GeckoPrint - Printing Services in Sydney

Somehow, good music and concert flyers always seems cooler than posters for just about anything else. Although they are essentially mass advertising, a good gig poster never seems contrived or corporate, and in fact seem more like art, perhaps because music itself is an art form. That being said, it is possible to make an unsuccessful gig flyer, so we’ve worked out a few tips for getting quality promotional material out there from start to finish in four easy steps, from the conceptual stage all the way through to the flyer printing and distribution stages.

Design

When designing the artwork for a poster that will be advertising a music gig or festival, the most important thing is to stay true to the genre. Essentially, what you want to do is try to translate the ‘feel’ of the music or band into an eye-catching visual. The reason for this is that you want it to catch the eye of people who are into the music you’re promoting, and will subsequently go to buy tickets. Therefore, it stands to reason that your artwork would be something specific to what they like.

Information and Layout

Because the people who see your posters may only get a glance at it (for example if they’re rolling by on a bus or train, or if they’re glancing at a street light as they walk by), it’s crucial to provide the most important information straight up. Don;t bother being cute with witty copy; it needs to make a good first impression, because unless it does, people won’t hang around to read through lots of content. The band or bands’ names need to be at the top in large print, followed by the date and a website.

Printing

Now that you’ve got the design and layout underway, you’ll need to get the flyers and posters printed. Be sure to investigate the quality of paper that will be being used by your flyer or poster printing company, and make sure that the final product is going to be big enough to make an impact. There’s nothing worse than receiving the final copy and realising it’s the size of a postage stamp! On that note, it’s also crucial to make sure you proof read the copy three or four times. And then do it again. And then get someone else to do it again. Once it has gone to the printers there is nothing you can do to fix mistakes, so make sure that you are 100% happy before it is sent off.

Distributing

Now it’s time for the fun part. You may want to enlist the work of casual flyer and poster distributors who can plaster your design all over the city, or you may like to be strategic in where you put the posters. Generally, the more you put up, the better response you’ll get! Be aware of council restrictions on posting flyers – you don’t want to have them taken down as soon as they’re up!