Poster Templates
Tips to get you started on designing, printing & promoting your Posters
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To create your own poster, start with a clear plan and gather all the elements necessary to make it happen. Basic building blocks of poster design include your company’s logo, branding strategy, and relevant images, along with the original content (text) necessary to share your message and call your readers to action. Once you have those in hand, look through our catalog of professionally-designed poster templates until you land on one that has what you’re looking for. The tools in our online editor can be used to implement your color scheme (using our “replace this color” feature to swap out every occurrence of an existing color with one from our palette or with a custom CMYK code) and replace the existing stock images with your own high-quality photos and logo. Use the copy/paste function to insert your original content instead of the placeholder text or type it directly into the textbox(es). Explore the other functions of our editor as you change font size, style, and color or add shapes, patterns, icons, and arrows with ease. Proofread on your own, then invite in another set (or two!) of eyes to evaluate whether your message is clearly conveyed before you print.
An effective poster is one that is easy to read, includes a clear message, and invites the reader to act. For more detail on how to create a fantastic poster with MyCreativeShop, check out our blog post - How to Make a Poster: Design and Branding 101.
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When it’s time to move your poster from screen to print, you can easily order prints from MyCreativeShop by clicking the “Print/Download” button within our editor. To learn more about our poster printing and guaranteed delivery options, visit our poster printing page. You can also download a high-quality PDF of your poster and print it anywhere you like.
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MyCreativeShop offers poster templates in three commonly used sizes: 11” x 17, 18” x 24,” and 24” x 36.” These sizes are generally considered standard for small, medium, and large posters, respectively. For our non-US customers, we also offer poster templates in size A3.
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The method you use when hanging a poster depends almost exclusively on the surface you plan to place it on. Will it be hung indoors or out, on a wall you own or a space that belongs to someone else? Are you working with cement walls or sheetrock, wood or cork? As a reminder, if planning to hang your posters in a location you don’t own, always get permission first. Determine what you’ll be working with, then get started.
First, wash your hands to make sure your posters stay smudge-free. Next, ensure that your posters aren’t rolled or bent in any way. If they are, lay them out under a heavy weight until they stay flat. Then, use an appropriate cleaning strategy to prepare your surface for the poster to be hung. Finally, select the right hanging method for your chosen location. If you’re working with a bulletin board or sheetrock wall, thumbtacks, pushpins, or staples are all effective options. Double-sided tape can be a useful indoor option, but may grab a bit too aggressively on painted walls. Mounting putty is very user-friendly, as you can pinch off as much or as little as you need to get the job done. 3M Command Strips® leave your walls clean and are easy to apply, but if you’re hanging a large number of posters, they may not be cost-effective. When hanging a poster in an outdoor environment, use more of whichever hanging method you’ve chosen to ensure it has the best chance of staying in place. If you plan to regularly change out the posters in your space, you may want to invest in one or more poster frames that stay in place and allow for new designs to be easily swapped in. Planning ahead will save you both time and money.
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As a general rule, your poster’s text should be at least 24pt at all levels in order to be clearly seen from a distance. How big you can (or should) go depends on the size of your poster, the length of your text, and the font you select. Some fonts impact the reader differently (even negatively) when made too large, so sticking with tried and true choices for your heading and subheadings can ensure that your message is shared clearly and without distraction.
When you customize one of MyCreativeShop’s poster templates, you’ll discover that our textbox feature automatically calculates the ideal recommended font size for each type of text (Headings, Subheadings, Paragraphs, etc.), depending on which template size you select. -
All of MyCreativeShop’s poster PDFs have a resolution of 300dpi, which is ideal for printing. However, the quality of your printed posters will depend entirely on the quality of the images you use in them. Low quality images (those with a low dpi) will result in a low quality printed poster, regardless of the resolution of the PDF. When creating your poster, consider the average distance your audience will be viewing your poster from - you may be able to get away with lower quality images if needed.
For more information on image resolution check out these related blog posts:
A Complete Guide to Understanding DPI
DPI or PPI: Does Anyone Really Know the Difference?