Poster ideas: 30 concepts for events, shops and walls

The best poster ideas start from a single concept you could describe in five words: one giant number, a word cropped off the edge, a colour field with tiny type. Choose the concept by where the poster will hang. Event posters need one dominant fact, shop posters need one message and one action, and wall posters can be quieter because they are seen every day. Below are thirty concepts, ten for each, plus the sizes and a two second test to check any of them.

The two second poster test

Before you fall for a concept, make a rough version, shrink it to the size of a stamp on your screen and look away. Look back for two seconds. If you can tell what it is for and the one thing it says, the idea works. If you see a busy rectangle, simplify before you refine. The method behind this is covered in poster design.

Event poster ideas

Gigs, talks, markets, screenings, fundraisers. Pick the fact your audience cares about most and make it the poster.

1. The giant date. The day of the month fills the sheet; everything else sits in a strip below.
2. Name as texture. The act or event name repeated in rows until it becomes a pattern, one row in a different colour.
3. Cropped headline. A huge word running off two edges. People complete it in their heads, and that holds attention.
4. One object. A single photographed object on colour: a vinyl record for a listening night, a whisk for a bake sale.
5. Countdown sheet. "3 weeks" printed large, replaced with a new poster each week until the day.
6. Ticket stub. The whole poster laid out like an oversized ticket, with a perforation line and seat number.
7. Map pin. A simplified street map with one bright pin where the event happens.
8. Lineup ladder. Names stacked by importance in three sizes, nothing else. Band poster design has more for gigs.
9. Split day and night. Left half light for the daytime programme, right half dark for the evening.
10. Question poster. One question set large ("Who made your clothes?") with the talk details small underneath.

Poster ideas for shops and businesses

Window and counter posters are read by people who are walking. One message, one action, and a look that matches the rest of your brand. For glazing and placement, see window signage design.

1. The single word. "Open." "New." "Fresh." One word in your brand colour, filling the window.
2. Price as hero. The offer or price set large, product named small. Works best when it really is the reason to come in.
3. Today's special. A poster template you reprint daily with one line changed, so regulars learn to look.
4. Behind the counter. A portrait of the person who makes the product, with their name and one line.
5. Before and after. For salons, cleaners and repairers: two halves of one image, divided by a clean line.
6. Seasonal colour swap. The same layout reprinted in four seasonal palettes through the year.
7. Big arrow. For side streets and upstairs shops: an arrow and "Coffee this way", nothing more.
8. Review as headline. A short, real customer comment set like a book quote, with permission and their first name.
9. Opening hours as design. Hours set in a strong grid that doubles as decoration.
10. QR with a reason. A code with a clear promise next to it: "Scan for the menu", "Scan to book".

Wall poster ideas for home and studio

A poster on your own wall is seen hundreds of times, so it can be quieter and reward a second look. Colour, texture and a few words go a long way.

1. Colour field. One soft gradient filling the sheet, no words at all. Gradient posters shows how to print them cleanly.
2. Your city's coordinates. Latitude and longitude in small type on a large field of colour.
3. One line you live by. A favourite sentence in a quiet serif with lots of space around it.
4. Swiss grid study. Circles, bars and a few words on a strict grid. See Swiss design for the rules.
5. Song lyric typographic. A lyric set in one typeface with one word emphasised.
6. Palette poster. Five swatches from a place you love, each labelled with its hex code.
7. Year in colour. Twelve bands, one colour per month of a memorable year.
8. Big initial. One letter, your own or someone you love, cropped and huge.
9. Recipe poster. A family recipe set beautifully for the kitchen wall.
10. Triptych. Three posters in one palette and three moods: dawn, noon and dusk.

Colour field posters live or die on smoothness. Large prints of soft gradients can show stepped bands; a little grain hides them. Print gradients covers what printers need from you.

Poster sizes to design at

The poster size guide lists more sizes, with bleed and margins. Most event posters also need a social version, and the concept should survive the change: a giant date works at A3 and at 1080×1350 alike.

How to make a poster idea your own

Every idea on this list has been done before, and that is fine: what makes a poster yours is the colour, type and texture you bring to it. In Gradiently, the background can be a Mark, a living gradient that, once you claim it, only you can export with. It keeps the words readable wherever they land and renders at every size from A5 to 18×24 inches. Poster templates are in the Studio to start from.