Large scale ideas

The final format of your materials should be chosen to best communicate the message you want to share. However, considering different formats, and how others have used them, can trigger ideas for promoting your own business. With this in mind, I plan to look at a range of formats which I hope will spark new marketing and content ideas and get you thinking about how your audience interacts with your materials.

So many businesses promote their products and services using materials of a standard format and scale. Standard formats, like A4 and A5, are very cost-effective. But they are also available in much larger sizes, which aren’t used nearly as often. So what might happen if we thought a little differently? What if we created something at a different scale?

I get sent a lot of print samples, and most of the time they are of a standard scale. Just occasionally, however, someone sends me something larger. And because it’s unusual, it stands out.

The only way to keep a really lovely large-format item is to put it on the wall. Get it right, therefore, and it’s going to be in someone’s line of vision for a long time to come.

Large formats are fantastic for creating impact. But you don’t need to forgo information in the process. The back of a poster is a great place to put information about your business or event. So why not double the value by making it something which works both ways?

For distribution, either fold (which is great for creating natural divisions for your content, as well as keeping postage costs down) or, if budget allows, roll and pop in a poster tube. Rolling will make sure your mailing arrives in really good condition, ready to go on the wall. And who wouldn’t be intrigued by a poster tube arriving with the postman?

Here are just two large scale ideas:

An annual arts festival might produce a large-scale poster. All the individual events could be listed on one side, creating an events diary for the festival. On the other, an ‘arty’ poster design could be used to both promote the festival, and commemorate it once that year’s festival has ended.

A photographer might send a large, rolled print of one of their images to potential clients. The unusual scale and format would be bound to attract attention. The addition of simple contact information, and perhaps a sentence or two about how the photograph was taken, would turn this into a very distinctive alternative to a business card or flyer.