Poster Design

A poster is a visual representation of information you want to convey to the reader about your products, your services or an event/promotion you are organising. Your poster must attract immediate attention, promote a compelling offer and have a clearly defined ‘call to action’.

The term poster can apply to almost any shape or size. However, within the printing industry ‘A’ pro formats are universally accepted as the norm; the most popular printing sizes are A4 (297x210mm), A3 (420x297mm) and A2 (594x420mm). When choosing to reproduce your poster by the litho printing method, which utilises a set of four plates to give you full colour reproduction, your choice of materials is extensive. However, the most popular are coated materials (gloss, matt and silk finish) where the ink sits on the surface giving you vibrant colours, or alternatively uncoated papers which absorbs the ink and has a tendency to soften the colour.

Traditionally, offset litho and silkscreen printing (now a more niche market) have been the chosen methods for poster reproduction. However, digital print has now revolutionised the production of point of sale material; it’s available to everyone regardless of budget and is without doubt the most affordable and effective way of communicating with your target audience. Digital print is ideal for short runs and one-offs; it’s perfect for large scale printing such as full depth window banners and floor to ceiling interior backdrops for a dynamic effect, it can even be used for exterior posters using UV lightfast inks.

With offset litho reproduction, whilst it’s more costly to set up it becomes the most cost effective method for larger print runs usually up to a maximum size of A2, although with the benefit of a big budget A1 litho poster production is a possibility.

How you design your poster is extremely important as its success or failure will be determined by the strength of your message. Your poster should attract immediate attention and promote a compelling offer or event that incorporate a definite ‘call to action’. There will be a number of key points you need to make but some information will be more important than others so care must be taken in how you balance the content; as a general rule your headline is most important closely followed by your offer and call to action.

Don’t try to cram in too much information, remember more often than not your poster will be scanned by passing motorists or people on the move. White space is important and used well it will make your message more powerful – Less is more, so to speak!

The success of your poster depends very much on the strength of the design; if, for example, you have an established brand that should be reflected in the typography and corporate styling and the quality of the print must also reflect the high standards you set for your business. Circleline Design has over 25 years experience in poster and point of sale design and printing so, if you would like to find out more about the benefits of working with us we’ll be delighted to hear from you.