How to Make a Poster

An effective poster is an unbeatable marketing tool. You can use them to promote upcoming events and sales, spread the word about your campaign and even decorate your store.

Professional poster printing is a fantastic option for bringing your design to life, but making posters can be a little daunting for non-graphic designers. Our quick and easy guide shows you how to set your artwork up for print and get it right every time.
 

How to Make a Poster on PowerPoint

We recommend using PowerPoint to design your own poster if you’re a beginner designer. Follow these steps for easy poster artwork:

Setting Up Your Page Layout

To set your page up for print:

1. Open up PowerPoint
2. Choose Blank Presentation
3. Go to Design > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size
4. Enter the width and height of your chosen poster size
5. Add 6mm (0.6cm) to both the width and height to account for bleed

Borders

1. Go to Insert > Shapes
2. Select the rectangle from the drop-down menu
3. Draw the shape to where you want your border to be
4. Go to Format > Shape Fill and click No Fill
5. Go to Format > Shape Outline to customise your border
6. Right click your border and select Send to Back

Inserting and Placing Images

1. Click Insert > Pictures
2. Choose the images you want to feature in your design from your computer
3. Double click on the image, or click Insert to insert into the document
4. Resize and rotate by dragging the edges of the image
5. Drag your image to place it

Inserting and Placing Textboxes

Blank slides will often have text boxes already on them. To create your own:

1. Go to Insert > Text Box
2. Draw a textbox by clicking and dragging your mouse across the screen
3. Type into your box
4. Resize and rotate by dragging the corners
5. Drag the text box to place it

How to Make a Poster on Word

Word is a popular tool for beginners because it’s familiar and easy to use. Here’s how to design a poster using Word:

Setting Up Your Page Layout

Here’s how to set up your document size:

1. Go to Layout > Page Setup
2. Increase all margins by 3mm to account for safety zone 
3. Go to size and choose your poster size
4. Add 6mm to height and width to account for bleed

Adding Borders

To add a border to your artwork:

1. Select Design > Page Borders
2. Customise your border by selecting the options you want under Setting, Style, Colour, Width and Art
3. You can also change your background by going to Design > Page Colour

Inserting and Placing Images

To add images to your poster design:

1. Go to Insert > Pictures
2. Choose an image from your computer and click Insert
3. If your image appears behind text or other images, right click and select Bring to Front > Bring Forward to correct
4. Drag the edges of the image to resize
5. To make text wrap around your image, right click and select Wrap Text and choose the option you want

Inserting and Placing Textboxes

Creating a textbox on Word allows you more control of where you place text. Here’s how to insert and place them:

1. Go to Insert > Text Box
2. Draw your textbox by clicking and dragging your mouse
3. Type into the text box
4. Drag the corners to resize
5. Drag the text box to place it on your poster design

How to make a Poster in Photoshop

Adobe’s photo editing software, Photoshop, is a little trickier to use for non-designers. However, it can help you create a more professional design. Here’s how:

Setting Up Your Page Layout

1. Create a new document using the dimensions of your poster size
2. Set Colour to CMYK and Resolution to 300 Pixels/Inch
3. Select Okay
4. To find your bleed area, press Ctrl + U and move the lines that appear 3mm from the edge of your document on all sides

Changing the Background Colour

1. Select the Background layer in the Layers panel
2. Choose Edit > Fill
3. Select colour to fill background with a colour you select from the Colour Picker

Inserting and Placing Images

1. Go to File > Open
2. Select an image by clicking Open > Enter, then position image using the Move tool
3. To resize, go to Layers and select the layer with the image on it
4. Click Edit > Free Transform and adjust size by dragging the corner handles

Make sure all images have a resolution of at least 300dpi for high quality printing.

Inserting and Placing Textboxes

1. Select the Text tool (looks like a T) from the toolbar
2. Click and drag to create a textbox and start typing
3. The menu at the top lets you choose text size and font
4. Hold down on the Text tool to use additional options
    

How to Make a Poster on Publisher

Lots of people are familiar with Microsoft Office, making Publisher a great tool for beginner designers. To set up a poster with Publisher, follow these steps:

Setting Up Your Page Layout

To set up your poster layout:

1. Open up Publisher
2. Click More Blank Page Sizes > Create New Page Size
3. Enter the width and height of the poster size you want to create and add 6mm to account for bleed
4. Set each margin as 6mm to account for the safety zone
5. Click OK

Adding Borders

You can add borders to your images and textboxes to draw attention to them by:

1. Right-clicking the image or textbox and selecting Format Text Box
2. Choose the kind of border you want
3. Click Fill to change the colour of the box

You can also add a border to your poster:

1. Select Shapes, then choose a rectangle
2. Draw your border by clicking and dragging your mouse across the screen (make sure it stays in your safety zone)
3. Click on the rectangle and select Send Backward > Send to Back in the Format tab
4. Select Shape Fill > No Fill

Inserting Images

To add an image to your poster design on Publisher:

1. Go to Insert > Pictures
2. Choose the image from your computer and click Insert
3. Click on your image and drag it to position it
4. Drag the corners to resize the image
5. Right click and select Wrap Text to allow text to fit around the image

Not sure which size poster is best for you? Get in touch with our Customer Service team at office@instantprint.co.uk. Or, drop us a message on live chat or over the phone – we’re always happy to help!

If designing from scratch isn’t your thing, try customising one of our many free poster design templates.