# Music festival graphics: lineups, maps and set times

[Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/festival-season-graphics)

A festival talks to its crowd through a handful of graphics: the lineup, the set times, the map and the countdown. Each one has a different job, and each one fails in a predictable way.

## The short version

- Music festival graphics fall into four main jobs: the lineup announcement, the set times, the site map and the countdown posts in between.
- A lineup poster works when it has clear tiers, usually three or four type sizes, with headliners at the top and the smallest names still readable on a phone.
- Set times are easiest to scan as a grid with stages as columns and time running down the page, one graphic per day.
- A festival map for phones should show only what people walk to: stages, entrances, toilets, water, first aid and food, with a short legend.
- Keep one background, one type family and one colour per stage across every graphic, so the whole season reads as one festival.

Good **music festival graphics** do four jobs: announce the lineup with a clear order of importance, list set times so people can plan their day in seconds, show the site in a map that still reads on a phone, and keep the date in front of people between announcements. Build them as one system, with the same background, type and stage colours throughout, and every post from the first lineup drop to the last set time will feel like the same event.

This guide takes each graphic in turn, with sizes, layouts and the mistakes that make festival posts hard to read. For the wider picture of how an event carries its look across signs, wristbands and screens, see [event branding](https://gradiently.design/guide/event-branding).

## How to design a festival lineup poster

The lineup is the graphic people screenshot, share and argue about. Its whole job is hierarchy: someone glancing at it should know the headliners in one second and find their favourite small act in ten. That comes from tiers, not from squeezing every name in at the same size.

| Tier | Who goes here | Type size on a 1080×1350 post | Treatment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Headliners | Two or three names per day | 90 to 120 px | Heaviest weight, own line each |
| Second tier | Strong draws below the top | 50 to 64 px | Same family, a step lighter |
| Third tier | The bulk of the bill | 32 to 40 px | Run on in lines, separated by a dot |
| Fourth tier | Openers, DJs, local acts | 26 to 30 px | Lighter weight, never below 26 px |

Four tiers is plenty. If you need a fifth, the poster is trying to do the job of the website.

Use one typeface in several weights rather than a new font per tier: weight and size carry the ranking, and a single family keeps the poster calm. A condensed sans fits more names per line, which is why so many lineups use one. Separate names on the same line with a centred dot or a slash, and keep line spacing tight so each tier reads as a block. [Visual hierarchy](https://gradiently.design/guide/visual-hierarchy) explains the principle behind the tiers.

A portrait festival post announcing a three day lineup, with the dates and ticket day under a large headline on a gradient background

The announcement post that goes out before the full bill: dates, place and one promise, with the full lineup on the next carousel page.

> **Split the lineup by day** If your festival runs over several days, post the full bill once, then a page per day as a carousel. People plan by day, and a single day fits at sizes everyone can read.

## Festival set times people can actually scan

Set times are a timetable, and timetables have a solved layout: stages across the top as columns, time running down the side, one graphic per day. People hunt for one act, then look sideways to see what clashes. A list sorted by stage hides the clashes; a grid shows them.

| Time | Main stage | Tent | Garden |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 18:00 | Opening act | Local showcase | DJ set |
| 19:30 | Second tier act | Third tier act | DJ set |
| 21:00 | Co-headliner | Second tier act | Live band |
| 22:30 | Headliner | Late set | Closing DJ |

The structure of a set times graphic for one day. Give each stage its own colour and keep that colour on the map and on site signs.

- Write times in the 24 hour clock or always add am and pm; never mix the two.
- Put start times only, unless sets vary a lot in length.
- Give every stage one colour and use it everywhere: column heading, map pin, wristband, screen.
- Make a story version at 1080×1920 for each day, because that is what people save and open at the gate.
- Post set times a few days before the gates open, then pin them to your profile.

Set times change late, and remaking twelve graphics by hand is where typos creep in. If your timetable lives in a spreadsheet, Gradiently Pro's [bulk create](https://gradiently.design/guide/bulk-create-from-spreadsheet) can fill one designed page from each row, so a late swap means editing a cell and creating the pages again.

## Festival map design for phone screens

The site plan your production team uses is not a festival map. The map for the crowd answers a few questions while someone is standing in a field with low battery: where is the stage, where is the water, where is the way out. Draw only what people walk to, simplify the shapes, and test it on a phone held at arm's length.

### Avoid

- The production site plan with every cable run
- Tiny labels that need zooming
- A legend with fifteen icons
- Stage colours that differ from the set times
- North pointing somewhere other than up, unmarked

### Do

- Stages, entrances, exits, toilets, water, first aid, food
- Labels big enough to read without zooming
- Six to eight icons, each obvious on its own
- The same stage colours as the timetable
- A clear "you are here" version for site boards

Post the map as a story at 1080×1920 and as a portrait post at 1080×1350, and print a large version for boards at each entrance. Keep the background behind the map quiet, so paths and pins carry the contrast.

## Sizes for every festival graphic

A festival season touches most formats at once. These are the sizes worth designing at, so nothing gets stretched or cropped by the platform.

- Instagram post 1080×1350: 1080 × 1350
- Story and Reel 1080×1920: 1080 × 1920
- Facebook event cover 1920×1005: 1920 × 1005
- A3 poster 3508×4961: 3508 × 4961
- 18×24 in poster 5400×7200: 5400 × 7200

The core festival formats to scale. Print sizes are at 300 dpi; the full list is in the [poster size guide](https://gradiently.design/guide/poster-size-guide).

Remember that stories have interface at the top and bottom, so keep set times and map labels out of roughly the top and bottom 250 pixels of a 1080×1920 frame. [Social media safe zones](https://gradiently.design/guide/social-media-safe-zones) shows exactly where. For the Facebook event header, the [event cover size guide](https://gradiently.design/guide/facebook-event-cover-size) covers the crop on phones.

## Festival posts between the announcements

The weeks between the lineup and the gates are where many festivals go quiet. A steady run of small, useful posts keeps tickets moving and makes the big announcements land harder.

1. **Artist spotlights** One act per post, name large, day and stage small. Fourth tier acts gain most from this, and they share it.
2. **Countdown** A number and the dates, nothing else, at 30, 7 and 1 days out. See [countdown post design](https://gradiently.design/guide/countdown-post-design) for layouts.
3. **Know before you go** Bag rules, transport, what to bring. A plain carousel saves your inbox a lot of messages.
4. **Day of** Gates open time, weather, and the day's set times again as a story.
5. **Thank you and recap** The morning after, a single thank you, then a recap with your best photos and a date for next year if you have one.

A vertical festival countdown story reading 7 days until the gates open, with a note that set times drop on Monday

A countdown story: one number, one promise for the next post.

A vertical festival story listing gate time, bag rules and water bottle advice for Saturday

A practical story for the day itself, in the same look as the lineup.

## One look for the whole season

The festivals people remember have a look you could recognise with the names covered up. Pick one background, one type family and one set of stage colours, and use them on every graphic from the first teaser to the recap. Full bleed colour behind type is the backbone of most festival identities, and it only works if the words stay readable wherever they land; [text on a gradient](https://gradiently.design/guide/text-on-gradient) covers how to keep every line legible.

In Gradiently, the background is a Mark: a living gradient that, once you claim it, no other event can export with. It makes room behind your lineup by itself and renders at every size from story to A3 poster. Make the lineup once and the other formats follow from the same design.

## FAQ

### How do you order names on a festival lineup poster?

Use three or four tiers of type size, with headliners largest at the top and openers smallest at the bottom. Within a tier, order by day or alphabetically, and say which you used.

### What size should a festival lineup post be on Instagram?

Design at 1080×1350 for the feed and 1080×1920 for stories. Split long lineups into a carousel with one page per day.

### How should festival set times be laid out?

As a grid with stages in columns and time running down the page, one graphic per day, so people can see clashes at a glance.

### What should a festival map include?

Stages, entrances and exits, toilets, water, first aid and food, with a short legend and the same stage colours as your set times.

### What size is a festival poster for print?

Common choices are A3 at 3508×4961 pixels and 18×24 inches at 5400×7200 pixels, both at 300 dpi.