poster design app for pc

5 best poster and banner design software [2021 Guide]

Tashreef Shareef is a software developer turned tech writer. He discovered his interest in technology after reading a tech magazine accidentally. Now he writes about everything tech from Windows to iOS and streaming services... Read more

Looking for the best poster making app for PC for you to create a poster design?
Our list will present you with the best options on the market regardless of the complexity of your project.
We've included entries from Adobe, Canva, CorelDRAW, and others.
For more details on each of these poster design software, continue reading below.

Poster templates

The use of intriguing visuals is one sure way to make potential customers click on ads.

Now, the ads can be digital or offline (print ads), but having a stunning poster makes all the difference in the world for your clients.

If you are a graphic designer who is looking for the best tools to create posters, look no further.

We have gathered the best software for creating posters, banners, wall murals, and signs that are not only easy to use but also light on your pocket.

Which is the best software to make posters?

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator excels when it comes to creating vector illustrations. It has been an industry standard for a long time and offers a quality set of tools to the users.

As part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, Illustrator can be used as more than just an illustration tool.

It's a versatile tool that can serve for logo creation, icons for websites and mobile apps as well as digital ad banners and flyers.

The Illustrator comes with all the tools you need to create a stunning flyer including shape tools, text tools for adding stunning typography, freehand drawing tool to turn imported photos into artwork, and more.

Adobe Illustrator

Team up with the industry-leading illustration tool and create breathtaking banners and posters!

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is the industry standard when it comes to image manipulation software, and the latest version of Photoshop comes with even more features.

Although the non-linear editing layout may not be a thing for everyone, Photoshop is undoubtedly among the best tools to create any graphics content including flyers and banners.

For beginners, Photoshop offers video tutorials to get started. To create a flyer, get started with creating a new file after specifying the dimension.

Later add texture and start customizing by adding images and text as per your need.

The flyers can be output in multiple formats including PNG and PDF. You can also move it to Adobe Illustrator for more enhancements.

Photoshop is not the most user-friendly image editor; then again the most user-friendly tools aren't the most powerful either.

Apart from creating a flyer, Photoshop can be used to create and enhance photos, illustrations, and create graphics for web designs and mobile apps.

Photoshop

Harness the creative powers of the most cherished image editor in the world and create spectacular banners and posters for your business to grow into!

Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark has appeared in our previous graphic designing guides and makes an appearance here as well.

It is a free online tool from Adobe that lets you create posters, banners, and short creative videos for free.

There is a premium plan that comes with other Adobe editing software, but for a free version, it does offer a decent set of tools to get you started.

Adobe Spark offers all kinds of graphic designing templates from Facebook cover template to YouTube banner and from invitation templates to poster design templates.

It is an online tool and requires registration. To create a poster, you can begin with selecting the poster template, and you can select the variation inside the editor from the right-side pane.

Customization options offered by Adobe Spark include the ability to add a brand logo, photo, icon and text elements.

There is a color option if you want to experiment and the layout option lets you customize the border and layout designs.

The resize tab includes shortcuts to different sizes if you want to change the form factor from poster to something else like the A5 sheet or letter size.

Adobe Spark

Create posters, banners, videos, and more rich content to captivate your audience and increase brand awareness!

Canva

If you don't want to install editing software to create flyers on your PC, online image manipulation tools like Canva offer enough features to get you started.

Canva is a premium tool but also offers a free trial. Whether you want to create a poster or a wedding invitation, Canva has tons of built-in templates with fully customizable layouts on offer.

Canva can also print posters and wedding invitations for you and deliver them to your doorsteps.

To use Canva one needs to register first which is free. Once the template is selected, you can further customize the template by adding elements like images, grids, frames, shapes, and illustrations, etc.

The text tool offers an excellent collection of fonts while the background tab lets you change the color, texture, and default color palette.

The flyers can be downloaded to your computer in multiple formats including PDF and PNG.

⇒ Get Canva

CorelDRAW

CorelDRAW is often overshadowed by the industry leader Adobe Suite when it comes to vector graphic designing solutions.

However, CorelDRAW has managed to hold its own for a long time, and now the new version of the suite is available for the users.

CorelDRAW offers a no-nonsense toolset focused on better workflow. The tool offers a tailor-made user interface along with excellent customization options.

For poster designing, CorelDRAW offers an excellent set of tools to create graphics, illustration, layout, photo editing, and font management.

It also comes with the healing clone tool, knife tool, web graphics tools, and support for multiple monitors along with 4K resolution and stylus support.

You can create a custom color palette for your designs, and the creative vectors tools let you refine your vectors using smear, Twirl, Attract and Repel tools.

There is a built-in Project Timer feature that enables you to keep a tab on hours spent on each project which is useful for freelancers.

⇒ Get CorelDRAW

Whether you want to create a poster for your college or office event or your client and personal brand promotion, knowing what poster creating software to use is important.

We have made things a little easier for you with this guide by listing the best software to create a poster with its pros and cons listed.

Do let us know your pick in the comments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which software is best for poster design?

Adobe Illustrator is a long-established leader in the industry of graphic vector design due to the effortless handling of complex projects and easy learning materials.
What is a digital poster?

Digital posters can be both static and in motion, that being the only difference compared to a normal poster.
What is the best free poster design software?

We recommend GIMP as the best free open-source option available on the market due to the features it has and also the number of guides available.