Design a poster, step by step
One poster built from nothing to finished, in six stages: content, hierarchy, grid, colour, type, refine. Every number in it comes from a lesson you've already done.
STAGE 1
Content first, always
Before you open any tool, write every item you might put on the poster as a plain list. Then do the hard part: cut it, and rank what's left into the three levels from lesson 1. Most bad posters are bad because this stage never happened, and the design became a negotiation with eleven items that all thought they were level 1.
The test for each item: if a passer-by read only this line and nothing else, would they be any closer to coming? If not, it belongs at level 3 or in the bin.
EVERYTHING OMID WANTED ON IT
Book Swap
Bring a book, take a book
Saturday 20 Mehr, 10am to 2pm
Mehr Culture House, second floor
Free, no registration
Children's books welcome
Neighbourhood council + logo
Tea and biscuits
A quote about reading
Follow us for news
CUT AND RANKED
level 1 Book Swap
level 2 Bring a book, take a book
Saturday 20 Mehr, 10 to 14
Mehr Culture House, 2nd floor
level 3 Free, no registration
Children's books welcome
Neighbourhood council + logo
Dropped: the quote, the tea, 'follow us'.Ten items became seven, in three ranks.
The poster is designed before a single box has been drawn.Cut here, on the list, where it costs nothing. Cutting after the layout exists is much harder, because by then you like the layout.
Check yourself
Omid's friend insists 'tea and biscuits' should stay, because it's friendly. Where does it belong?
- Level 1, because it's the warmest thing on the poster
- Off the poster, and into the message he sends people who ask
- Level 2, next to the date and the place
- Level 3, in grey at the bottom
Show the answer
Off the poster, and into the message he sends people who ask
Yes. It's a nice detail that changes nobody's decision at two metres, and every line he keeps makes the lines he needs smaller. Warmth belongs in the wording of the title line, not in an extra item.
Stage 2: hierarchy, with numbers
- Level 1, one item. 'Book Swap' at about 120pt. It has to be readable from across the street.
- Level 2, three lines. What to do, when, where. About 36pt, roughly a third of the title.
- Level 3, the rest. 16pt in grey, for the person who has already stopped walking.
- Check the ratios with lesson 1: the title is over 3× level 2, and level 2 is over 2× level 3. Every jump reads as a decision, not a slip.
- Squint test. At arm's length the only readable blob should be 'Book Swap'. If the logo survives the blur too, it's too big.
STAGE 3 GRID AND SPACING (A3 portrait)
3 columns · margin 32 mm · gutter 16 mm
spacing steps used: 8, 24, 48 mm
[32] top margin
BOOK SWAP columns 1-3
[8]
Bring a book, take a book columns 1-3
[48]
Saturday 20 Mehr, 10 to 14 columns 1-2
[8]
Mehr Culture House, 2nd floor columns 1-2
[48]
Free, no registration columns 1-2
[8]
Children's books welcome columns 1-2
[24]
Neighbourhood council columns 1-2
logo, 20 mm column 3
[32] bottom marginOne starting edge for every line. Three gap sizes do all the grouping:
8 inside a group, 48 between groups, 24 before the footer.
Column 3 stays empty the whole way down. That is the breathing room.Nothing here was placed by eye. The margins and gaps come from lesson 4's ladder, the columns from lesson 5.
Check yourself
Leaving the third column empty will do more for the title's readability from two metres away than filling it with a photo would.
Show the answer
True
True. Empty space isn't an unfinished poster, it is the room that lets level 1 be seen from a distance. A photo added to fill the gap competes with the title and usually becomes a second hero, which is lesson 6's exact mistake. Leave the column empty, or let the title run across it.
Stage 4: two colour plans
Plan A: a colour per line
Deep blue title, red date, green 'free', black body, grey footer. Five colours, all fighting to be the accent, so none of them is. The green on white measures near 2:1, so the word he most wants read is the hardest to read at two metres.
Plan B: one plus one
Off-white paper, near-black text, the title in one deep blue. One warm orange, used once: a filled tag behind 'Free', white text on it, checked at over 4.5:1. That is lesson 8's palette and roughly 60-30-10, without measuring anything.
Check yourself
A neighbour tells Omid the poster looks plain next to the bright shop posters it will hang beside. What is the best response?
- Keep the one accent and make the title bigger instead
- Add a full-bleed photo behind everything to fill the page with colour
- Colour the headings blue and the details green so there is more variety
- Give every line its own colour so the poster can compete with the shop windows
Show the answer
Keep the one accent and make the title bigger instead
Right. On a crowded board, calm is contrast. Everything around it is shouting, so the poster with one huge title, one accent and real empty space is the one that gets read.
Stage 5: the finished type spec
| role | size | weight | colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title | 120pt | Bold | Deep blue |
| Level 2 | 36pt | Regular | Near-black |
| 'Free' tag | 28pt | Bold | White on orange |
| Level 3 | 16pt | Regular | Grey, checked at 4.5:1 |
One typeface family, two weights. Line height 1.1 on the title, 1.4 on everything else.
Check yourself
Match each decision on this poster to the lesson it came from
Show the answer
- The title is over three times level 2 → Lesson 1: hierarchy and the size ratio
- Every line starts on the same edge → Lesson 3: alignment
- Gaps of 8, 24 and 48 mm and nothing else → Lesson 4: the spacing ladder
- The orange appears exactly once → Lesson 8: one accent, 60-30-10
Stage 6: refine, five checks
- Squint
Only 'Book Swap' should survive the blur. If the logo or the orange tag survives too, turn it down.
- Print it and pin it up
Stand two metres back, the distance a passer-by will actually have. Whatever you can't read from there isn't doing its job.
- Check the numbers
Grey level-3 text on off-white, white on the orange tag. Anything under 4.5:1 gets darkened now, not after it is printed.
- Read the gaps
Is every gap on the ladder? Is each gap between groups at least twice the gap inside a group? If two gaps are nearly equal, make them identical or push them apart.
- Cut one more thing
There is almost always one line left that only you care about. Delete it, look again, and see whether the poster got worse. Usually it got better.
Check yourself
At which stage of the build does each decision belong?
- Deciding the quote about reading isn't needed
- Making 'Book Swap' the only level 1
- Setting a 32 mm margin on all four sides
- Saving the orange for the word 'Free'
- Choosing the bold and regular weights of one family
- Printing it and standing two metres back
Show the answer
1-2: content and hierarchy: Deciding the quote about reading isn't needed, Making 'Book Swap' the only level 1
3-4: grid and colour: Setting a 32 mm margin on all four sides, Saving the orange for the word 'Free'
5-6: type and refine: Choosing the bold and regular weights of one family, Printing it and standing two metres back
Lesson recap
- Stage 1: write every item, then cut and rank into three levels. Do it before you open a tool.
- Stage 2: give each level a size. Title 3× level 2, level 2 over 2× level 3.
- Stage 3: pick columns, margins and two or three gap sizes, and place nothing by eye.
- Stage 4 and 5: neutrals plus one brand colour plus one accent used once; one family in two weights.
- Stage 6: squint, print it and stand back, check the contrast numbers, read the gaps, and cut one more thing.