need is a template and your ready-to-use information .

Now Over to You

Congratulations! You’re ready to create your own poster!

Whether you’re making a poster for personal purposes, business advertising, sticking on your shop window or sharing digitally on social media, Visme has what you’re looking for.

You can find the perfect poster template in the dozens of ready-to-go options in the template library.

Access design tools like preset color themes, built-in stock photos, icons, shapes and graphics, premium fonts, resize, cropping and editing tools, AI-powered tools and much more to create your poster in minutes — no design skills needed!

Sign up for a free Visme account today and start creating your stunning poster.

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About the Author

Mahnoor Sheikh is the content marketing manager at Visme. She has years of experience in content strategy and execution, SEO copywriting and graphic design. She is also the founder of MASH Content and is passionate about tea, kittens and traveling with her husband. Get in touch with her on LinkedIn .

How to Create a Poster: The Best Beginner Tutorials + Useful Tips

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By Lyudmil Enchev

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A selection of tutorials and tips on how to create a poster in Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.

Posters are everywhere. both in the physical and virtual worlds, whether you notice them or not! It is a traditionally accepted medium for conveying a message or information to the public. So, if made carefully and beautifully, they can be very useful in establishing contact between the brand and its audience. 

A few of the best software used to create and design logos, graphics, typography, and other complex illustrations, are Adobe Illustrator , Photoshop, and InDesign. So, now let’s discuss some tutorials available online to teach you how to create a poster easily by using all three of these.

So, let’s move forward!

1. Create a typographic poster in Adobe Illustrator 2.  Create a movie poster in Adobe InDesign 3.  How to create a poster for an event in Photoshop 4.  Abstract Gradient Style Poster Design in Illustrator CC 2019 5.  How to make a show poster in Adobe Illustrator 6.  How to create a poster: tips for Illustrator 7. Five poster design tips 8. Creating analog poster design 9. How to make a COOL poster 10. What makes a good poster design 11. How to create a retro poster 12. Creating a movie poster 13. Crafting an infographic poster design 14. Figma poster design tutorial 15. Brutalism-inspired poster design

1. Create a typographic poster in Adobe Illustrator

A blog post  tutorial by 99 Designs .

If you are a complete beginner, we would recommend you to start from the very basics of poster creation with Adobe Illustrator. This article thoroughly explains the whole process of creating a very basic typography poster. It starts by explaining how to set up the document, how to add text, and how to set fancy arrows, shadow text effects, and curves on texts. Then it explains how to create under-text ribbons and play with intents and invents, and finishes with the tips on how to add texture to the background.

So, if you have no experience with Illustrator, you might take your first steps of creating a poster with an inspirational or funny quote by following this tutorial.

2. Create a movie poster in Adobe InDesign

If you are interested in making posters in Adobe InDesign, then you should definitely check out this tutorial. It’s crazy how in just 20 mins it shows how to create a movie poster. The tutorial starts from the very beginning, including even the technicalities of how to create the file.  You will learn how to play with the objects and will get some impressive tips and tricks on working in Adobe InDesign. At the end of the video, you will have insights not only on the images and objects in your poster but also about the text and colors. This will be very simple to understand even if you have no previous experience with InDesign.

3. How to create a poster for an event in Photoshop

Here is a very useful tutorial introduced by Design Cuts on Youtube on how to create an event poster in Adobe Photoshop. In less than 10 minutes this video tutorial shows how to create an awesome event poster using different paint textures. After watching this video you’ll think that all those hours spent trying to figure out how to make that event poster was pointless. All you had to do is to watch this video which lays out everything so perfectly for you that it seems like a piece of cake.

4. Abstract Gradient Style Poster Design in Illustrator CC 2019

Ram Art Creator is a graphic designer from India who has a Youtube channel where he shares helpful practical videos on Photoshop, Illustrator, CorelDraw, etc. This specific example here is on designing an abstract poster using Adobe Illustrator. The process starts from the very beginning: how to set up a new document. So, again, you can do it without any prior knowledge and skills.  The video does not contain audio guidance, but there are texts below on what you should press, etc. What is more, you can feel free to ask for help or for further explanation from the author. When going through the comment section we see he is being very responsive and helpful. So, feel free to ask. Overall, the process is very detailed. You will learn to work with shapes, colors, and typography.

And also, we would recommend watching other videos available on his channel on similar topics to find working hacks for different art styles.

5. How to make a show poster in Adobe Illustrator

The course explains the whole process and teaches all the tools and techniques you will need to start the process. It starts with how to create a document, introduces the workspace, tools, and panels menus. Then it explains how to make shapes, change their colors, etc. It then acquaints you with alignment and grouping tools. Overall, you will learn how to work with objects and texts. In the end, it shows how to export the file in a print suitable format.

6. How to create a poster: tips for Illustrator

This is not a tutorial on how to use the Adobe software. It is rather a theoretical guide on how to create a poster. Watch this video and you will have a checklist of what to pay attention to when making your poster.

Here is the checklist for you here:

Concept: Think about the concept of your poster and you know what you are doing, even before touching your computer. Theme: Take into account the typography,  color choices, the imagery, graphics, and how all of these elements interact together in your poster design. Distance:  Make sure your final design is readable from a distance. Space: Don’t include too many things in your design to avoid making it noisy. Leave some space for it to breathe. Typography: Be mindful of how many fonts you are using and if those go with each other well. Contrast: If you want to grab attention, add some contrast to your poster design. Keep it simple: This pretty much speaks for itself. Don’t complicate things.

7. Five poster design tips

Will Patterson is one of our favorite design lecturers, as he can break down his points into subtopics and make it easy for beginner designers. In less than 9 minutes, you will learn how to create a poster that stands out by applying five unique tips:

• Adding contrast  – you’ll see why adding color hierarchy is well worth the shot.
• Using grids  – to help you position your designs professionally.
• Working with typography  – how and why you should stick to a minimum amount of font families.
• Utilize images  – to understand how images can bolster your design.
• Zoom In/Out  – you will see why having a “natural” glimpse will help you out.

8. Creating analog poster design

This video tutorial teaches you how to create an analog poster design. Jesse Nyberg explains in a couple of simple steps how to start from an image and then turn it into a beautiful and provocative concept.

You will see some good techniques and the guide is especially useful if you use Photoshop for your designs. Jesse covers the image layout, how to position text, add proper spacing, etc. What we loved here is that he turns to creative techniques, like printing out the design, adjusting it, and scanning it again. While you can achieve it by using Photoshop only, it’s always a good idea to try something out-of-the-box.

9. How to make a COOL poster

Elliot is a very cool lecturer and he teaches you how to create a poster that stands out. This video guide is probably not the best one if you are looking for something straight-to-the-point. However, we loved how the video is oriented toward designing a concept, rather than just coming up with “something”. As a designer, you’re supposed to take breaks and recharge your batteries. The final product was a beautiful and inspiring Photoshop poster.

10. What makes a good poster design

No matter if it’s related to poster design or any type of design, it’s always crucial to follow the best practices. In this video, Gareth David explains the history of posters and not only that.

The tutorial mentions few crucial topics:

• Visual Hierarchy  – how to position each item depending on the value you assign them.
• Element placement on the grid  – how to place items on the grid.
• How to find a balance between shapes  – how to utilize space and focus on more important details.
• Creating an impression  – how to grab your audience’s attention with the poster.

11. How to create a retro poster

Trends change and what has been interesting yesterday might not be interesting today. But might be the “new black” tomorrow. 80s designs are a thing today. In this video, you will learn how to create a poster using Kittl. While this app isn’t that popular, we liked the concept of retro designs. You will also see how to add retro illustrations and Memphis elements, and how to carefully choose icons and add texture so that the design captures the attention.

12. Creating a movie poster

Movie posters are quite popular, so we need to pay them attention. In this video tutorial, you will learn how to make a poster that will impress film fans.  A variety of techniques are used in the Photoshop explanatory video – like object selection tool, clipping masks, playing with colors, and many others. The good thing is we can see the whole process in the video, rather than just the steps and the final results.

13. Crafting an infographic poster design

Learning how to grab attention with infographics is going to be a major difference-maker. In this video tutorial, you will not only learn how to create infographics, but how to properly create the design in Adobe Illustrator. Bear in mind this is an advanced tutorial, so you need to have some drawing skills before achieving illustrations like these. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a design hero to create the infographics.

14. Figma poster design tutorial

Figma is an amazing app where you can create plenty of things. We have already come up with Figma tutorials for beginners and advanced designers . In this partial video guide, you will learn how to create a poster promoting a webinar.  The guide is pretty straightforward, without commentary, so if you like videos with no voiceovers, then you might find this tutorial useful. You will see how to utilize shapes, fonts, and gradients, as well as add images and optimize components.

15. Brutalism-inspired poster design

Brutalism is a relatively new web design trend that is quite impactful. It’s a raw interaction with users, and it creates a sudden impression, as it appears to be contrary to all other trends. In this video tutorial, you will see how to create a poster in style. You will see which elements fit the “agenda”, how to add texture, or how to choose fonts, and icons. What we also loved is how the author switches from Adobe Illustrator to Photoshop to get the best out of each program.

These are just some quick tutorials you can follow to easily create something similar. You can also read and watch all of it and experiment later. However, if you are interested in graphic design, then you should definitely go deeper into learning more and advancing your skills to free your creative mind.

Here are a few related articles which you may find useful:

• 38 Incredible Poster Design Ideas that Impress with Creativity and Style
• Graphic Design Trends 2022
• The Best Free Fonts in 2021

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Lyudmil Enchev

Lyudmil is an avid movie fan which influences his passion for video editing. You will often see him making animations and video tutorials for GraphicMama. Lyudmil is also passionate for photography, video making, and writing scripts.

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Blog Marketing How to Make a Poster in 10 Steps (2024 Poster Design Guide + Templates)

How to Make a Poster in 10 Steps (2024 Poster Design Guide + Templates)

Written by: Sara McGuire Jan 21, 2024

Posters are one of the oldest, most tried-and-true types of marketing collateral. Posters are an effective way to draw attention to your sales, events, fundraisers and more.

While there is no one right way to make a poster , there are still poster design best practices that you should follow.

So we decided to take it upon ourselves to write the ultimate, most in-depth poster design guide out there. If you want to learn how to design a poster from scratch (or with our professionally designed poster templates ), you’re in the right place.

These poster design tips can be applied to virtually any poster you design. So let’s get into it!

How to design a poster from scratch

Creating a poster from scratch can be a fun and enriching experience. Whether you’re crafting a school project to impress your teacher, using one to promote an event or simply presenting information in an engaging way, posters offer a unique opportunity to express yourself visually and share your message effectively.

This step-by-step guide will equip you with the tools and techniques to make your own compelling poster:

• Identify the goal of your poster
• Consider your target audience
• Decide where to share your poster
• Select a professional poster template
• Pick a relevant or branded color scheme 
• Include a clear call to action
• Use fonts to create a hierarchy of information
• Use icons to visualize concepts and grab attention 
• Add high-quality images & stock photos
• Download & export in the right format

How to design posters for different occasions

1. identify the goal of your poster.

The most important step in the poster creation process is to understand why you are creating this type of promotional material in the first place.

Is it because of advertising purposes for a new product? To grab the audience’s attention about a concert in the area? To highlight important details about a campaign? Or even just because there’s a sale coming up? All of these are goals that an ad maker and some engaging poster templates can help you achieve.

If you think about your main goals from the beginning, you can use those goals to guide your choices like a professional designer would.

For example, if the goal of your poster is to invite your community to a fundraising event , then your poster should be designed strategically to help you achieve this goal. A common rule for written communication is that simplicity wins.

Take a look at another fundraising event poster :

Just so you know, some of our poster templates are free to use and some require a small monthly fee. Sign-up is always free, as is access to Venngage’s online drag-and-drop editor.

Now, if you’re looking for information posters for your fundraising event, here’s another example you can keep in mind:

CUSTOMIZE THIS POSTER TEMPLATE

Start with a goal and plan your custom poster around it. 

2. Consider your target audience 

Next, you should consider who you are trying to reach with your poster. Answering this question will probably remind you of all the important details you should highlight while you make your poster.

For example, say you’re advertising an event for women’s rights like below:

Now compare it to this other design below:

The goal and audience on each of these templates are different and both designs will appeal to distinct groups of people. Make sure you have decided exactly who you want to appeal to, before jumping into your online poster creator tool and starting your creation process.

A perk of these eye-catching posters is that we can see inclusive visuals, maximalist elements and bold shapes — which happen to be some of this year’s biggest graphic design trends .

Also, remember that you can make multiple posters that cater to different customer personas . You don’t have to use one for every type of customer! 

3. Decide where you want to share your poster

The final thing you should determine to save time — before designing your poster — is where it will be shared. 

Would you like to hang it up on a wall? Or just share it with your followers on social media so they can leave comments and send it to other friends? 

It’s important to decide where you want your poster to be seen before you start working on your online poster maker. This is because, as you will see below, optimizing a poster properly for print is slightly different than for Twitter or Facebook. 

Optimize your poster for print 

You probably have an idea of where you’re going to share your poster. Where you decide to pin it up can help you make a few design decisions. 

If you’re planning on printing out your poster, there are some basic guidelines you should keep in mind.

Visualize where you will pin up your poster

If it’s going on a wall with a bunch of other movie posters though , print your poster in a larger size so it will stand out:

But if it’s going on a relatively bare wall, print it in a smaller size and pin up a bunch of them to then create posters with a larger footprint like the minimalist poster templates below:

If you’re looking for more ideas to present your findings effectively, search through our selection of scientific poster templates .

Select a standard paper size

Unless you want to create a big poster background, you probably don’t want to spend money on getting it printed. You can print it yourself by simply designing your custom poster to fit the standard ISO A1-A5 printer paper.

With Venngage you can magically resize any of our poster templates into Letter, A3, A4, A5 and any custom dimensions with a few clicks. First, click on the page size tab on the top left and then select what size you would like: 

The page resize option will also reformat your poster content to fit the new size you select — if you want it to. This simple feature will save you a TON of time in the long run, so be sure to try it out. 

You’re more than welcome to manually resize your poster the old-fashioned way, by updating the page size: 

You can also set the size of your poster background in Pixels, Inches, or Centimeters as well. 

That said, for most of the posters that you’re going to print out, it’s best to use the preset sizes. This will ensure that your printer can actually print out a beautiful poster.

above, there’s now a white border added to your design. This is — you guessed it — the bleed marks! 

Optimize your poster for social media.

There are fewer restraints when designing a poster for web than for print. This is a great opportunity to do something really fun with your design. Still, there are some guidelines you should follow.  

If you want your poster to look really good on social media, size it for the specific platform you’re promoting it on . You may want to make a couple of different versions of your poster for different platforms.

Remember, a square or portrait orientation looks best for mobile viewing. People are used to scrolling up and down on mobile, rather than side to side.

These are the ideal dimensions for each of the big social media platforms:

• Facebook : 1200 x 630 pixels
• X ( Twitter) : 1200 x 675 pixels for landscape images, 900 x 900 pixels for square images and 506 x 253 pixels for 2:1 aspect ratio images.
• Instagram : 1080px by 1080px at a 1:1 aspect ratio. For landscape posts, use an image that is 1080px by 566px, with an aspect ratio of 1.91:1.
• Pinterest : You have more wiggle room here for length, but try to use a ratio of 2:3 to 1:3.5. 

If you’re creating an advertisement poster for Twitter or Facebook, banners generally fit better on their newsfeeds. In that case, landscape orientation is fine.

Or if you’re looking for awareness campaign poster ideas to share on a Pinterest board:

4. Start with a professional poster template 

You don’t need to hire professional designers to create powerful poster backgrounds. Designing your own poster might sound intimidating but with Venngage’s free poster maker , you can make an engaging poster online — for business, virtual events, scientific facts, and much more.

A poster template will give you a foundation to create your own poster stand, your own design.

Start by picking a template that will help communicate the goal of your poster. Look for templates that reflect your poster’s theme or have the right layout you’re looking for. 

Here are some things to keep in mind when picking a poster template :

• Look for a poster template with a layout that fits your vision and goals (ex. header placement, image placeholders, icons and more).
• Pick a poster sample with the right dimensions for where you will be sharing your poster (ex. on a wall, on Facebook, in an email marketing campaign, etc).
• Remember that you can always  customize your templates  if there are aspects of the design that you don’t like.

For example, if you want to create a poster for your job fair, you would want to focus on the location, date, and jobs available:

However, if you’re creating information posters to raise knowledge and awareness about an important holiday or event:

If you’re creating an advertisement poster to promote a sale, the discount and date are probably should be the most eye-catching parts of your poster:

As you can see, these are all great poster templates, but each example is designed to help you achieve a unique goal. So just make sure you are picking a template that fits your goal and you will save a ton of time. 

Now if you want to learn how to create an event poster, business poster, sales poster and more, jump to the last section. There you will find a more in-depth guide on creating a killer poster. 

5. Pick a relevant or branded color scheme 

One of the first things that someone will probably notice about your poster is the color scheme.

In most cases, the appropriate color scheme will be obvious. So try not to overthink it! 

For example, if you’re creating a poster for a winter event, then a color scheme of warm green, red, and white will evoke the feeling of the holidays.

If your company has strict brand guidelines you need to follow, then you can incorporate your brand colors into your custom posters.

Now if you want to use your brand colors on any of our poster templates, just click the My Brand Kit tab on the left side of the screen: 

Then click one of your branded colors to add them to any poster template:

Click the palette again to change where the branded colors are used:

With a few clicks, you can create a ton of variations of your poster, like so: 

However, if you’re still struggling to come up with a relevant color scheme, take a look at the meanings and emotions of each color. 

The color blue is usually associated with wisdom, trust, and loyalty. Use this color palette on a business, event, or marketing poster to make it feel very professional: 

Green is associated with energy, the environment, and tranquility. It would make sense to use a green color combination on a nonprofit or fundraising poster, like below:

Red is associated with strength, courage, and joy. It also is super eye-catching, which you can see in the minimalist but stunning poster below:

As you can see, color theory should help you pick the right color palette in no time. Now if you’re not sure where to start when it comes to pairing colors, a color scheme generator tool like Coolors can be helpful.

6. Include a clear call-to-action

Once you have someone’s attention, you need to make it very clear what their next steps are to help. This is commonly known as a Call-To-Action (CTA). 

Every poster, no matter the topic or type, should have a CTA. Otherwise, what is the point of creating a poster in the first place?

In this marketing poster template, the CTA is the “ Register Online ” at the bottom:

The designer made sure this CTA would stand out from the rest of the poster by highlighting it in blue and using a unique font.

Additionally, they made the CTA very simple to follow. You don’t want to make your CTA a chore, especially if your poster wants them to visit a website.

The same can be said about this fitness poster template:

But in this example, the creator of this poster made the CTA stand out even more!

As you can see these CTAs are both near the bottom of the poster. This is on purpose and allows the reader to get more information before taking action:

Can you imagine if the first thing you read on a poster was CTA? It would be very confusing and probably make you ignore the rest of the poster.

Not all CTAs require the reader to visit a website, call a business or make a purchase immediately.

That action may be as simple as telling their friends about what they learned on the poster. Or about when a garage sale happens to be: 

The call to action on this poster is actually the entire black section of the poster. The top section informs the reader and the bottom helps them take an action. 

In this case, the action is visiting the garage sale, but it still is a CTA. Without it, no one would know what this poster was trying to get them to do. 

7. Use fonts to create a hierarchy of information

What information you choose to include on your poster will depend on the goal of your poster. 

But if you’re creating a fairly standard poster, it’s best practice to follow a hierarchy of information.

For example, if you are creating an event poster the information on your eye-catching posters should be read in this order:

• The name of your event.
• The date and time of your event.
• A short description of the event or a catchy tagline.
• The location of your event (if you choose to include it).
• A simple call to action like a website, social media page or contact number.
• The name of your company, department, organization, etc.

As you can see in this event poster design, the designer used a handful of different fonts to organize the information: 

The title of the event obviously uses the largest font, because it will hopefully catch someone’s attention. It also will give the reader context for the other information on the poster. 

But if they aren’t interested in learning more, they can quickly move on with their day after reading the title. 

If they are interested in the event, they can move on to the next piece of information, the date.

The designer used a bright yellow to catch your eye directly after reading the title of the event. If they would have used a simple white, the information would have been easily overlooked. 

The tagline of the event is italicized below the title, giving the reader a little more context about the event. Again, if this sounds interesting to the reader, they can move on to the next piece of information, and so on.  

This process will help eliminate people who don’t really need to see the CTA at the end of your poster. 

And finally, after moving through all the information, the CTA at the bottom uses another bold font and color so that people will not miss it. 

Can you imagine how hard it would be to navigate this poster if they would have used the same font throughout? It would look like a term paper that no one wants to read.

Now if you’re struggling to decide what the hierarchy of your poster should look like, think about the most important info you want the reader to walk away with.

In this example, the title of the event, the location and the CTA seem to be the most important.

Additionally, the font color used in this design contrasts exceptionally well with the poster background color. If you choose a font that doesn’t contrast, it will be very difficult to read your poster. 

As you can see below, a good rule of thumb is to use a light font color on a dark background:

Or a dark font on a light background:    

Even if you use a single font on your poster, you can quickly create a hierarchy of information just by changing the font’s color, size or weight. So again, don’t overthink it!

8. Use icons to visualize concepts and grab attention

Icons are symbols used in design to represent concepts. Icons are the perfect way to enhance your custom posters. You can use icons to embellish points and, in certain cases, replace text. 

They’re also great for illustrating ideas quickly. Or you could make icons the main focal point of your design, like the template below:

Keep these best practices in mind when using icons in your poster design:

• Pick icons with a consistent style (line thickness, flat or illustrated, line art or filled).
• Use icons sparingly and allow for plenty of whitespaces to let your design breathe.
• Add a simple border or background shape to your icons.
• If you do replace the text with icons, make sure that the meaning is very obvious.

Let’s take a look at some of those best practices in action, starting with keeping your icons consistent.

As you probably know, there are a few different kinds of icons that you can use. Some are flat, and can be changed to match the color of your poster very easily: 

While others are illustrated, and the colors can’t be changed:

Whatever icons you choose to use while designing a poster, just make sure the styles are consistent, like in the examples above. 

So if you use a flat icon in one section, use flat icons throughout your poster and vice versa.

Next, let’s talk about using whitespace correctly when it comes to icons. If you’re not aware, whitespace is the open space around a design element like a block of text, a title or an icon:

Without it, your poster design will feel exactly cramped and unprofessional. It will also make your poster very hard to read or navigate. Check out how odd the poster below looks without adequate whitespace:

It looks like a mess, so be sure to take the time to use whitespace throughout your poster! 

One very easy way that you can create this whitespace around your icons is by using a background or border shape. Each icon in the template below uses a background shape:

Using background shapes in this way will not only give your icons some room to breathe, but it will also make them a lot more eye-catching. Without the border shapes in the example above, the icons would have just faded into the background. 

Plus, if you’re using illustrated icons it will make the design feel much more consistent across the poster:

And the finally best practice, be sure that if you replace text with an icon, the reader will actually understand it. The poster example below illustrates this tactic well in the contact section:

Readers are going to be able to decipher those icons because they are used a lot in the real world already. Others might not be so easy to understand, so you might have to add a label or title to them. Like below:

With Venngage, you can quickly swap any icon on your poster or one of our customizable poster templates , with just a few clicks as well. First, select on any icon on your poster and then click the Replace button:

Then just search for the icon that you want, and click on it to replace: 

It’s really that simple and can help you turn any template into your own unique graphic in no time. 

9. Use high-quality images & stock photos

If you have been paying attention to the templates and examples in this article you may have noticed that they use a lot of premium images.

Venngage’s free poster maker tool offers free and premium images, icons and graphs to help you edit poster designs with ease — no prior design skills needed. Here are some examples of stock images in the background: 

While others make it one of the main focal points of the poster:

But all of them use very high-quality images, no matter the type of poster.

If you plan to print out the poster or enlarge it, using high-quality photos is important. The slight blurriness or pixelation will quickly become a nightmare. 

It doesn’t matter if you are using a stock photo or one that you took, all of them should be very crisp and clear. Sometimes it’s better to use a professional stock photo in place of a blurry personal photo as well.

Plus, Venngage’s free poster maker tool is integrated with Pixabay and Pexels to elevate your design. Access stunning, professional photography with just one click.

Just head over to the left sidebar and click the Photos tab to bring up the search bar: 

Once you find the perfect stock photo just click the photo to add it to your poster.

Additionally, like with icons, you can swap any photo on your poster using the Replace button:

After you select Replace , you can search for any stock photo in our library and insert it into the poster with one click:

Now if you don’t want to use any of our stock photos, you can upload your own images by dragging it on the screen or by selecting Image Upload in the left sidebar:

As you can see, adding your own photos to your poster is very easy, just make sure you pick the right ones. 

10. Download & export your poster in the optimal format

After you have finished your poster, it’s time to share it with the world. On Venngage you can quickly download your poster by clicking the Download button on the right side of your screen:

Then select what type of file you would like your poster downloaded as:

Downloading your poster as a PNG should be fine for emails or social media. 

But if you want to print out your poster, download it as a PNG HD. This will make sure your poster is crisp and perfect once it gets back from the printer! 

Phew, that was a lot of info! Need a quick recap or want to share this information with your team? We have you covered with this video : 

All of the advice we outlined above can be used on almost any poster. But in this final section, we are going to get a little more specific.

Below are some of the most popular types of posters that you can create. 

But instead of waxing poetically on each type of poster, we are going to outline a simple checklist for each type of poster! 

So let’s get into it! 

How to make an infographic poster

• Choose a powerful topic you’d like to inform about.
• Do your research and gather relevant facts.
• Select an outstanding template that’ll help you grab attention.
• Add icons and graphs. Data visualization is key in an infographic poster.
• Create a content hierarchy and highlight the most interesting insights.
• Add your logo and company’s branding.
• Download in multiple formats and share.

Related: What Is an Infographic Poster and How To Make One?

How to make an event poster

• Start with an interesting background image or color.
• Use a large and bold font for your event title.  
• Add some embellishments to the title to make it pop.
• Add the date, location and time of the event. 
• Include a simple call to action.
• Describe your event or why people should attend.
• Make sure you add your logo and brand colors.

Related: 10 Event Poster Design Ideas [+ Free Templates]

How to make a marketing poster

• Arrange the 4 P’s of your strategy: your product, price, promotion and place.
• Choose a design that will mark your audience and look good in your selected place.
• Make your campaign details the focus of the poster.
• Add high-quality images of your product or service.
• Include a relevant call to action.
• Incorporate your branding.

CCUSTOMIZE THIS POSTER TEMPLATE

If you want to dig deeper into the steps to create a marketing poster and find campaign poster ideas, read this article: How to Design a Marketing Poster (10+ Templates Included).

How to make a sales poster

• Start with a simple background color or texture.
• Make the savings or discount the main focal point. 
• Show where or what store the sale is taking place.
• List exactly what products are on sale or discounted. 
• Add the start and end date or time of the sale. 
• Add some contact information or a website 
• Include your branding or logo. 

How to make an HR poster

Summarize important information, helpful resources, processes or events information.

• Define the department you’re referring to.
• Include only the key information.
• Choose the best layout to showcase your announcement.
• Customize a brand-aligned design.
• Optimize your poster for distribution.

Related: 17 Essential Human Resources Poster Templates (Updated) .

How to make a conference poster

• Start with an interesting background texture or color.
• Use a large, eye-catching font for the conference title. 
• Outline the speakers, events, or special guests.
• Add the time and date of the conference.
• Add the location(s) of the conference. 
• Include a CTA for tickets or to sign up.
• Describe why people should attend this conference.
• Add the logo or branding of the conference organizer.  

How to make a medical poster

• Select your health awareness topic or medical information theme.
• Write a catching title with bold fonts.
• Highlight important data, stats and recommendations.
• Add images and icons to ease retention.
• Invite your audience to a website or to access more resources.

Related: 15 Medical Poster Templates for Patient Education .

How to make a real-estate poster

• Include a few high-quality pictures of the house or listing. 
• Add an eye-catching “For Sale” or “For Rent” header.
• List the purchase price or estimated rent.
• Add the address of the house or listing. 
• List a few of the most interesting features of the house or listing.   
• Elaborate on the listing, location, or real estate agency.  
• Add a simple call to action.
• Include the contact information for the real estate agent.
• Add the logo or branding of the real estate company.

Hopefully, these simple checklists will help you create a poster in no time! 

If you want to learn more about designing these types of custom posters , start with these articles:

• 20+ Attention-Grabbing Event Poster Templates
• 55+ Creative Poster Ideas, Templates & Design Tips
• 17 Essential Human Resources Poster Templates
• 10+ Research Poster Templates to Share Information Professionally

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Tips from an Art Teacher: Making Classroom Posters Better

2 Min Read  •  Classroom Setup

As an art teacher, naturally I get asked art-related questions from classroom teachers. By far, the most asked questions is, “How can I get my students to make more attractive posters for class projects?” Teachers and students want their projects to look good but are not always sure where to start or how to make that happen. I facilitated a professional development on this and it was so heavily attended that I thought I would share some simple basics and reminders in this article about what students can do to make their classroom posters look better.

First of all, students should plan ahead. They can draw a sketch of their poster and where they want certain information and content to go. Planning ahead will lead to better results. Sketching a layout can be advantageous whether you are using paper and pencil or a technology application.

Drawing Posters on Paper

• Color: “Draw Light, until you know it’s right.” This prevents what I call, Ghost Lines . These are lines that never really go away no matter how hard you erase. Outline your drawings with black pen to make them stand out. Press down a little harder with colored pencils and crayons than you normally do. If you want, add shading by altering the pressure.
• Text: How to Draw Block and Bubble Letters. (See Below)
• Spacing: In a poster headline, draw the first letter first and last letter second. This creates a framework for spacing so that you are not cramming the rest of your letters in at the end because you ran out of space.

Technology Posters on the Computer

• Color: Just because you love all colors, does not mean you must always use all colors. Pick just a few and wisely. Do not strain people’s eyes with bright colors against black backgrounds. Try using complementary colors to make important information stand out.
• Text: Do not use decorative, fancy, script, or display fonts for paragraphs of text that you want the viewer to read. Those fonts are not good for lengthy reading.
• Spacing: Create flow with your viewers by looking at layouts of other successful posters. Appropriate the ideas to create a visual path for your facts, topics, and images.

Design Apps for Creating Posters:

• Piktochart: Found HERE. Make fantastic infographics, posters, or presentations that look amazingly professional
• Picmonkey: Found HERE Make posters using a wide variety of icons, images, fonts, and other design elements.
• Easel.ly: Found HERE Focused mostly on infographics, it has a library of templates that are easy to navigate.
• Canva: Found HERE I cannot say enough about this design application. The possibilities are truly endless.

Whether you are working on the computer or paper, remembering these easy tips and tricks will be sure to improve the look of classroom posters. When projects look good, students are proud to show them off and share what they have learned!

How do you remind students to take time with their classroom presentations? Let us know in the comments below!

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How to design a poster: 10 pro tips

Want to know how to design a poster? Three top poster designers offer advice to help you perfect the art.

If you want to know how to design a poster, then you can do no better than turn to the experts. With that in mind, we've quizzed three top illustrators and designers on their poster projects and got them to offer tips on how you can design better posters.

Whether you're doing client work or creating a collectors' series to sell on the likes of Society6 , your poster design needs to convey information at the same time appealing to the aesthetic tastes of your audience. But where do you start and what do you have to bear in mind? Read on to find out how the pros do it...

01. Find a focus

"Behind a good poster should be a message or idea," says Jesús Prudencio, the illustrator/designer behind the fantastic Cars and Films series of posters. "It must communicate something and should reach everyone.

"One of my passions is movies," Prudencio explains. "I saw that there were many people making alternative movie posters," he says, "but I tried to give another approach. I wanted to create a series, which I'm still working and I hope to grow, but not only legendary films, but also films that I admire and where cars are not as well known." It's a great example of a personal project that can generate some serious cash (A3 prints are for sale for €21 each – and great for film fans).

Make an impact

"I like to follow the trends, but do not usually apply them to my designs," he adds. "I like minimalist design and simple lines. I try to convey what I want with a few elements that make an impact and have a lasting message."

In other words, before you design a poster make sure you have a good idea, so it will not only appeal to designers due to the aesthetics, but will also appeal to fans through the focus.

02. Be consistent with details

Prudencio's next piece of advice is especially important if you're doing a collectable series - that details should be consistent.

"I'm primarily a graphic designer so I'm used to working with fonts," continues Prudencio. In the case of my Cars and Films project, the most important aspect was obviously was the car.

"I chose the same font for the titles of all the series for consistency. And I used a contrasting font for the detailed information accompanying the car. But for me, just as important as the font is the background color. The background colour I chose was based on what I felt the film symbolized and what would combine well with the other elements."

03. Choose references carefully

"I saw that there were many people making alternative movie posters," he continues "but I tried to give another approach. I wanted to create a series, which I'm still working and I hope to grow, but not only legendary films, but also films that I admire and where cars are not as well known."

"My process for this project was as follows: I did a sketch and then vectorised using Illustrator. My references were obviously the pictures of the cars and watching the the movie. I didn't go into too much detail – analysing particular frames – for example to see what was on the label hanging on the chair of the Mr Bean car." It's about balancing artistic interpretation with authenticity, in this case.

04. Have fun, but be tight on the details

Sam Gilbey's stunning illustration work – particularly his recent painterly interpretations of film characters for the likes of Virgin Media – have brought him much critical acclaim within the poster design world. He was recently commissioned by Picturehouse Cinemas to design and illustrate a poster to promote a '90s action movie all-nighter featuring Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Speed, The Last Boy Scout and Con Air, as part of the Scala Beyond season, at the Duke of York cinema in Brighton.

"Originally I was planning to do a collage-style piece, featuring the protagonist from each film, but this was scuppered by the fact that Bruce Willis in the star of both Die Hard: With a Vengeance and The Last Boy Scout," he explains. "I then remembered reading once that Under Siege, the Steven Seagal vehicle, actually began life as a Die Hard script.

"Basically the wise-cracking heroes – and antiheroes – of so many action films, and especially from that era, are pretty interchangeable. I love the genre, and in way that's part of the fun, but I then figured it would be fun to illustrate this literally, and have an action figure with interchangeable heads."

Factually correct

"When creating an image like this, with such a clear inspiration point, it's all about having fun with it, but making sure there are plenty of interesting – and factually-correct – details in there," he continues. "For instance, I included the actual guns from the films as accessories, and of course the Con Air bunny had to be in there!"

For a promotional piece such as this aimed at true fans of a genre, it's a great idea to put some in-jokes in there – thus confirming the fans' knowledge and giving them a bit of a chuckle at the same time.

05. Balance the composition

"The core skill is learning how to balance a composition, and looking at how the viewer's eye will - ideally - bounce around the image, rather than being taken out of it," adds Gilbey. "That's no different to creating any other artwork, but if you're including type as well, then the challenge to weight everything just right can be tougher.

"Use a grid wherever there's a significant amount of type to include, Other than that, it's about finding your own style, and then within that, trying to find a way to tell a bit of a story with your image."

06. Balance type and images - but sometimes go crazy!

"Balancing the type and images is essential in that first up you want people to notice the image," continues Gilbey. "But then, if the actual event is of interest, the info needs to be easy to understand too.

"Of course restraint with type is normally advisable, but in this case it was time to let loose. That said, it's all set in Garage Gothic, so it's only the style that varies for the different areas of info."

07. Mix up your typography

Radim Malinic is one of the UK's best-known and established creative forces. With clients including Acer, Arts Council England, BBC and The London Film Museum, he is known for his incredible use of colour and composition and his straining photo-montage work, but turns his hand to just about anything. He recently completed this stunning poster to promote the designer's talk at Montreal Meets 2013 .

"This was a personal piece to promote the debut of my latest talk - When Worlds Collide," says Radim. "I wanted to do kinda of a gig poster, which was only available on the day/night of the event at Montreal Meets Three.

"Ever since I'd discovered the font Graphik , I wanted to use it and this was the right opportunity," adds Radim. "Graphik possesses a beautiful combination of boldness and elegance.

"To illustrate the contrast, I used SF Movie Poster [a free font from dafont.com ] for the super condensed font. Then it was a question of mixing the two fonts to find the right result." Be playful but considered is the message here.

08. Spend a day with it

"Even though deadlines can be pretty tough, it always pays to spend a day with the design," Radim continues. "Especially when you create both image and type.

"This poster looked a lot different the night before I finished. The overall design can become better and more complete." It's essential to do this for any design - not just a poster - and if you can try and get some feedback from your peers as well.

09. Theme = composition

"The backbone of my presentation was about stepping into the different worlds of interest and adding them to the our creative worlds," adds Radim. "Therefore I wanted a focal point, albeit a bit abstract, to be a huge letter W which is fragmented to symbolise everything that goes on within one discipline. The other coloured fragments represent the outside influences.

"Before print supply, I added white border within the canvas to make elements 'spill' out, to once again emphasise the crossover of ideas and styles." The lesson here is to draw your composition ideas from the theme your design around."

10. Further reading

Looking for further advice on poster creation and sources of inspiration? Then check out these articles:

• How to print a poster : the designer's guide
• Ben Whitesell on fan art, copyright and Moonrise Kingdom
• Inspiring gig posters
• The top movie posters of all time
• Viva la revolution! Stunning Cuban posters
• Best Olympic poster designs
• Glass onion posters are causing havoc

Do you have any poster design tips to add to our list? Let us know in the comments!

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5 Steps to the Perfect Classroom Posters

I love adding pops of color and expressive decor to my classroom. One way to do this is by putting classroom posters on my walls. Here’s a little trick to help you make those classroom posters really stand out on your classroom walls.

Some of my favorite classroom posters are these ELA Quotes Classroom Posters and my Growth Mindset Classroom Posters .

1. Print the poster on bright white paper or cardstock.

The bright white paper helps produce the best results. The color from the ink looks best when it’s on bright white paper. If you don’t have a good-quality color printer, it is best to print the posters at an office supply store.

2. Cut off the margins with a paper slicer

I use this paper slicer to cut off the margins of the posters. Since the printer leaves some blank space in the margins, I cut them off. I like using the paper slicer to ensure a straight line. Plus, it saves time. I use the paper slicer when I am also preparing my escape room kits.

3. Back the posters with bright cardstock

Since I cut off the margins, my posters are now slightly smaller than 8.5×11 inches, which is perfect because I can use brightly colored cardstock to frame the poster. This spectrum of colors from Astrobrights is my favorite for classroom posters because there are so many different color options. I use just a tiny amount of glue stick glue in each corner and glue the poster to the top of the cardstock.

4. Laminate the posters for safekeeping

Once I have my posters printed, cut, and framed on the cardstock, I laminate them. I like laminating classroom posters for two reasons: longevity and color intensity. I don’t know why, but lamination just seems to add even more intensity and saturation to color prints. As a high school English teacher, I don’t need a laminator for everyday use, but I have found it helpful to have a small laminator for the occasional project. I use this Amazon Basics laminator and laminating sheets. It’s going strong years later, and it is perfect for my needs.

5. Enjoy your new classroom decor

Once you’ve assembled your classroom posters, hang them up (or more like staple them to the wall) and enjoy!

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