Start from a poster template, drop in the band photo, and give it real halftone, riso or photocopy texture. Export for print or for Instagram.
Open the editor with this effect
A gig poster has about two seconds to work. Someone walks past a lamppost or scrolls past a story, and in that moment they need to get the band, the date and the venue, and want to know more. The best ones do it with one strong image, very few words and a texture that feels like it came from the same scene as the music.
The band name, the date, the venue and how to get in. That is it. Support acts, ticket links and door times are secondary and can be smaller.
Decide the reading order before you design anything. Usually it is the name first, then the image, then date and venue. If people have to hunt for the date, the poster failed.
Legibility from distance is the real test. Shrink the design to the size of a thumbnail. If you can still read the name and the date, it will work on a wall.
Gig posters grew up on photocopiers, screen printers and riso machines, so the audience reads texture as a sign of where the music comes from. A clean stock photo says corporate event. A grainy, high contrast band photo says a sweaty room with a good sound system.
Match the treatment to the genre. Photocopy grit and harsh black and white suit punk and hardcore. Two colour riso suits indie, folk and electronic nights. Halftone dots suit soul, funk and jazz reissue energy.
Keep it consistent across a run. If the venue does a monthly night, using the same effect settings on every poster builds recognition fast.
Bitgrain's poster and flyer templates open as real layered documents. The type, colours and images are all editable, so a template is a layout and a type scale to start from, not a finished design.
Replace every word and every image. The structure carries over, the content should not.
The effect on the photo is part of the template too. You can keep it, tweak it or swap it for a different one without starting over.
Pick a poster or flyer template from the links on this page and open it in the studio.
Swap in the band photo, then apply a print effect to it. Riso, halftone, dither and photocopy grain all run on the photo itself.
Rewrite the band name, date and venue. Check the size by zooming out until the poster is about the size of a phone thumbnail.
Export a PDF or a full size PNG for print, and a square or story sized version for social.
A3 and A2 are common for walls and venue boards, with A4 or US Letter for handouts. Make a square and a story sized version too, since most people will see it on social first.
Yes. Export a PDF or a full resolution PNG on Pro. The free tier exports at web resolution with a small watermark, which is fine for drafts and social posts.
No. The templates are layouts made by a designer, and every effect is a classical image processing algorithm that runs in your browser.
Yes. Save the effect settings and reuse them on every poster. The same settings always give the same look, so the series stays consistent.