Poster / Flyer graphic design tools

[ArtechnikA]

This may not be the best home for this thread, pls move if you've got a better idea...

We're starting to get gigs booked and that means we need to up our visual promotion game. I see bands with their flashy poster-esque event flyers and their social-media equivalents and I wonder 'how'd they do that...'

I know my way around WordArt - or its LibreOffice equivalent - and that keeps us out of ransom-note territory, but I know there are tools that will let us incorporate graphic elements, images, color washes, etc. I like to provide venues with some flyers they can post around the venue in advance of a gig, and I'd like to add some more visual pop to our social media event posts.

So what's out there for free? I know the big guys use PhotoShop but that ain't happening... I've used VistaPrint's templates and while they were excellent quality, i'm OK with something smaller, cheaper, and less lead time...

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I use the free version of Pixlr.....Free Photo editor online image animation and design : Pixlr

I haven't done any advanced graphics like many others, just photos. Worth a try.

 

[IanStephenson]

Photoshop is for ... editing photo's! It's not the right tool for creating posters, as it's not designed to handle text and other layout elements. Illustrator and InDesign are better tools for the job (but equally expensive). But basically don't try and do page layout in a photo editor.

I've done layouts I Pages (on Mac or iPad) and it has basic page layout functonality. Bring your photo's in and set them as a background and add text over the top. You can do the same in Keynote, or Powerpoint too...

 

[ThePez]

i use Canva and upload our artwork, mostly on my phone but sometimes on a desktop. lots of editing options for free.

 

[mambo4]

A free Photoshop (bit map) equivalents
Krita (what I use)
GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program (which I dislike)

Free Adobe Illustrator (vector art)equivalent:
Draw Freely | Inkscape

Photoshop is for ... editing photo's! It's not the right tool for creating posters

Adobe Photoshop is fine for graphic design of all kinds, not just photos.
"Real" commercial print graphics typically use vector art (.svg, .ai, or .eps files) for jobs.
But a band poster for putting up at a bar? Photoshop -ish options are fine.
anything that can poop out a 300 dpi jpg or png file , take it to a FedEx / Kinkos and print it out.

 

[kevrex]

adobe express and picmonkey will both do what you need. they have templates for posters, and you can change the copy and upload pic or logo. both apps have free versions. if you're working on your phone, express probably has the edge.

i used canva for a bit years ago, and i don't think their templates were anywhere near as good as express and picmonkey. they looked kinda slapped together, like, "we need 50 band poster templates by friday!" rather than, "show us your best band poster templates on friday," if that makes sense.

 

[gln1955]

I've used Photoshop for this kind of thing. It's perfectly fine for text or anything else you might want on a poster.

It's expensive, but there are similar freeware programs that will also do what you need. One I've used is GIMP.

 

[hbarcat]

I started using Adobe Express six months ago and I really like it for its simplicity and ease of use.

I made each of these fliers for my band in about 20 minutes:

 

[Passinwind]

This may not be the best home for this thread, pls move if you've got a better idea...

We're starting to get gigs booked and that means we need to up our visual promotion game. I see bands with their flashy poster-esque event flyers and their social-media equivalents and I wonder 'how'd they do that...'

I know my way around WordArt - or its LibreOffice equivalent - and that keeps us out of ransom-note territory, but I know there are tools that will let us incorporate graphic elements, images, color washes, etc. I like to provide venues with some flyers they can post around the venue in advance of a gig, and I'd like to add some more visual pop to our social media event posts.

So what's out there for free? I know the big guys use PhotoShop but that ain't happening... I've used VistaPrint's templates and while they were excellent quality, i'm OK with something smaller, cheaper, and less lead time...

Not free, but Affinity Designer has a fair bit of Adobe Illustrator's functionality and it's a pay once deal rather than a subscription model. They have discount sales fairly often too. There's also an iPad version that I've not yet tried, but their Photo app for the pad is pretty good and was very inexpensive.