Posters have been commonly used in advertising since the early 18th century, which stands as testimony to just how popular they’ve been throughout the years.
They are extremely versatile, eye-catching, stand out from a distance, and can be used strategically to boost your brand’s visibility.
Be it an event poster, a party poster, a charity poster, or even a garage sale poster, they can all be effective ways of reaching an audience.
Placing posters in busy areas where there are plenty of passers-by doesn’t guarantee the fact that those people would actually see them. Therefore, it’s very important for your posters’ design to stand out and draw attention.
But what makes a poster great?
An attention-grabbing poster should have a clearly-defined message that goes hand in hand with the original design.
To help out with this endeavor of creating amazing posters, we put together a list of free poster templates that you can start with.
Go ahead and get creative with the poster examples we prepared for you and use our free online poster maker to personalize them.
20 Poster Templates You Can Use Right Now
Environmental protection posters
Bring awareness to environment-related issues with some of the best poster templates. You’ll notice that the design is quite simple, but it does the job.
Each template has a clearly-defined message that is represented not only through words but through the color palette and graphic elements.
Colors are one of the most important elements to take into consideration when creating eye-catching posters. Don’t go overboard when choosing the colors. Less is more in this case.
For these types of posters, it’s best to use earthy tones that will resonate with the main message. You can choose combinations of brown, green, yellow, blue, and orange.
Posters that promote sales are among the most popular ones. You see them in almost every brick and mortar store, either advertising a seasonal sale or a Black Friday offer.
Since a sale poster is quite popular, you want to make sure that it stands out from all the others.
While the sale you’re having could be great, a well-designed poster is key to helping you drive more foot traffic to your store.
The following poster template, for example, has all the right ingredients that will draw someone’s attention.
The main message stands out, and it goes hand in hand with the design that has a colorful, clean, and uncluttered feel to it.
Most of the time, these types of posters are more elaborate as they need to include more details about the property that’s being advertised.
Because of this, you want to make sure you create a poster so it doesn’t take away from the overall aesthetic. You can use a small section of the poster to add any information that may be helpful to a potential buyer or renter.
The poster design template below is a great example of how you can create a real estate poster that provides helpful details.
When it comes to a party event poster design, you can go as wild as you can so the material is both appealing and captivating.
The design should scream fun and entertainment and entice people to not miss out on it.
Go ahead and personalize one of these poster design templates and have fun creating a wicked party poster.
On a more serious note, business events require a less casual tone. The posters should be most of all inspiring and neatly designed.
For example, a conference poster template like the one below should have a sleek and extremely simple design.
This first example is exactly what you should go for when creating a business event poster.
Travel posters, on the other hand, should invite people to be adventurous, to take chances, and see the world.
The following examples have all been created with that in mind. Use your own ideas in combination with these poster design templates and create the best poster you can to promote your travel deals.
Get creative with your restaurant posters.
You can do so much more than adding some random text and a photo of the restaurant or food you have on the menu.
Go for something artsy like in the following posters—a sketch, a painting, or a drawing. This is a great alternative if you don’t have a high-quality photo of your restaurant or the food you’re serving.
Use an event poster template like the one below to be a real showstopper. The bright colors and the bold font of this event poster design will definitely draw attention and interest in your event.
Fun Facts About Posters
To leave you with a bit of inspiration, here are some of the most interesting facts about posters:
1. Posters have been around for nearly 200 years. When they first appeared, all the copies were made manually. The mass production was only possible starting with 1796 when lithography was invented and the posters were all black and white. Colored ones were made only after 1837.
2. Posters lost a lot of popularity with the appearance of radio and TV, which was around the 1950s. However, they quickly regained their fame by the mid-’60s when they weren’t used only for advertising, but also as art mediums.
3. You can make some money if you have vintage posters lying around the house. If they’re made by the original artist and they’re in good condition, you can sell them because they are quite valuable.
4. In the first half of the 20th century, posters were used mainly for war propaganda. They usually featured a caption along with an impactful image in order to sell government war bonds or to convince young people to join the army.
Conclusion
We hope you found our poster templates useful and inspiring. Now it’s time to put your creativity hat on and get down to designing your own attention-grabbing posters.
Just choose your favorite templates and start creating!