StretchLearn Course

Design Posters That Stop People From Across the Room

The working poster pipeline - format, grid, focal hierarchy, type scale, and color - taught through three finished, print-ready posters.

Preview Curriculum Back to Catalog

Beginner10 hrSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

A poster is the hardest format in graphic design to fake: there is one surface, no scrolling, no second page, and it has to win attention at distance and reward a closer look. This course teaches the working poster pipeline - choosing a format and grid, building a single deliberate focal point, setting a type scale that creates instant hierarchy, driving a poster with a limited color system, and exporting correctly for an offset printer or a backlit screen. By the end you will have designed three finished posters in distinct directions - typographic, image-led, and grid-system - each delivered as a print-ready PDF and a screen-optimized export.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Choose a poster format, resolution, and bleed correctly for both large-format print and digital display

Compose a poster on a working grid using focal hierarchy, the rule of thirds, and intentional negative space

Build a clear three-level type hierarchy with a deliberate type scale, pairing, and tracking

Drive a poster with a limited color system using a chosen harmony and tested contrast for legibility

Apply a recognizable poster approach - Swiss/International Typographic, image-led, or expressive type - on purpose

Export a print-ready CMYK PDF with bleed and a separate sRGB screen file, and present the work in a mockup

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: What a Poster Has to Do: Format, Distance, and the Single Idea

Start with the job a poster actually performs. Learn the formats, the two-distance test, and why one idea beats five.

3 lessons

The Poster as a Format: One Surface, Two DistancesContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

Formats, Sizes, and Resolution for Print and ScreenContent · 50 min

LMS Access

From Brief to a Single IdeaContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Composition: Grids, Hierarchy, and Negative Space

Build the structure under the surface. Learn the grid, focal hierarchy, balance, and the deliberate use of empty space.

3 lessons

The Grid: Margins, Columns, and a BaselineContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Focal Point and Visual HierarchyContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Balance, the Rule of Thirds, and Negative SpaceContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Type and Color: The Poster's Voice

Make the poster speak. Learn type hierarchy and pairing, a deliberate type scale, and color systems that read at distance.

3 lessons

Type Hierarchy, Scale, and PairingContent · 55 min

LMS Access

Color Systems, Harmony, and ContrastContent · 55 min

LMS Access

Image and Illustration: Integrating Visuals With TypeContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Style, Production, and Delivery

Make stylistic choices on purpose and ship the work - apply a recognizable approach, then export for print and screen.

3 lessons

Poster Styles and Design Movements to Borrow FromContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Print Production: Bleed, CMYK, and Press-Ready FilesContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Digital Export, Mockups, and PresentationContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

poster designvisual hierarchytypographygrid systemscompositioncolor theoryprint productionSwiss design