Concert Posters Design, Ideas, and Inspiration

When you want to know how to design a poster, regardless if we’re talking about concert posters, gig posters, or any other show posters, there is no better option than looking at what the pros do.

And that’s exactly what we did.

Regardless of whether you’re doing work for a client, you should have a good poster design that conveys the right information, and at the same time appeals to the aesthetic tastes of the audience.

This is especially important for a music poster design, concert poster design, or event poster design ideas.

The first piece of critical information is knowing your audience, as well as the product or service, or event. The mood and emotion, or reaction, will tell you all about the fonts, colors and graphics that you should use when you want to create a poster, and you will have a good start point on how to design a poster for that specific situation.

Use color to attract attention and create energy

One of the aspects of a wide open design is color. It will elicit a mood, and attract the eye. Depending on what subject you have and the poster layout, you can choose from bold, romantic or subtle colors. Going all out is also an option. Another one of the cool poster ideas is to use solid color blocks. Make sure they work together well, and you’ll have a striking background.

Typography is something you can experiment with

Fonts can convey a lot of things in a poster, especially in concert posters. When you’re looking at poster design ideas, or poster layout ideas, you will find that a lot of good posters enhance elegance with an italic serif, or show a serious tone with a bold sans serif.

Choose at least two fonts, one for the headline, and another one for body copy. If you want to achieve greater impact, experiment with typography.

If you’re making band posters, choose a template that matches their style

If you have an R&B band, make a clean, smooth poster. Use cool silhouettes and smooth lines, as they will help you describe the gig’s atmosphere, and attract the right audience. On the other hand, a punk rock band would most likely opt for choppy word type, graffiti, and a grungy overall look.

Consider going with a black background

Even though some might push colors, when it comes to creative posters, you can do a lot with a black background. It is sleek and professional looking, especially in music. What do most bands have behind them at a live show? That’s right, a black backdrop.

This is the same concept. Just add the bright lights and flashy wording to get your audience into party mode, and they’ll most likely show up.

The selection and treatment of images will make or break the concert poster

A template with a single image is much less cluttered. One large image that draws attention is a good option, or go for one small images, and a lot of white space that will awaken curiosity in the readers.

For example, a vintage flyer or ad is nowadays pretty popular, where a 1950s or 1970s look with a bright colored background, as well as one to three band line up photos and big, bold words is enough. Add the band photo with a yellow tint, or use an antique effect to make it look vintage.

Don’t forget the information – place, time and date, fee

This is crucial. It is also crucial that you don’t make that information overwhelming, so it shadows the entire design. Make it a bit smaller, and put it towards the bottom, as the eye is naturally drawn from the top to the bottom. A high price which is very noticeable may turn away people’s heads very easily.

Put social media information on your concert posters

If you are linked to any sites or social networks, put the social network’s icon on the poster. This gets the viewer’s attention to your page, where more views leads to more likes, and in turn more people and exposure on the events.

Include an incentive for show ads

Think of something like a drink tab or food discount, or a free drawing for an autographed item you can win, something that goes further than the ticket discount for pre-sold tickets.

It should show a connection between the band, and the event, and help connect your audience to both. This makes it much more likely to tell their friends, as well as like your page, and they’ll most likely return to the place.

Give back, and create good will

If you want to do benefits or help charities, this is an amazing way to advertise and get more positive feedback.

You will donate anyways, so what’s stopping you to involve your band as a supporter of a certain foundation? Highlight your cause on your event poster, and this may get you a lot of positive feedback.

Make use of holidays as an additional attraction

It is proven that people love a good gimmick, and using holidays to your advantage is a good idea. If it is Halloween, for example, dress up, and advertise your event as a costume contest. This, just like any other holiday, will give them an additional reason to go to the event. And, you can make your concert poster festive as well, to match everything.

Resize your concert poster so it can be shared on social media

You can post it on your Facebook page, and make an event for it as well, ensuring it is public. This will help anyone who looks for you, know who you are, as well as when your next show is going on.

Do it at least one week ahead, and make sure all band members, as well as family and friends, invite everyone they can. It might be a bit of a tedious task, but you will see it is well worth it in the end.

Make sure the venue posts the image on their social media accounts, thus increasing exposure

Every venue should know that they need to promote the shows, and they may also need some reminding in order to do that. You can’t be shy, and you can use the fact that the venue will also benefit from the event, so increasing exposure is a win-win situation for both.

You can also brainstorm with them for ideas that they may like. For example, you can make up a drink that is named after the performing band, and offer it on the poster at a discounted price. This will cause the fans to remember the band’s name, and don’t forget that you were the one that helped them get a drink deal.

Don’t skip the press

Most of your local TV or radio stations, as well as the local papers, will have an “Entertainment” section, or an “Events” calendar. They will also most likely have a Facebook page. You can contact them to see how you can use your Facebook post and poster, and get it shared with their audience. This is a great way to advertise the event you’re making a poster for.

Make the concert poster easy to read from further away

A poster has one goal – exposing someone and letting them know of an event. The most important information should be easy to read, even from further away, to make sure that people are drawn to the poster.

If you want to make things work, there are three layers you can use:

The headline, which is the most important, and usually largest, element in the design. You can make it the art element itself, or make it an addition to the art element. Go for a readable typeface, one that asks for attention, and is interesting.
The details, location, time, what is happening. These questions are to be answered in the second layer. If someone is to do what your poster is asking them to do, what information do they need to know? Put it here, and keep it short and clear. You can either drop the size to half of the headline’s size, or stick to a larger size, but go for a different contrast technique. The choice will most likely depend on the other elements, as well as how important the secondary text is.
The fine print. This is pretty self explanatory, and includes everything else that someone decided should be on the poster. This should be kept small, and out of the way, in order to keep the most important things first.

Don’t hold back on the contrast

A poster gives you one chance to grab someone’s attention. If you want something to help with this, go with a high contrast between elements. Don’t go with a monotone color palette, or pale gradients. Bold colors and type options are the way to go, and a poster design is a great place to try a color palette or typeface that you might deem too crazy for other projects.

A big color background is something to think about too. A poster designer will often start with a white canvas, but if your printer lets you do this, you can go for a high color background and full bleed, and make your poster stand out from everything else.

Keep the size and placement in mind when designing concert posters

It might not seem like it, but this is important. You should know where your poster will be located, as this impacts the size of the poster itself, as well as the visual clutter around the poster, and whether the people who see the poster, abide to your call to action.

If you know where the design will live, this will help you with all choices on how to make it. Visual contrast is a very important external factor. If you’ll have your poster on a red wall, you should go for a contrasting color scheme, which prevents your design from blending into the environment, and it’ll stand out instead.

Make a smaller version of the concert poster

As mentioned above with social media, a smaller version of your poster is well worth making. One of the basic principles of marketing is the fact that a person needs to be exposed to something around 20 times if you want him to remember it. Multiple versions of your poster can get you to this.

Make a letter size, one you can hand out
Make a poster-version of your website’s landing page
Create one version that you can send out via e-mail

Have a single big visual on concert posters

Regardless of whether it’s an illustration, text or a photo, you should have one big, dominant image. And, like the text itself, it should be readable from a bit further away. When you’re designing a poster, know that you should have single item illustration, or a common scene which comes with a sharp focal point.

When you select this option, careful with the layering of the elements. The type and images should have enough contrast for them to be readable independently.

Space is your friend

Even though it might seem a bit funny at first, exaggerated spacing between elements can increase visual impact by a ton, as well as the readability at a larger distance. There are a few places where this will work wonders:

Between lines of text, or between individual letters. Tight kerning will lead to letters blurring at a distance
Between different types of elements, such as text and illustrations
Around the interior margins of your canvas
Around the key visual. It is the thing you want people to see first, right?

White space, or negative, can form a very clever composition. Creating one image from another one, is a bit tricky, but once you have it, it is amazing. You can also draw the eye into a small object which is surrounded with a lot of negative space. This lets the viewer’s eye breathe, and if you drop your copy into the open space, that will draw the eye.

Shapes can create visual interest in a concert poster

Shapes create other shapes, and guide lines that will lead your reader’s eye around the design.

Regardless of whether you use them to contain text, or to create an interesting composition, or lead your viewer’s eyes in some particular direction, using shapes in an event poster can be very effective.

Paper is your friend

We live in a digital era, and one of the greatest appeals of a gig poster is the fact that it is actually a physically printed product.

One of the true joys of being a print designer is specifying, and you can make that lifelong wish come true by adding tactile texture with a certain finish, or by printing silver on a black sheet, as opposed to sticking with white.

A single box of almost any sheet is pretty affordable, and it is more or less anything you’ll need for a limited print run.

Challenge yourself by going for new techniques

Do you have a new camera? Have you never illustrated before? Do you want to contrast your love for clean fonts by using a hand-scrawled type one? There isn’t a better opportunity than a project that only has a limited edition print run, and demands bleeding edge design. Push your limits, and you’ll be rewarded.

Try new techniques in production as well

A limited run can mean that you have greatly lessened financial implications for your experiment.

This is where you can take a risk or two, without having a multi-million dollar company behind you wondering if what you’re doing is working or not.

Do whatever you want with the design, and learn things you can later incorporate for your other projects and clients.

Would you hang that poster on your wall?

You can’t escape the fact that a gig poster should look cool. And it should be cool enough to be the only thing you hang on your wall. Cool enough for everyone that goes in your room to know a bit about your tastes. This is the rule you should follow. If you don’t want to put it in your room, you’re doing something wrong.

Take advantage of letterpress or screenprinting

You will find that no two screenprints are truly the same, and this is something you can use to your advantage.

This is a pretty rougher printing technique compared to the big commercial presses, and it can give you a creative edge. Hand-pulled will mean that the ink will never distribute in the same way, and the colors will lay over each other and blend in different ways.

Do you want silky smooth curves, or a rough texture?

You can have it all, depending on the setup. Do you want to change a letter in a different spot on every print? You can do this with letterpress. There are things you can only achieve this way – take advantage of them.

When you’re stuck, go for a giant head

Posters let you use faces, regardless of whether they’re half-toned or illustrated, and you can manipulate them to make a huge impact.

You’ll also create a funhouse mirror for the viewer to look back upon. Looking into a mirror is something everyone loves.

Listen to the band or artist whose poster you’re making

The poster should appeal to the audience of the band, and if a designer hasn’t done his homework, it becomes pretty obvious.

The poster can reference a line of a song’s lyrics, or be there as an abstract artwork. The audience is who you want to impress, as they will want to buy your print. If you respect that, they will respect you and your work.

Follow the simple ethical rules when designing concert posters

Many designers jump at this game because they love the music, and want to test their skills in this area of the industry.

And, very often, they have an enthusiasm that will blur the fact that they still have rules to follow. 50 prints and 5 million soda bottles only differ in scale, and not the rules.

If you’re selling prints without permission, you’re actually taking money out of your favorite band’s hands.

Ending thoughts on concert posters

Once you know the event, you should know the audience.

From that point on, finding everything that conveys the right message will result in a great design.

Do you want just words? Maybe a large photo, or an illustration? Do you want it to be simple and elegant, or bright and bold? It is up to you.

If you liked this article about concert posters, you should check out these as well:

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Bogdan Sandu

Bogdan Sandu, a seasoned designer with 15 years of diverse experience, has been designing websites since 2008.

Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.

His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.