DJ flyer design: event posts that get people through the door

Strong DJ flyer design comes down to order: the night's name or the headliner first, the date second, the venue third and the rest of the lineup after that, all readable in a second on a phone. Then make the same flyer in every shape the promo needs: a feed post, a story, a short loop and a printed version for the bar. Atmosphere matters, but only once the facts are impossible to miss.

The hierarchy that sells tickets

Before you choose a colour, rank the information. People decide whether to go based on who is playing, whether they are free and whether they can get there. Everything else is supporting detail. Give each level a clear size step so the eye moves down the flyer in the right order.

Visual hierarchy explains the principle in more depth. On a club flyer it is simply the difference between a full room and a half empty one.

How to lay out a DJ lineup

Lineups follow billing order, and the artists and agents involved will notice if they do not. Headliner at the top and largest. Support acts listed below, all in one size. Residents and warm up sets at the end, or in a line of their own. If there are two rooms, split the lineup into two clear columns, each with a room name.

Feed post and story versions

The feed post and the story are different shapes with different interfaces on top, so design each one rather than cropping. The story has more height, so the lineup can breathe, but the top and bottom bands are covered by Instagram's controls. Keep everything important in the middle and leave room for a ticket link sticker.

A typical promo run: announcement post and story about four weeks out, a lineup reveal, set times the week of the show, and a tonight story. If the event has a Facebook page, add a 1920×1005 event cover; Facebook event cover size has the details.

Colours for club flyers

Club nights suit dark grounds with one strong colour moving through them, the way a room looks when the lights hit smoke. Keep the brightest part of the colour away from the lineup, and keep the type a solid, light colour with steady contrast. Each night or residency should own one look and keep it, so regulars spot the flyer before they read it.

Animated loops for promos

Movement stops the thumb in a stories feed. The trick is to animate the background, not the words: a slow drift of light behind a still lineup is eye catching and still readable. Keep it short and make sure it loops cleanly.

1. 1

   Start from the finished still

   Lock the layout and the words first. Motion comes last.

2. 2

   Move only the background

   Light drifting, colour shifting slowly. If the words move, let them rise in once and then stay still.

3. 3

   Keep it short and seamless

   A loop that joins invisibly can play for as long as someone watches. Seamless loop video covers the technique.

4. 4

   Export as MP4

   MP4 is smaller and sharper than GIF for this. GIF vs MP4 explains when each one fits.

Printed DJ flyers and posters

Print still works for club nights: a stack of flyers on the bar of the venue and record shops nearby, and an A3 poster at 3508×4961 pixels for the door. An A5 flyer is 1748×2480 pixels at 300 dpi. Add bleed if the artwork runs to the edge, and check the lineup still reads at arm's length. Flyer design covers the print basics.

Gradiently suits a weekly or monthly residency. Claim a Mark as the night's look and nobody else can export with it. Its calm area moves behind the lineup, so the names stay readable whatever the light is doing. The Designer can lay out the flyer, the story and the tonight frame from one description, and with Pro, bulk create builds a season of flyers from a spreadsheet of dates and guests, and any story can export as a looping MP4.