Some people use to say that posters are a dying art, that they are not used anymore as often as they were before the internet era.
It is true that posters had their golden age when everybody used almost only posters for advertising. That age, however, is not fully gone.
In fact, it’s not gone at all; you see cool poster designs everywhere around you, in a university, on the subway, in bus stations and on various walls.
Even though print is more expensive than the other advertising mediums like TV or internet, it is still used because it’s efficient and advertisers know this so they insist on hiring designers to create posters for them.
The beautiful aspect about posters is that they can be created for almost anything like movies, events, invitations, products and so on and so forth. I know few graphic designers who don’t have at least a poster in their portfolio.
There are so many clients who are asking for this particular design type so you just can’t escape from designing a poster.
And if you are a newbie designer and you haven’t got a client who would ask a poster, then design one just for fun. After that, the clients will see that you are good at it and hire you.
Anyhow, before designing a poster you should check out what others have created for inspiration. This article has a lot of cool poster ideas, and not just good poster ideas, but great ones as well.
Who knows, maybe you can get an interesting idea from one of the creations made by others that you can use. Maybe a negative space idea, a color palette or a certain style.
So, you wanna see some cool posters? Let’s get to it.
Black Swan
A committed dancer wins the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” only to find herself struggling to maintain her sanity.
The Shining
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.
Children of Men
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have become somehow infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
I can’t hear you, the music is too loud
Fight Club
An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more.
Les Miserables
In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory worker’s daughter. The decision changes their lives forever.
Reimagine
Argo
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980.
Nature process
Friday The 13th
A group of young adults discover a boarded up Camp Crystal Lake, where they soon encounter Jason Voorhees and his deadly intentions.
Work hard
There Will Be Blood
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Saving Private Ryan
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Tree scout
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
A skirmish in Shanghai puts archaeologist Indiana Jones, his partner Short Round and singer Willie Scott crossing paths with an Indian village desperate to reclaim a rock stolen by a secret cult beneath the catacombs of an ancient palace.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
When Dr. Henry Jones Sr. suddenly goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, eminent archaeologist Indiana Jones must follow in his father’s footsteps and stop the Nazis.
Survive at will
Buried
Paul is a U.S. truck driver working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it’s a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.
Face the music
Shark week
Shark Week is an annual, week-long TV programming block created by Tom Golden at the Discovery Channel, which features shark-based programming. Shark Week originally premiered on July 17, 1988.
Reservoir Dogs
After a simple jewelry heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.
Machine gun funk
Brave
Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.
Pan’s Labyrinth
In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Atomic cafe
Hell Ride
Two rival bikers gangs, the Victors and the Six-Six-Six’s, refuel their decades-old rivalry.
Skyfall poster
Bond’s loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. Whilst MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
New Zealand American Psycho Poster
A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
American Psycho poster
Another American Psycho
Typography
Fold
Ghostbusters poster
Three odd-ball scientists get kicked out of their cushy positions at a university in New York City where they studied the occult. They decide to set up shop in an old firehouse and become Ghostbusters, trapping pesky ghosts, spirits, haunts, and poltergeists for money.
Django Unchained Vector Poster
With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
Ratatouille
A rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous restaurant.
Re-imagined Back to the Future movie poster
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
Bicycle
I hope you enjoyed the poster design inspiration from this article. Let me know on Twitter if this poster inspiration article helped you.