How the New Lego Movie is using Posters for Promotion – and How You Can Too!
The Lego Batman movie is due for release in early 2017 and as you would expect, there are posters and promotional tools galore to set the wheels in motion to make this animated movie a success.
In fact, the movie promoters have released over 18 promotional posters for the movie and all of them are sure to be a hit with movie fans and graphic designers alike.
Poster campaigns can be incredibly effective, especially when you get the design and distribution right. But what lessons can we learn from the set of the Lego Batman movie posters?
We took a look to find out…
#1 Fantastic use of colour
The Lego Batman movie is a fun, animated film suitable for all the family. It is high energy with appropriate humour – and that is exactly how you can describe the poster campaign too.
Take a look at how the Batman posters use colour to convey a message but also note how they use a palette of colour that you would associate with Batman the character, and textures you would associate with Lego.
In other words, the colours and textures etc. link with the brand, as you would expect.
For your brand, you would need to replicate this. What colours do you use in your logo and across your brand ? What suits your brand and how would you convey this on a poster?
#2 Typography
Another thing you may notice is how the Batman movie posters use typography.
They don’t use one design but instead, like colours, they have a palette of two or three fonts that they use throughout the poster. But again, these font styles are in keeping with the brand, as you would expect.
This conveys a message too, but also helps with recognition with the audience and fans of the franchise. Your posters can do the same.
Brands who have marketing plans and promotional campaigns will have a prescribed set of colours and fonts – and you need to do the same.
Have a main font, the one that is easy to read and conveys the message vis text that you want people to read. Have another two or three texts that you use sparingly and interchangeably across your poster campaign.
This doesn’t mean cramming all four chosen fonts into one poster. It means using them to support the main font or the idea contained in the poster. They are the supporting actors, not the main character.
#3 A visual hierarchy
The right parts of the poster should grab attention first but this hierarchy is often forgotten when designing a poster. It is easy to assume that the whole poster needs to grab attention but by trying to do so, often fails miserably.
The best way to create an attention-grabbing poster, is to rank the information in order of priority. What is it that you want people to see first?
With this poster from the movie, the iconic logo of Batman is instantly recognisable – the first piece of information – but the second piece of information is the obvious and iconic shape of Lego pieces. Instantly, you know what this poster is about – and there isn’t even any text. Could you create a poster and poster displays that are as powerful and recognisable?
#4 Use of white or negative space
Browse through the photos and you will notice how each poster is constructed, and the use of white or negative space.
This means that the whole poster is not filled with information but there is empty or blank space that helps the eye to make sense of the information. Leave out white space, and your poster will be too chaotic.
In the Batman sequence of posters, the designers have chosen to use the white space as a defining border. This helps to focus the eye in the centre of the poster, important in some of the designs there is a lot of detail.
#5 Less is sometimes more
Faced with a large blank sheet of paper, it is tempting to assume that everything needs to be have a place.
This could be your logo, the strapline, the poster title, the product picture, your phone number, your email address, your website…
There may be times when all this information is necessary but, there are also times when less is more.
For an advertising campaign, you may need to trust in psychology and that with less clutter and over-burdening the customer with information, they can work things out for themselves.
Why not be brave and use one dominant image with one word…?
These are just five things that we picked up from the poster for the upcoming Lego Batman movie. What do you like about the posters?
Additional Resource:-