FINALLY the big gig is booked, you and all the bands are ready to play, but before you start spamming everyone on facebook with a mass invite to your event, you’ll need to enlist the skills of a gifted graphic artist to design an eye-catching show flyer to get the word out. Being an independent musician, you might not be able to afford one (at least not for EVERY show, especially if you’re trying to establish a biweekly residency at Dickhole-Snot Pub & Billiards), so you might end up designing your own. Thanks to the advent of things like Photoshop and Torrents, anyone can now become a graphic designer in minutes. To get you started, below are a few premium examples of quality flyermanship.
This first one most notably utilizes a technique called “bias positioning.” It’s a pretty common theme to roll with, and it involves not printing all (or any) of the text in a straight line. Observe:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
It’s okay if the other bands didn’t respond to your myspace or friendster messages and get back to you with a hi-res version of their logo, you can make your own! If you’re on a time crunch, just make sure to use Impact typeface as it is one of the more easily recognized typefaces.
This next one is from a show put on by Bands4Bands Entertainment, a show promotions group based in the Denver area that are renowned for their groundbreaking and edgy flyer designs:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The most important thing you’ll need to know about this show is that it is a Reggae fest, so sticking with the Jamaican color scheme was a great move. This show had several sponsors, so it is essential to draw attention to them via logos plastered across the top, more so than it is essential to draw attention to anyone on the lineup besides Yvad. Bands “Also appearing” should always be listed above the headlining act, it makes them feel a little more special since a translucent picture of the headliner will take up 33% of the total space, and there’s a lot of info to cram on there. Also as a general design rule: The more fonts used, the better.
Here’s one that makes good use of perspective:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
If the background image you’re using is too small, DON’T DISMAY! You can easily fill space without having to start over or adjust anything, just copy-paste small sections of it as needed. Outer Glow is a great Photoshop technique to spice up those boring, unreadable death metal logos and make them even more unreadable. Again you will notice the use of the Impact typeface, and in a BOLD, EYE-CATCHING format. If the place you’re playing is a pub, better make “Pub” the most prominent word on the flyer, big enough so you can fit the street address on just one side of the U. And to make your flyer stand out more than the show happening across the street that night, better transform the text so it’s read more at an angle. The name of the tour isn’t particularly important so it doesn’t matter where you position this, and if part of it gets cut off or bleeds into the margin that’s perfectly OK.
This next one is pretty straightforward, free of clutter but providing all requisite information:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
These would be easy to print on the cheap since it’s in black and white, but you might get charged a little bit extra since (what I’m assuming is) the headliner’s logo still is in colour. Better print these at home using your mom’s InkJet printer. Don’t worry about margins either, they aren’t important. If these start to come out all faded after you’ve printed 200 or so (don’t worry you can still hand them out this way), that’s because you’re low on ink and your mom might yell at you for using it up. She’s not even gonna come to your show to support the scene so you can tell her to fuck right off.
This last one is one of the best flyers I’ve ever come across, of course it was a for a Bands4Bands show. This would be a good model to work with if you really want to blow people away with your first show flyer:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Lots of great things to note about this piece. Not just a flyer, but a true work of art.
- No less than 13 typefaces used
- Pictures of the pre-sale tickets, so you know they exist
- Original flyer-exclusive logo designs for all support acts using unique zany fonts
- Important note about postponement of car show
- Corporate sponsors with logos of varying size
If you’ve never heard of the Gothic, and I didn’t just give it away, would you know where this show is? This is a neat little technique called “Mystery Clutter” when it’s hard to tell apart different kinds of logos. Really great way to bring in new faces to your shows if they can figure out Gothic is a venue and not the name of a sponsor.
Good luck on your flyer, and stay tuned for a post on award-winning flyering techniques!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
