6 Elements to consider when designing Event posters

 

Event posters are usually the first piece of media created for an event. Posters can be powerful in creating excitement & interest for your event if done correctly. At Prior booking we see many event posters that all incorporate different elements, some focus on text whilst others focus on imagery. What should you focus on when designing your poster?

We'll be focusing solely on digital, posters can come in a variety of formats if your end goal is print and distribution. Here are 6 elements you should consider when designing your poster for the web. 

 

Goal

What am I trying to achieve? This should be the first thing you ask yourself before you get to the design stage. More often than not, your overall goal directly determines the outcome of any piece of media you create. Are you looking to generate excitement or promote a sale? The message you're trying to convey should be clear and should remain at the front of your mind during the entire design process. Similarly to any business endeavor, having goals also allows you to track the success of your poster. Are you getting more customer engagement? Have you had an increase in ticket sales directly after the poster was made public? Depending on the size of your event will determine if this is necessary or not. If your poster is part of your content strategy, then analyzing the results will prove invaluable. If your business/event is smaller, then this may not be as important. However, it is useful to know how your audience responded in case you create more posters in the future.   

 

Audience

Staying on the same topic, it's imperative that you understand your audience. With why out of the way, you need to think about the who. Who are you designing this for? If you're hosting/planning the event then you should already have a good idea of the audience that will be attending. If you're hiring or seeking external help for the creation of the poster, you must ensure that they know exactly who they're designing it for. Different audiences effect decisions dramatically from imagery to color choices. Each audience will react to media differently making it important to identify your audience accurately. If your event is the first of its kind than this may be more difficult as you don't have previous attendees to analyze. In this case, we recommend you take the time to plan your goals and consider what audience would appreciate your event the most. Place yourself in your customer shoes.

Imagery

 

Imagery

can be a great way to stand out and make an impact. Whether used as a background image or as a subtle addition in the foreground; images attract attention. If you're including an image onto your poster, you need to make sure that it is of high quality. The last thing you want is to have a well-thought-out design with a blurred, pixelated logo at the bottom. It's important that you match colors that are on the page. A colorful bright page will look unsightly if there is a white image with a dense black border in the middle. Whilst this seems like a no-brainer, it would surprise you how many brands still do this. Also, ensure that it's relevant. You may have a really amazing image of a forest but if your event is space-themed it will look out of place. It's usually clear what your theme is by the event.  poster above is a great example of how you can tell a theme quickly through the use of imagery. There is a lot of individual images yet they all work together to convey space, despite this, all the information is clearly visible. 

 

Colour

Color is arguably one of the most important elements when it comes to visual design. A good pallet will grab the audience's attention without overloading them with conflicting colors. Creating a colored poster also enables the use of branding (think Cokacola & Red). Your choice of color can also have an impact on user emotion.

 

Josh Beadon from Zoucan Design explains the emotion behind colours, Read it here

It's important to plan your colors carefully and account for any images you may want to include. 

Format and structure

​