Posters have turned out to be the effective marketing tools. Designing posters by avoiding certain mistakes is key to conveying your brand message effectively. If it’s free from common poster design errors, then it can serve its purposes well.
Sharing posters with errors harms the brand reputation. It affects branding and shows that the company isn’t serious about its visual display and message sharing. So, it’s important to avoid poster design pitfalls. In this blog, we will discuss about ten mistakes to avoid in poster design. Let’s check it out.
Tips to avoid poster design pitfalls
When designing a poster for your brand promotion, adopt a careful approach. Do not repeat mistakes commonly made by unprofessional designers. Here are the poster design mistakes you should avoid:
01. Cluttering the poster space
One of the common mistakes that most poster designers make is cluttering the space. They do so to provide more information in a limited space. However, that leaves the viewers directionless when they want to focus on the most critical details.
Cramping the limited space with more text and info actually ruins the purpose of the poster design. This may cause the viewers to form a negative brand impression.
How to avoid this mistake:
Well, the effective poster design tip to avoid this mistake is to embrace minimalism. Keep the design clean and simple. Just depend on a few elements, images, and limited text to convey the underlying messages.
Using a curious design approach would be beneficial. Your design should encourage the viewers to explore more about your business.
02. Using multiple fonts
Some poster designers mistakenly think using multiple fonts will drive viewers’ attention. However, more fonts will confuse them and make the poster look visually gaudy. They will be more amused than impressed. Different fonts might also make the poster challenging to read due to distractions. Legibility would become challenging.
How to avoid this mistake:
Avoid using more than 2-3 fonts in your poster design. Pick only those fonts that do not distract attention from each other. They should be complementary and not contradictory. Therefore, use a bold font for your poster headline and a simple sans-serif font for the body text.
Keep the font size big enough for easy readability. People will read the poster from a distance. It’s always wise to use font pairing techniques and choose a type from the same family font.
03. Not leaving enough white spaces
The use of white space in poster design ensures that all the elements are clearly visible. Sometimes, designers forget to add enough space between two prominent design elements. This leads to visual clutter, mixing colors, fonts, headlines, and images together. It will affect legibility, too.
So, it’s important to consider poster creation dos and don’ts.
How to avoid this mistake:
Leave a lot of space so that the poster does not look cluttered. That will help each set of information stand out.
A good tip is to use padding and margins to create the space. That will ensure that each segment of text or image is visible.
04. Considering pixelated images
Many poster designers use low-resolution and pixelated images in posters, which is a big mistake. Such images can spoil the whole poster design since the blurry images leave a terrible impression on viewers.
How to avoid this mistake:
So, if you create poster online, ensure they have high-resolution images. Photos should be at least 300 DPI (dots per inch) if you are working with photos. Turn your poster’s illustrations or vector graphics into high-resolution format for better clarity.
05. Using misaligned elements
Another mistake many poster designers will likely make is incorporating elements that do not align well. The misaligned text makes the design look unprofessional, and it builds a negative impression. Such misaligned text and images also are a hindrance in visual hierarchy.
How to avoid this mistake:
To correct this mistake, ensure that all the poster elements are centered. You can center the elements in the headline or a central image.
06. Making wrong color combination choices
A design uses colors to evoke intended emotions and underlying messages. However, strategic use of colors is essential to make an impression. Sometimes, using colors without understanding the customer psychology can ruin the brand image. For example, you want your brand to evoke professional image, but you use loud red color in your poster. This evokes opposite emotions. Also, not considering primary and secondary color combinations can leave bad impressions.
How to avoid this mistake:
Use darker backgrounds against light colors. That makes the design easier to see and grasp the message. You should use color psychology and understand how colors evoke our emotions and feelings.
A pro tip for the right color combination is to use a color scheme tool that suggests different harmonious color combinations. It is advisable to use only 2-3 colors.
07. Not establishing a visual hierarchy
Visual hierarchy systematically leads a viewer from one element to another in poster design. That saves the viewers from unnecessarily wandering while looking for the right information.
However, some designers finish designing posters without considering the visual hierarchy. They think every design element is equally important for the viewers, so they do not prioritize creating a hierarchy. But if the design gives every element equal importance, the viewer cannot determine which information stands out.
How to avoid this mistake:
The solution is highlighting headlines, supporting text, and images so viewers can see these first. These are the most important elements in a poster design. That is why headlines should be in larger, bold fonts to catch the eye. Put subtext in the less prominent font.
Professional poster designers keep headlines as the most significant visible element. Then, they will create images and secondary text as subsequent visuals.
08. Avoiding the audience
Like any other design, a poster must align with what its audience expects from it. The design should provide the information the target viewers seek. So, create a poster for the target audience. For example, a poster for children will be designed differently than the one to generate awareness for a business conference. Consider the audience also when choosing a poster design template.
How to avoid this mistake:
Therefore, consider the audience’s social, educational, and other backgrounds and preferences when creating a poster. For instance, if a poster intends to target a younger audience, it may be in bright colors and use playful fonts. A poster may have a formal design approach for an older generation.
It is advisable to research the target audience to know their preferences. Then, choose colors, fonts, images, and other elements accordingly.
09. Using too many visual effects
Many posters have undesirable visuals, which is a mistake. Avoid incorporating multiple visual effects as well. Some poster designers may include too many visuals, such as shades, gradients, filters, drop shadows, etc. They do this in the hope of making the design attractive. But that clutters the poster space and makes it confusing for the viewers.
How to avoid this mistake:
So, an effective poster design idea is to use visuals selectively. Choose a few enough visuals to convey the message and its effects. Make sure that the visuals do not overwhelm the design. Consider creating a simple poster without using too many embellishments.
10. Not including a call-to-action (CTA)
It is a big mistake if a poster does not include a call-to-action or CTA as an essential design part. This is because the whole purpose of designing the poster is lost. With the CTA, the poster asks the viewer to take a desirable action. The action could be about visiting a site or getting a discount offer. So, the poster can include CTAs such as ‘Visit Our Website,’ ‘Register Now,’ or ‘Call Us Today.’
How to avoid this mistake:
But ensure that the CTA is clearly visible and highlighted well. So, create the CTA with bold fonts or contrasting colors to catch the attention. Keep in mind that using specific CTAs boosts the conversion rates by 161%. So, ensure strategic CTA placement for better results.
So, focus on these 10 key points when designing your posters for your target audience. You can still get many design ideas if you cannot hire an expensive poster designer. Designhill can help as you explore its poster maker tool and keep your poster design price lower. Just fill in your business name and other design requirements. The tool has dozens of new poster templates as well. Alternatively, you can launch a poster design contest to source ideas from global designers and declare the best design as a winner.
Wrapping Up
Posters are effective marketing tools to convey the brand message and make a lasting impression. However, a poster design should be simple and unique, with no cluttering space. It should have only a few colors and fonts with bold headlines. Avoid making mistakes such as not establishing a visual hierarchy, not targeting the audience, using misaligned elements, and more. When you avoid poster design pitfalls, you create a great poster design.
