Top Tips For Poster Printing
Businesses have been using poster printing as an effective form of marketing and advertising for many years. Whether you are promoting a product, business service, or a corporate event, poster printing can communicate your message and instruction clearly and effectively. Poster printing provides an affordable and cost-effective form of visual communication, even in this age of digital marketing – here are some tips on how to create an effective printed poster for your business:
Overall Objective
The first thing to establish for your poster is the objective – what do you want your poster to achieve? Identify the main goal of your poster – perhaps you want to raise your company profile and reinforce your brand, or maybe you want your poster to create new business and drive sales or, alternatively, it may be to promote a specific event in which your business is involved? Once you have established the message you are trying to convey with your poster design, you need to identify your target audience – who is it you are trying to reach with your message? Consider the demographic of your target audience and adapt your poster design to specifically interest those people.
Headline
The headline of your poster is your first consideration – the main aim of your poster is to grab the attention of your identified target audience so your poster must convey a clear, concise message to them about your business, product, service or event. Your poster must be readable both close-up and from a distance! Your headline should be the dominant feature of your poster and the first aspect of a hierarchy of elements in your poster design – however, just because it is called the headline doesn’t necessarily mean that it must appear at the top of the poster – it can be anywhere on the design, but it MUST be the element that stands out! You must ensure the headline has clarity – be easy to understand, and it should have creativity – to make the poster and its message memorable.
Hierarchy
Every effective poster will have an established hierarchy – the headline is the main element of your poster message, but there is other ‘layers’ of hierarchy to consider. The second hierarchical element is the details – this element is the important information you need your customer to know – the specific product or service your business is promoting and where it can be found or accessed, or perhaps the date, time, location and participants of a particular event. Use a font about half the size of your headline display, which is easily read, and is familiar to most people. If required, you can include a third element of your poster design hierarchy which would be the fine print – perhaps a little more detail on the event, product, or service the poster is advertising – information that is useful but not essential for the reader.
Images
Very often the first thing that people will notice on a poster is a visual image – imagery is very important in effective poster design as a dominant image or graphic will have that initial impact and grab the attention. Often, one big, bold dramatic image is the thing that sets your poster apart from others and garners the customer interest – but ensure the image is relevant to your message and ALWAYS ensure that any images used are of high quality – a poor-quality, or ‘grainy’ image will reflect badly on your company and have a negative effect on those who see it!
Colour and Contrast
Your printed poster needs to catch the attention of people – so colours are important! Think about what it is your poster is trying to convey and choose colours that are appropriate. A poster for a summer festival event will require a different colour palette than, for example, a business service your company may be promoting! You don’t want your poster to be too garish, so it is recommended you use between 3- 5 different colours at most! Likewise, consider the impact of contrast in your poster – effective use of contrast in your poster design can be very powerful. Creating different layers on your poster with colour contrast – light against dark, bright against a muted background – along with different-sized images or text with contrasting font styles – can create interest for the eye and will make people look harder at the poster.
Branding
Most businesses will want an element of brand reinforcement or to highlight brand presence in their poster display – incorporate any brand logo your business uses into the poster design and match any colours and fonts that your business uses in other forms of corporate marketing and advertising – something that people will recognise as being associated with your company.
Call to Action
Once your poster has attracted people’s attention, you want them to act on what you are promoting so it should always include a ‘call to action’, that is, what action you want people to take next. It may be to visit a website, call or email your business, so include clear contact information or codes to scan, or perhaps you are encouraging people to buy tickets, so ensure all relevant instructions are clearly stated and easily read.
Simple
Each element of your printed poster should complement the others – and communicate your message with cohesion – remember, your poster does not have to be ‘over dramatic’ to grab people’s attention – so keep it simple! For some promotions, a simple, straightforward display will be the most effective!
