To create an advertising poster is like designing the cover of a Sales brochure or a booklet, but larger in size. Said like that, it’s rather vague, but we just have to keep in mind that this kind of support refers to the image of a company and so we have to master everything. Yes, it’s very serious, but no need to panic! We will consider together how to design a beautiful, eye-catching, convincing advertising poster.
In this article, we will produce an advertising poster for a security software company. By the way, you should know that the size of a small poster varies from 50 × 70 to 60 × 80 cm for a portrait format, while a large poster is 4 × 3 to 7 × 3 m in landscape format.
Table of contents
Find or imagine a striking visual to create your advertising poster
First thing to do: find a visual strong enough to represent the image of the company.
In this practical case, we will create an advertising poster that demonstrates “reliability, modernity, and digital technology.” The best way to find a very expressive image is to use the services of a photographer and do shooting sessions. This way, the ad poster will be better customised and mastered.
Another more practical way is to explore a stock of online photos and easily find the right one for you. It can be very time-consuming though. Similarly for platforms offering royalty free images, or even for that are paid, especially when we can’t really find the appropriate resolution.
But with a little effort, we always end up finding something good: in a catalog of high resolution images, we found a picture that perfectly matches the advertising poster that we aim to create.
Foresee the printing stage from the start
Before making an advertising poster, we must also think about the elements to put on the poster, namely: the image, the logo, and the slogan. In this practical case, it’s enough to create an advertising poster, especially to make a good brand publicity.
Then we have to prepare our poster so that it is printable in large format (4 × 3 m) and it does not lose in terms of quality. For that, we will determine the resolution and dimensions of the picture with this good old Photoshop.
So let’s start by opening the raw image in Photoshop then, in the Menu bar at the top, go to “Image” and then to “Image Size”. Our file, which we’ll print, should ideally have a size of 40 × 30 cm for a resolution of 300 DPI (this is perfect). So, in the “Image Size” dialog box, let’s start by unticking the “Resampling” box. Then write a width of 40 cm and a height of 25 cm. You will find that the resolution almost reaches the 300 DPI required. That’s good, so validate these settings by ending with OK. Note that it’s the printing company’s job to enlarge your poster to the size you wish when printing.
Now, we must save the file by going first to “Files” and then to “Save As”. We will save it in Photoshop format (PSD), so as to preserve its quality.
Create an advertising poster
Delete the image background
Let’s continue with the settings by copying the image to a new layer. To do this, select the image by going to “Selection” in the Menu bar, then in “Select all”.
Once the image is selected, go to “Edit”, then “Copy” and the image is automatically pasted to a new layer. Since we need a transparent background, we have to erase the actual background simply by dragging (with the mouse) its layer to the trash of layers.
Resize the image
Now resize the work area so that you can have an empty band at the top and bottom of the image (that’s the style we’re looking for concerning the poster). For this, simply go to “Image”, then, this time, in “Size of the work area”. In the dialog box, change the height of 25 cm by 30 cm.
So, now on the work area, we can see that there are empty parts at the top and bottom of the image. We will fill them with the logo and the slogan.
Import and resize the logo
To import the logo, we will just copy and paste it into our work area. Note that a logo is normally a vector image that must first be opened in Adobe Illustrator.
By sticking our logo in Adobe Photoshop, a dialog box opens, and you have to choose “Pixel”.
We must also think about the size of each content if we want to create a design advertising poster. Therefore, we’ll resize the logo (placed at the top) using the levers until we get the appropriate dimensions for the advertising poster. To validate the changes, simply press the “Enter” key.
Colour and design
Then, to add a background, you must first create a new layer and then put it under the layer of the image (by dragging it). All you need to do now is only to attribute a colour to it.
To do this, let’s go back to “Selection” and then to “Select All”. You only have to choose a colour (in our case, we chose the colour black) in the toolbar on the left. Since everything is in black colour, make sure that this colour applies only to the background. Let’s go to “Editing”, then “Fill in”, then “Foreground colour” and end with Ok.
For a quality rendering, we will make sure that the logo is above the black background. It is necessary to reduce the size of the image. To do this, simply go to the layer of the image, then decrease the image. To do this effectively, you must press the anchor points while holding down the Shift key. To validate this change of dimension, press the “Enter” key.
Once the image is decreased, we can notice that it left empty parts to its left and to its right. To fill them, we’ll stretch the image without altering its quality. Using the rectangle tool, we’ll draw a shape, first on the right side. Let’s make sure that the rectangle inserts part of that right side of the image. To resize, just use the shortcut Ctrl + t, and stretch the anchor point of the middle of the rectangle to fill the empty right edge. Thus, the hue and the quality of the image are preserved. You must always confirm the changes with the “Enter” key. In case you are wondering – what about the left side? – the procedure is the same.
We are almost done with the creation of our beautiful poster.
The slogan
Creating an advertising poster without a slogan is like not buttering a slice of bread: it’s dry and tastes like it’s of incomplete. So now it’s the right time to add our slogan at the bottom of the visual (the image).
To insert a text, we just need to use the Text tool, a little bit logic :-). To change the colour of the text, you first have to click on it and make another click on the small black frame in the menu bar. Here you go, the colour pallet appears.
As it is the case for the creation of a flyer or poster, it is necessary to ensure consistency of colours, including those of the company. So we’ll apply the light gray of the logo on the slogan. For this, there is nothing simpler. Outside the dialog box of the colour pallet, the cursor turns into a pipette. Just by clicking on the logo, its colour is applied on the slogan.
For font settings, font size, spacing between words and characters, just go to the “Characters” window.
Adding a graphic touch
Let’s end the design of our advertising poster with a little digital touch. For this, we’ll use a graphic element (downloadable online), copy and paste it into our workspace.
To clearly illustrate that the company is indeed in the field of digital and software security, we chose a rain of 1 and 0 as a graphic element. Having in mind an aesthetic concern, we will slip the layer of this graphic element under that of the image.
That’s it, here is our dashing advertising poster!
How to prepare the poster for printing
We’ve seen how to create an advertising poster. Now we must not forget the important step of preparing the poster for printing.
In the “Layers” tab on the layers pallet, you must activate the “Flatten image” option, so that no one can change the poster anymore. Then, in “Images”, and afterwards in “Mode”, you have to convert to “CMYK Colours” mode, and end with Ok. Let’s finish once and for all by saving the file in Photoshop format.
And now, our advertising poster is ready for printing!
>See also: How to successfully edit multiple photos in Photoshop
