Sometimes poster design ideas are often found deep in the creator’s brain and they are hard to grasp,
1. Let’s start with a quality idea
A great poster is not a beautiful spotless poster, it is a poster with smart ideas expressed by spotless beauty. Don’t rush to Pinterest, start with a draft. You should write your ideas down on paper. Once you’ve got a good idea, think about how you will express it with images or letters. The idea should be what guides the image, not the opposite. The example above is a poster for a creative industry conference called Inside Job. The first thing I decided was to design an image of a pencil / gun. I then illustrated this idea with a mono-weight black stroke to help connect the visual language of the pencil and gun.
2. Two in one
Sometimes I start with a list of keywords. I formulated the nouns and evoked the message of the poster. Once I had my lists, I started connecting them through images with drafts. In the poster above, the two words are “pencil” and “heart”. The message of the poster is that Target loves education. A poster with a pencil or just a heart is pretty predictable and boring. The combination of both elements creates a unique and distinctive poster.
3. Find inspiration from everyday life
In 2009, my wife became pregnant with her first child. At the same time, I was asked to design a poster for the Artcrank poster program. The only rule at Artcrank is that posters need to focus on bicycles. I combined bicycles and babies in this poster to create bicycles specifically for each gender.
4. Do not skip any means
If you use screen printing technology, consider using overprinting. This is a great technique that can add color to your design at no cost. If you are working with technical print, expand all possibilities. Many screen prints often overlook technical prints, although this is a great opportunity to integrate photography with shadows. If you are planning to print letterpress, be sure to try different types of paper to give a stronger impression as well as the grades of natural paper material.
5. Use your hands
Think – and work without a computer. Find the most logical way to implement your ideas, and if this means you have to sculpt 3D and fill, give it a try. The natural imperfection of crafts can highlight ideas related to people.
6. Law No. 5
A wise designer once advised me that a good poster should be strong enough to stand 50 feet away from it, as well as only 5 feet and 5 inches away. In the example above, users can identify the Target brand name from more than 50 feet. At a distance of 5 feet, the user may recognize a tiny person playing on the logo. At 5 inches away, users can recognize the mood of the model as well as their impressive outfits.
7. Covers brands
When designing a poster for a brand’s campaign, dissect their logo and discover which elements you can apply to your design block. Integrating logo elements will make your poster unique and avoid customers asking you to make your logo bigger. In the poster above for Target, I created a model with dots and circles from the Targer’s logo and integrated it with Target’s diverse customer base around the world. This poster is clearly of Target and users can identify Target at a glance without even having to put the Target logo on the poster.
8. Expand the scope
Sometimes expanding the limits of the range can add to the enjoyment of a rather boring image. In the posters designed for the Summer campaign below, I show you pictures of the cart and the product, however, the cart has the size corresponding to the title, creating more visually interesting.
9. Stand out
If you know that your poster will appear in a forest of posters from other designers, you need to stand out. You can use vibrant colors, high-contrast design models. I have also seen many designers incorporate small shimmer patterns into their prints.
In the poster for Artcrank above, I incorporated black and white retina bands into the bike image to depict the speed and accentuate the bike’s linear frame design. This makes the poster stand out at the show as well as on the Instagram feed.
10. Simplicity is the best
The most important tip I keep repeating is keeping your poster design simple. Choose an idea and implement it with as few elements as possible to avoid losing the integrity of your idea.