If you’re reading this, you have either already decided that you are going to get a poster for someone you care about, or, you are questioning whether or not a poster is a good idea for a gift.
To answer the second question in a simple manner, it depends on the context. Is a poster a good gift idea for a passionate friend who has just moved into their new apartment or house? Yes, absolutely!
Is a poster a good gift idea as the main offering for your partner’s 40th birthday? Probably not, you might want to consider something with a bit more “wow factor”.
With that question answered, let’s discuss what you need to think about to buy the perfect poster.
First: Are you aware of something that you know for a fact that they are interested in?
This may seem obvious, but is often overlooked. You may have been to the recipient’s apartment or house and seen an empty wall and thought to yourself: A poster would look great there! You may even have the perfect poster for that wall in your mind, but at the end of the day, if the recipient isn’t interested in bridges, a 50x70cm fine-art print of the Viaduc du Millau, as beautiful to behold as it may be, is going to end up on the floor picking up dust in the attic.
You need to know what they are interested in. Do they like sports? If so, great! Which sports do they like? Football and Formula 1, great! That is a good start.
If you want your gift to end up on the wall, make sure it matches the recipient’s tastes and passions.
Second: Have a rough idea of where it is going to go
This is more difficult than the first one, because you won’t necessarily have been to the apartment or house of the person you intend on giving a poster to. However, if the lucky individual you have chosen to offer this gift to has recently moved into a new place, it isn’t unreasonable to assume that most of the walls will be free of any decoration.
If you have been to their place though, and you know where it could fit, then great. Make note of it in your mind and keep this in mind because you will need to be able to visualize it later on.
Note that knowing roughly where the poster is going to go will help you when it comes to choosing the right poster size. But we will get to that later.
Note that if you have absolutely no idea where they can put the poster, it is not the end of the world and should not turn you off from buying one. At the end of the day, if they love the design and paper quality, and if it isn’t outrageously big that they can actually put it somewhere, then they will make space for it. So don’t put too much pressure on yourself on this front.
Third: Choosing the right design
There is a good reason why this is in third place, because only when you know what the chosen individual is passionate about and the type of environment the poster will be put it can you choose the perfect design for them. Let me explain:
Say you want to buy a poster for someone who lives in a really old-school farm house, and all of the furniture within the house is made of traditional wood, with mainly dark colours; you probably want to avoid buying a poster of a futuristic luxury concept car with chrome finishes and sharp angles. It simply won’t match the environment, and will get put straight into “storage” to collect some dust. So make sure you know your environment and the passions of the recipient before choosing the design.
Think about the colours of the room and the type of furniture already in that room or even in the house overall. If it is a modern house, then you can consider modern designs, if the walls are white, then you are pretty much free to go with any colour you want, but if they are not, you suddenly become a little more restricted. Someone who has painted their walls navy blue might be less inclined to hang up a dark purple poster than someone whose walls are white or beige (are beige walls still a thing?).
At GOAT Prints, we have different types of designs available in our range of motorsport posters that can fit almost any home. For the quirky, funny, “life loving” person who lives in a relatively modern home (assuming here that they are a fan of Formula 1), you could consider the Daniel Ricciardo “Lick the stamp and send it” poster. The bold colours will stand out beautifully on a white wall and definitely attract the attention of visitors. It will lighten the room and give it a sense of “a fun place to be”.
For those living in more traditional dwellings, you could consider the Francois Cevert “Relentlessly pushing” poster. Cevert being a French driver from the 1970s, the poster has a more “old-school” feel to it and the colours used are more in line with the times of the driver himself. This would no doubt be a much better fit for someone living in a mid-20th century cottage, for instance.
Key points to keep in mind when choosing the design:
- Choose a topic/focus-point they love.
- Motorsport? Cool.
- Any particular driver or personality? Great.
- More modern looking design or old-school?
- Where is it going to go? What type of environment will it sit in?
- The effect it has on you when you look at it
- Fun – Happy – Nostalgic – Thought provoking – Etc
Once you have made your mind up on all that, you should be in a position to find the perfect design. Which leads you to the next point. Sizing.
Fourth: Sizing
This comes back to point 2 (Where is it going to go?). If you know where the poster is likely to be put, then you will be able to visualise in your mind what would be an adequate size for the poster you are purchasing.
However, if you don’t know where the poster is going to go, then it is a bit more difficult, and the best thing you can do in these circumstances is play it safe.
Play it safe does not mean go with the smallest size available, which is usually 20x30cm (close to A4 size). Often A4 can appear a little underwhelming if put on a large wall with lots of empty space around it.
Playing it safe means choosing one of the “medium” options, which are often 30x40cm or 50x70cm (50x70 is the international standard for poster sizing by the way, but even that is quite big).
With either of these sizes, you are covering most of the angles of potential disappointment because:
- If the poster is put on a large wall with a lot of blank space around it, the poster will not look ridiculous.
- The size is not outrageously big that even in a small room space cannot be found.
With the sizing chosen, you are almost done, the only thing you need to think of now is paper quality.
Fifth: Paper quality
There are a lot of different paper types out on the market, and it is actually quite rare for a poster print store to offer different paper qualities, which is why you need to know what you are looking for.
At GOAT Prints, we commit to providing museum quality paper on all of our prints. What does this mean? It means that all of our prints are delivered at 200gsm, which gives the paper a nice weighted feel and thickness to it that is instantly recognisable as a quality product.
On top of that, our fine art prints do not contain any acids, which means that they age much better than standard paper products that often become yellow as time goes by. GOAT Prints will only provide the highest quality posters available that will last a lifetime.
When looking for a good paper quality, make sure you look out for:
- Paper type (make sure it is actually paper, and not some kind of PVC or plastic).
- Paper weight (you want it to have some thickness and weight, but not too much. Anything between 180 and 230gsm is the sweet spot).
So that’s it, you’re all set. Let us know if you have any questions or need any further guidance on choosing the perfect poster as a gift, we will be happy to help you out where we can.
Good luck, and happy browsing.