I occasionally get some questions from people, wondering how to get into movie poster design. Yashwanth is a kid from Sweden, who sent over some pretty good questions so I decided to put them here.

1. What is a movie poster’s purpose?

A movie poster is the face of the film. Way more people will see the key art than will ever see the actual movie, so the job is to quickly convey the genre and tone, hint at the story, and create enough intrigue for someone to want to learn more. I can’t tell a full story. I just need to pull them in enough to choose this movie over all the other options.

2. Do you have a favorite poster you’ve created?

One of my favorites is for a movie called The Stylist. It’s a close-up of a woman’s face with blood dripping and scissors raised. You get the whole story and none of it at the same time, which is exactly what I aim for intrigue without over explaining.

3. What elements do you focus on most?

If there’s recognizable talent, that always comes first. If a filmmaker paid a lot for known actors, they expect that to drive the poster. After that, genre and story have to be obvious at a glance: horror, action, romantic comedy, whatever. Then I look for something specific to this project that sets it apart. The unique twist.

4. How do you choose colors

Genre is usually the biggest influence. A serious drama probably isn’t hot pink, and horror defaults well to black and red. But color is actually one of the last things I think about. I often design the whole thing in black-and-white first. Color is a distraction if the underlying structure isn’t solid yet.

5. Photography vs. expressive visuals?

High-quality photography is always the best starting point, even if the final result becomes more illustrative. Half of what I work on doesn’t come with good photos at all. I’m stuck with screenshots from the film, and that’s… not fun.

6. How do you handle typography and layout?

I come from an illustration background, not a typography one, so I learned type out of necessity. I usually focus most on the title treatment. Something that feels specific to the movie and hints at its genre or theme.

7. Do you follow any layout rules?

If it doesn’t work in a three-second glance, it doesn’t work. Posters are commercial art, not fine art. The biggest mistake beginners make is ignoring clarity. Your layout has to be obvious, fast, and not confusing.

8. Do you add taglines, reviews, etc.?

I often come up with a tagline myself because it’s fun, and sometimes the filmmakers use it. But ultimately it’s their decision. Actor names, billing blocks, who can appear on the poster, how big they are… all of that is legal-contract stuff and gets very specific.

9. Where do you get inspiration?

As much as possible, from the film itself. I also talk with the filmmaker, and I have a big internal library of movie posters in my head. When a new project comes in, I think about similar films and study how their posters communicate. A great movie can have terrible key art, and vice versa. But today the poster matters more than ever, since most people are browsing thumbnails, not watching trailers.

10. Biggest mistakes beginners make?

Muddy overthinking. They try to cram multiple clever ideas into one piece. Pick one strong idea and make it work.

11. How do you adapt posters to different digital formats?

Most of the films I work on aren’t getting a big theatrical release, so digital formats are the primary design, not an afterthought. Designing for digital first is the reality now. Also… center your talent. “Middle-out” design makes adapting to all the different aspect ratios much easier.

12. Are your posters influenced by your personal style or cultural background?

Yeah, I think so. Even if unintentionally. I come from punk bands, DIY stuff, abrasive, aggressive energy. That still shows up in my work. Even when I’m using photography, my pieces often have an illustrated feel.

13. What tools or techniques do you recommend for creating professional posters?

Learn to draw. Life drawing, model drawing… that’s the foundation. Programs like Photoshop are easy once you understand form, light, composition, anatomy, etc. The hard part is the art basics.

14. Any extra tips?

Do everything. Take your own photos. Make textures with ink splatters. Hand-draw title treatments. Make short films. Start a band. Build weird sculptures out of cardboard and trash. You’ll have the rest of your life to sit at a computer doing design work, and AI is getting better every day. Clients might choose mediocre AI art over paying a designer, so explore the weird human stuff that AI can’t do.

Hope that helps. Feel free to send me your ideas before you get too far. By the time you reach the final design, it’s usually too late to fix the big issues. Most problems show up right at the start with the concept. You want to catch and adjust those early so you don’t spend a lot of time polishing a bad idea.

-A