A poster is usually seen briefly and often from a distance, so poster design has different priorities to page-based design — a strong focal point, minimal text, and colours and type sizes that hold up when printed large. We design artwork for event posters, promotional posters and internal signage-style posters.

The design process starts by deciding on the single most important thing the poster needs to communicate, since anything beyond that risks being lost at a glance. A strong image or headline is chosen as the focal point, with supporting information kept brief and clearly secondary, so someone glancing at the poster from a few metres away still comes away with the key message.

Type sizing is calculated against the intended viewing distance rather than judged on screen, because text that reads comfortably on a monitor can be far too small once printed at A1 or A0 size and viewed from across a room or street. Colour choices are also checked with large-format printing in mind, since some combinations that look fine on screen can lose contrast or vibrancy once scaled up.

Once the design is ready, see our poster printing page for production and sizing options.