Tips for Designing good gig posters + DARTZ NZ/AUS Tour announcements
Tips for Designing good gig posters + DARTZ NZ/AUS Tour announcements
I share some new DARTZ posters, and give some tips to what makes an effective poster
The DARTZ train keeps on chugging! In the past week, we have announced two big tours. Firstly, we are heading back to Aus in November for a quick three-show tour in Brisbane, Syndey, and Melbourne, and then we are bringing our pals Dune Rats over to NZ for two big co-headline shows in Auckland and Wellington.
We just finished a huge three-week tour of Australia with Dune Rats, and I can honestly say they are some of the nicest dudes I have ever met. They were super supportive, watched our sets regularly, and had us over for, not one, but two BBQs. As a fan of the band since my early 20’s it was rad to see they’re just super lovely guys who love playing music and hanging out, the music scene can sometimes attract the worst types of personalities, so this was both a relief and a treat.
Their live show is also incredible. It’s high-paced, with crowds going crazy, great banter and bits - we were taking notes the whole time. I’m really excited to bring them over to NZ for the first time, I genuinely think these shows will be raucous, fun, and massive!
Aus Tickets
Auckland Tickets
Wellington Tickets
I had a lot of fun designing these posters, although both were whipped up in the middle of that three-week tour, which was a bit stressful. The Aus poster (see below) was a pretty simple design, a dude surfing a cigarette, the NZ one took a whole day to design as I stopped-started at least three different ideas.
I wanted to do a mad-max type of idea, and decided that each band mad-maxing and racing two iconic red cars from each of our respective countries (The big red car from the Wiggles for Dune Rats, and the ‘Make it Click’ car for us) was a pretty crack up idea. A small detail in the image is a wee beer swap, with us drinking a XXXX Gold and Dune Rats having a box of Lion Brown.
I’ve been asked a few times by new bands starting out for tips on designing gig posters, so below I delve into three key things to consider when coming up with a gig poster!
Three simple tips for creating an effective gig poster:
Accurately represent your band/sound
In our current attention economy, you have seconds to grab someone’s eyes and pique their interest, So a to-the-point focal image is important. So many bands starting out will just have a poster of the individual/group looking moody or sullen, in an abandoned quarry or an alleyway near some graffiti - that doesn’t tell me anything. If you are a live, energetic band, then get some good gig photos of your band doing just that, maybe with an audience going a bit nuts, so someone who glances it might think, “Hey, that looks like a good time, that’s my kinda vibe”. If you play chill, acoustic music, show it, so someone who loves a sway in a chill crowd nursing one glass of white wine for a whole night is roped in.
With DARTZ our posters are illustrated, which is also a good tool if it suits your brand, ours usually incorporate a bit of humor as that’s a part of our schtick, and it’s a great way to get people to stop, but what works for DARTZ doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.
Clear, legible text that gets to the point
Look, I know dafont.com has a lot of cool fonts with questionable usage rights, and if you are an indie band there are some cool curves and bends that feel very in vogue at the moment. But there are two problems here, the first is that those cool fonts can sometimes be hard to read at first glance/from a distance, and secondly, there’s a high chance a bunch of other bands are using the exact same font (I’ve seen on font on soooo many NZ posters for a specific genre recently).
keep the details specific, don’t overload the poster with text, hit us with the band/s name, where and when you are playing, and where to cop tickets. That’s all a poster really needs to convey to sell a show effectively, you don’t need pull quotes from reviews (this is a gig, not an A24 movie) and you certainly don’t need to refer to yourself as “an exciting new _____ Band!” The goal is to get eyes on you, then wow them, and then word of mouth will boast about how genre-defining you are.
Finally, and most importantly: If graphic design isn’t your passion, hire someone.
I know this is rich coming from me, DARTZ has a cartoonist in the band, we are lucky. But if nobody in your band is a cartoonist or accomplished graphic designer then find one, I guarantee you it’s worth the investment. If you are a student band that’s tight on cash, find a student graphic designer and chuck em’ a little bit of a dosh and some beers - make these connections early on. If you genuinely want to take your music seriously, then unfortunately you have to kinda treat it like a business and market it well. The art is a collaborative field, go collaborate!
The simple fact is that if your poster looks cheap/bad then people who see it may assume that’s what the gig will be like. The poster is a core part of selling who you are and what the gig will be like, so it’s worth investing the time and $$ to get it perfect each time.
Danz