5 Tips for Designing Eye-Catching Movie Posters at First Sight

When you step into a movie theater or scroll through dozens of posters on social media, what makes you stop? It’s the first “touch” that each movie poster conveys: curiosity, excitement, or even obsession. A movie poster is more than just a promotional poster, it’s the “face” of an entire story, capturing the spirit, tone, and core emotions of the film. Have you ever wondered why some posters are etched in the minds of millions of viewers, while others fade into oblivion? In this article, we’ll explore the concept of movie posters and delve into the design elements that make a memorable poster!

1. What is a movie poster?

Simply put, a movie poster is a form of public information publication containing design content related to the setting and character design in the movie to convey to viewers the outstanding information and complete spirit of that movie.

Posters were first known to the public in 1800 when people at that time learned about lithography. It was not until the end of the 19th century that movie posters became popular due to the mass production market at its peak. Thanks to that, the form of poster printing became more familiar and appeared more, especially in the field of product promotion for businesses.

Movie posters are a form of graphic design that is different from other art forms in that they can perfectly combine both graphic and text elements. While text-based advertising aims to convey information in a concise form or a call to action, movie posters can attract more viewers through the visual content presented. Although technology is currently developing rapidly with many different digital platforms, movie posters are still an extremely important part for those who do marketing.

Movie posters are usually used in the early stages of a movie's release. At that time, you can clearly see the widespread popularity of this publication everywhere, from cinemas to billboards on the street, even in the current technological era, digital platforms are an extremely convenient advertising method. Using posters will help businesses easily promote their products effectively, economically while still ensuring quality.

In the current era of digital technology development, the tools used to promote films are also more diverse and developed, the most typical of which is the film trailer. The strength of the trailer is to present and convey part of the content of the work, helping the audience to better define the content of the film in the form of a video clip. However, not everyone has a lot of time to watch the trailer online and summarize the content, so the film poster has a distinct advantage in this regard. The film poster provides a concise and concise description of the content, characters and necessary information such as release time, cast, director, etc. so that the audience can grasp the important content.

2. 5 elements that make an impressive movie poster

The more impressive the movie poster is, the more viewers it attracts. Therefore, for designers, the 5 factors below will be important factors in deciding whether your product meets the requirements and attracts the maximum number of viewers.

Attract attention

If you do not know, the AIDA formula is used in Marketing to implement throughout the product marketing campaign of each business. With 4 important components: Attention - Interest - Desire - Action, it will be an important basis to decide the success of almost all film products.

Therefore, the first step that designers need to do with their poster is to attract the attention of everyone looking at it. However, using too many graphic effects or flashy images will only create an impression on viewers when they look at it and quickly forget it. Therefore, modern movies now apply the placement of the main character in the movie or important details of the movie to arouse the curiosity and judgment of viewers with the development of the movie content.

Create a feeling of "telling as if not telling"

The success of movie posters will be judged by their symbolism, when you can convey the content of the movie through images as simply and delicately as possible, without having to show too much content or details of the movie but the audience is still attracted.

Some suggestions for making a movie poster are to take an image or a main character or even an impressive movie detail combined with an impressive design. This is an extremely clever and easy way to attract the attention of the viewer from the first time. An impressive poster will create curiosity, discussion and attract viewers to the theater and that will be the success of both the film crew and you, the designer.

Motivate audiences to watch

As mentioned above, if it only attracts attention but does not arouse curiosity to pull viewers to the cinema, your Poster will not be highly appreciated. Therefore, sometimes using abstract images will not be as popular as providing images that evoke details and content of the film.

Therefore, famous movie posters today have successfully applied the design of images that bring the feeling of putting the viewer in the context of the movie, causing curiosity or psychological feelings such as tension, fear or joy. Thanks to that, it can easily motivate the viewer to decide to go see the entire work to find the answer to their curiosity.

Unique design style

Design style is what determines whether your movie poster impresses viewers or not. The designer's design thinking must be consistent with the content of the movie and apply it to create a unique artistic style throughout the work.

High awareness

The world cinema industry has only recorded very few cases where a film can resonate in many sequels in terms of both revenue and awards. Therefore, when designing posters for sequels of a film, designers should add images or details reminiscent of the previous part to help the audience recognize that this is a sequel to that work.

3. 5 Steps to Design a Simple Movie Poster

Designing a movie poster is not just about designing images and writing on them, but also requires a process of researching and arranging each element closely. This includes the following 5 important steps:

3.1. Choose a theme photo

Before you begin the process of designing a movie poster, it is important to first find and select a photo from the movie that you feel best reflects the main idea and message of the movie. Choose a photo that is of good quality and shows a strong scene or character to be the main image for your poster.

The image on the poster needs to convey a core message or idea about the film. In particular, you need to convey this message clearly and create a strong impression from the first time people see the poster.

To begin the process of designing a movie poster, you should clearly define the idea that you want to express and convey through your poster. These specific ideas will help you optimize your design time and ensure that your poster will attract people with its aesthetics and message.

3.2. Create effects for images in poster

When designing a movie poster, using visual effects can make the poster more unique and attractive. Instead of using a straight and simple image, you should consider applying effects to create depth and add appeal to the image.

Photo editing and effects are an important part of the movie poster design process. These effects can make the image more eye-catching and help describe the purpose and content of the movie more clearly.

3.3. Set title

The title on a movie poster is an important part and is often the most prominent feature. In particular, it provides important information such as the name of the movie to the poster viewer. Therefore, titling is an indispensable part of the movie poster design process.

Before placing your title on your poster, consider your layout to make sure it integrates well. A balanced layout helps draw the viewer's attention as they look at your poster. If you're having trouble placing your title in your layout, you can use a grid to help you align it correctly.

Instead of using a lot of words and complex text, you should try to choose simple and concise words for your headline. The goal is to convey the important message clearly and effectively. Sometimes, the headline can be expressed through images, especially when you want to convey part of the message using images.

One thing you should also keep in mind is that you should not use too many text effects on the title as this can make your poster look unprofessional.

3.4. Add movie credits

The credits section on a poster includes a list of people who contributed to the film, which can be actors, directors, producers, and more. This is an important part to provide information about the crew involved and create a professional look for the movie poster design.

3.5. Add tagline to poster

A great movie always needs a catchy tagline to grab the audience's attention. Similarly, a memorable movie poster also needs a memorable tagline.

Tagline is usually a short sentence related to the content of the movie and appears on the poster to create an impression and make the viewer always remember your movie.

Movie posters are a powerful bridge between the film and the audience. By mastering the basic design principles and constantly updating the trends, you will create publications that not only attract but also leave a deep impression on the audience.