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PRINT DESIGN HOW TO

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

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

Whether you're doing client work or creating a collectors' series to sellon the likes of Society6 (http://society6.com/), your poster designneeds to convey information at the same time appealing to the aesthetictastes of your audience. But where do you start and what do you have tobear in mind? Read on to find out how the pros do it...

How to design a poster: 10 pro tips>24

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01. Find a focus

>

Find a good idea for a poster, or poster series - like this one focused oncars in movies - and you'll already be halfway to a great design

>

"Behind a good poster should be a message or idea," says JesúsPrudencio, the illustrator/designer behind the fantastic Cars and Films(http://www.carsandfilms.com) series of posters. "It must communicatesomething and should reach everyone.

"One of my passions is movies," Prudencio explains. "I saw that therewere many people making alternative movie posters," he says, "but Itried to give another approach. I wanted to create a series, which I'mstill working and I hope to grow, but not only legendary films, but alsofilms that I admire and where cars are not as well known." It's a greatexample of a personal project that can generate some serious cash (A3prints 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 mydesigns," he adds. "I like minimalist design and simple lines. I try toconvey what I want with a few elements that make an impact and have alasting message."

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

02. Be consistent with details>

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

Consistency of detail is key to a great poster design>

"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 mostimportant aspect was obviously was the car.

"I chose the same font for the titles of all the series for consistency. AndI used a contrasting font for the detailed information accompanying thecar. 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 filmsymbolized 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 aseries, which I'm still working and I hope to grow, but not only

Not going for the obvious choices will help your poster design stand out>

legendary films, but also films that I admire and where cars are not aswell known."

"My process for this project was as follows: I did a sketch and thenvectorised using Illustrator. My references were obviously the picturesof 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 labelhanging on the chair of the Mr Bean car." It's about balancing artisticinterpretation with authenticity, in this case.

04. Have fun, but be tight on the details>

A sense of fun married by attention to detail is a powerful combination>

Sam Gilbey's stunning illustration work – particularly his recentpainterly interpretations of film characters for the likes of Virgin Media– have brought him much critical acclaim within the poster designworld. He was recently commissioned by Picturehouse Cinemas todesign and illustrate a poster to promote a '90s action movie all-nighter(http://www.samgilbey.com/post/29116128570/new-poster-created-for-picturehouse-cinemas-and) featuring Die Hard: With a Vengeance,Speed, The Last Boy Scout and Con Air, as part of the Scala Beyondseason, at the Duke of York cinema in Brighton.

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

"Basically the wise-cracking heroes – and antiheroes – of so manyaction films, and especially from that era, are pretty interchangeable. Ilove the genre, and in way that's part of the fun, but I then figured itwould be fun to illustrate this literally, and have an action figure withinterchangeable 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 ofinteresting – and factually-correct – details in there," he continues. "Forinstance, I included the actual guns from the films as accessories, and ofcourse 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 agreat 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 athow the viewer's eye will - ideally - bounce around the image, ratherthan being taken out of it," adds Gilbey. "That's no different to creatingany other artwork, but if you're including type as well, then thechallenge 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."

Use a grid to ensure everything is visually balanced>

06. Balance type and images - but

sometimes go crazy!

>

You need to know the rules. Then you can break the rules!>

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

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

07. Mix up your typography>

Mixing fonts is tricky, but can give great results if you pull it off>

Radim Malinic is one of the UK's best-known and established creativeforces. With clients including Acer, Arts Council England, BBC and TheLondon Film Museum, he is known for his incredible use of colour andcomposition and his straining photo-montage work, but turns his handto just about anything. He recently completed this stunning poster topromote the designer's talk at Montreal Meets 2013(http://www.montrealmeets.ca).

"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 gigposter, which was only available on the day/night of the event atMontreal Meets Three.

Typography"Ever since I'd discovered the font Graphik(http://commercialtype.com/typefaces/graphik), I wanted to use it andthis was the right opportunity," adds Radim. "Graphik possesses abeautiful combination of boldness and elegance.

"To illustrate the contrast, I used SF Movie Poster [a free font fromdafont.com (http://dafont.com)] for the super condensed font. Then itwas a question of mixing the two fonts to find the right result." Beplayful but considered is the message here.

08. Spend a day with it>

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

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

Go back to your design later and you'll see it in a new light>

09. Theme = composition>

"The backbone of my presentation was about stepping into the differentworlds of interest and adding them to the our creative worlds," addsRadim. "Therefore I wanted a focal point, albeit a bit abstract, to be ahuge letter W which is fragmented to symbolise everything that goes onwithin one discipline. The other coloured fragments represent theoutside influences.

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

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

10. Further reading>

How to print a poster (http://www.creativebloq.com/print-design/how-to-print-a-poster-12121447): the designer's guide

Ben Whitesell (http://www.creativebloq.com/posters/fan-art-supremo-ben-whitesell-moonrise-kingdom-copyright-and-more-1012895) on fanart, copyright and Moonrise Kingdom

Inspiring gig posters (http://www.creativebloq.com/design/10-inspiring-gig-posters-1212720)

The top movie posters (http://www.creativebloq.com/movies/iconic-movie-posters-712378) of all time

Viva la revolution! Stunning Cuban posters(http://www.creativebloq.com/posters/cuban-revolution-2132016)

Best Olympic poster designs (http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/best-olympics-poster-designs-712431)

Evocative examples of retro poster design(http://www.creativebloq.com/posters/retro-poster-designs-1131752)

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

Tags: Print design (/tag/print-design), Posters (/tag/posters), Graphic design (/tag/graphic-design), Tips (/tag/tips), How to (/tag/how-to)

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thegoldenfox • a month ago

Also just wanted to...Say that the poster that i selected was a great choice on your website

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thegoldenfox • a month ago

I just wanted to thank you for the post!!!!!!!! △ ▽

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branmckeown • 6 months ago

I wanted to say thank you for this post. I am a student in college and I am working for one of thecampus's departments. I needed some advice and this was right on point. Thank you for the effortyou put into this post and for the great advice from these designers I have just just founded withyour post. You're amazing! Keep doing what you're doing and thank you again for the help!

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every1marketing • 10 months ago

Great post. Definitely right about spending a day with your new design.

If you're looking for more information on designing posters we recently did an info graphic on howto design a horror poster -

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