How to design a poster

How to design a poster

Introduction: When designing a poster, you might as well learn from music inspiration, change the rhythm and layering, and create a three-dimensional and multi-dimensional vision. impact. Here are some methods that can help you design your poster to be more attractive. Welcome for reference!

Proportion application

Many designers determine proportions based on feeling when designing posters. But sometimes our intuition is not always the most accurate. Mastering some proportion principles can be of great help in how you allocate various spaces in the layout. Let’s look at some basic methods:

The Golden Section

The Golden Section was discovered by the Greeks in 500 BC. This principle was once called the "key" to applying proportions. The principle of the golden section is to divide a whole into two parts. The ratio of the smaller part to the larger part is equal to the ratio of the larger part to the whole. The formula is expressed as: a:b=b:(a b). The ratio of a rectangle that conforms to the golden section principle is 1:1.618.

Whether people are aware of this ratio or not, most people prefer a rectangle that conforms to the golden ratio. In design works, using the golden section rectangle gives people a more coordinated, natural and comfortable feeling.

The golden section is widely used in sculpture, painting and architecture. In addition to handmade works, you can even find the Golden Section principle in the structures of animals and plants.

If you observe the proportions of some posters, advertising magazines and other rectangles, you can find that they all apply the golden section principle to divide space or line segments.

The square root ratio of 2

The square root ratio of 2 is also widely used in poster layout. Their ratio is 1:1.414 (the square root of 2 is 1.414), which is slightly different from the golden section ratio. There are differences. It is said that the square root of 2 symbolizes holiness and birth. So this ratio can often be seen in some ancient works.

In poster design, the application of the square root ratio of 2, like the golden section principle, can also create a coordinated composition.

Text layout

Many people will take it for granted that the image elements involved in a design work refer to non-text things - in fact, in the eyes of many designers, text is Also an important visual element.

Imagine those attractive poster works, and you will find that when you communicate with the works, although a picture of young lovers running in the waves may evoke many memories for you, but if If text layout is not used properly - these words include the company's LOGO, descriptions and other text - how can you achieve the purpose of real communication?

Text layout is a top priority for poster designers. Because the font itself has a sense of power, and the words used in the posters are very condensed sentences, concise and meaningful. In modern design, typography includes all factors related to the text itself, its placement, and the images within it—so typography is not just about choosing a font.

But when we design a poster, choosing a certain font is always the starting point of our design. Now that we have thousands of fonts available, where do we start?

Due to the revolutionary development of desktop publishing systems, everyone is eager to choose fonts. However, in order to have a consistent and coordinated effect, generally no more than 3 fonts should be used in a poster. When 2-3 fonts are used in a poster, the difference between the fonts makes it look very eye-catching - because they create contrast. However, if we use many types of fonts, it will appear very confusing and the focus will not be highlighted. The purpose of our comparison is to highlight the most important things.

If several fonts are very close, the audience will be confused. Especially in posters, text information must be conveyed quickly, and the layering of information must be clear.

Don't use bold or italics too much. In many specific fonts, bold and italics sometimes differ greatly from their original fonts.

Principles of text layout

Among the many principles of text layout, perhaps the most important ones are simplicity and moderation.

Some decorative fonts are very attractive. There's no doubt that using these fonts in your poster design will get someone's attention - but not everything that gets attention is good. Choosing the wrong fonts, especially those that are very decorative, can ruin your message. In most cases, we don't need decorative fonts. If we have used many design elements in the poster design, such as pictures and other repetitive elements, then choosing a simple font will help your message to be conveyed more quickly. Because simple fonts and complex compositions can coordinate better.

If your composition is very simple, you can also choose some relatively complex fonts. This can serve two purposes: first, it can increase the decorative effect of the poster and make the overall composition more attractive. Second, it draws other people’s attention to the words.

The use of decorative fonts must be as sparing as possible. For example, it can be used for text with only one or two words, but it should not be used in explanatory text composed of many words. Using a simple font and a decorative font can have a good coordination effect and make the text more layered.

This leads to some other important principles when using text: coordination and contrast. The strong contrast between the two fonts can catch other people's eyes or make the work stand out. Harmony and contrast can be created through different fonts or the contrast between text and other elements, such as text and pictures. ;Japanese style poster layout skills Introduction to Japanese style poster layout skills 1. If the text in a layout is arranged horizontally and vertically, it will affect the reading of the information. Japanese design likes to arrange the text vertically, and the reading method is from right to left. , but they also like to use the horizontal method. It seems that the Japanese people's eyesight should be good. 2. The main visual of many Japanese posters is not an independent whole, but many scattered small elements. Generally speaking, if there are too many elements and not concentrated enough, the layout will look messy. However, if these elements are of the same type and there are fewer types of colors, you can use the technique of repeated arrangement to create a sense of rhythm. 3. Japanese designers prefer traditional design techniques. On the one hand, it may be because the hand-drawn elements are closer to the text style. After all, text is also a vector image, so it can be combined more perfectly during typesetting; on the other hand, the addition of hand-drawing can better meet the designer's individual needs. How is the design formatted? Learn from movie posters! There are many classic movie posters that people will never tire of, and even collecting them is not an exaggeration. I believe that when choosing movies, many people will choose the movies they want to watch based on the design of the posters. In movie posters, there is often only one picture and a few words, but the layout is exquisite and natural. ——It is also a simple picture with a small amount of text. The top text is deliberately staggered back and forth to increase the sense of rhythm. The bottom text is also naturally typed according to the dividing line of the road, and the change in light and dark size enhances the sense of rhythm. This movie is called "Big Fish" and it is a classic. When I put this poster up, I decided to watch it again. ——Align the first two rows of the title section to the right and the last two rows to the left, which also increases the sense of rhythm. In addition, the subtitle uses a color similar to that of a crow on a white background, while the bottom font uses a color similar to that of a crow on a white background. The colors of these two fonts break the monotony of the background colors where they are located, forming a balance. ——Gatsby This picture is quite satisfactory, and the whole picture is in the middle. Compared with the above themes, Gatsby's positioning is more serious and luxurious, which is in line with the tone of the movie. But the designer still made a small change in the text in the middle and lower parts. After all, everything is aligned in the center, which is really too rigid. A small change will not destroy the overall tone. I also have a lot of love for Gatsby.

——Is the text layout of this poster correct? ! In fact, people have achieved an overall sense of movement in the picture. If there is a rich enough picture, the text can rest. However, the text part still uses different colors, fonts and font sizes, breaking the monotony of typesetting in a small area. ——This poster is the same, using a rich picture to complete most of the changes. ——Generally speaking, the layout and pictures of this poster are very satisfactory. The clever thing is that at the title, two huge cracks make up for the overall dynamic feeling. ——Alice’s picture has too few words, but it doesn’t look monotonous. The most important reason is that the pictures are very rich, with rich front, middle and back scenes. The text, the flower in front, and the tree in the upper left corner all form the foreground. As for the foreground, there are many elements and are very dynamic, not monotonous at all. In addition, in order to make the title blend into the foreground well, the font was designed. The whole is very harmonious. The highest level of typesetting is posters, if you don't have the level to make movie posters. It's okay, that's okay. . Look at the poster~————————————I watched Hayao Miyazaki’s movie “Spirited Away” yesterday and here’s a quote from Hayao Miyazaki, “All growth is always a journey in the end.”