What Makes an Effective Movie Poster Design?

An effective movie poster design is made best with elements of design such as composition, color, alignment, and typography. Using such techniques, the poster should perform its purpose and get the message across that the audience should check out the movie the poster is on.

The poster for "The Truman Show" shows an amazing example of gestalt, creating Truman's face using actual shots of the character's life. The decision to approach the design with this idea gets the movie's theme of an existential crisis across(using multiple parts of Truman's life to make him, though those very moments were all scripted). Bright colors are used, matching Truman's smiling expression. Other elements like typography is aligned to the center to match that the main character's face is the focus of attention for this poster. Pushing the main character's presence further, 'TRUMAN' is in large white letters, contrasting the rest of the title. The overall composition comes together very well.

The poster for "Parasite" is also an example of an effective movie poster. First, the colors are very cold and not colorful in general, appropriately creating a sense of unease(it is a movie classified in the thriller genre). All text seems to be aligned to the middle of the poster, which is rather common for movie posters. As for composition, the people used for this poster are positioned meaningfully. Specific characters stand still and rigid while other characters are laying down in a more relaxed way. The bars blocking their eyes also correspond to these poses, being black and white. All of the faces are facing the viewer of the poster, yet the eyes are obscured, which also stays on the unsettling theme.