Celebrate our planet and encourage others to conserve and protect with these 10 Earth Day poster ideas. Customize any design for free!
Since its inception, Earth Day has become a global phenomenon—and an important annual reminder to do our part to take care of our precious planet.
If your business, organization, or club is looking to inspire others to conserve and restore Mother Nature, check out these 10 creative Earth Day poster ideas.
What Is Earth Day & Why Do We Celebrate It?
Earth Day is a holiday celebrated by over one billion people worldwide every year. It was first established in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson in response to a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.
The goal of Earth Day is to raise awareness about the importance of protecting our planet and taking action to preserve the environment. Since its inception, Earth Day has led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and various environmental laws, making it the world’s largest secular holiday focused on environmental conservation and sustainable living.
What Types of Events Need Earth Day Posters?
Our daily lives are all impacted by this planet we call home, which means that everyone has something to celebrate on Earth Day.
Here are just a few examples of events that could benefit from an eye-catching Earth Day poster design (or two):
- Online or in-store sales
- K–12 school programs
- University lecture series
- Expert panels
- Annual events
- Outdoor festivals
- Trade shows
- Fundraising galas
- Volunteer drives
- Fun runs
- Environmental clean-ups
- Benefit concerts
- Green planet rallies and marches
- Fossil fuels awareness event
- Green earth parade
- Pollution research project
As long as you’re bringing people together to take action for planet Earth, then you could certainly use an Earth Day poster.
10 Creative Earth Day Poster Ideas with Free Templates
Spread the word about your upcoming event with one of these 10 Earth Day poster ideas.
Some of them directly celebrate the holiday, while others give a subtle nod to the planet. Some are traditional print posters, while others would be a perfect Facebook post, Instagram post, etc—anything social media-related.
Whatever you need, there’s a picture-perfect design for any Earth Day campaign.
To make any of these compelling designs your own, simply click on the link to customize it in Shutterstock Create.
1. Beautiful Mountains
With its stunning photo of a mountainside lake, this poster celebrates the natural beauty all around us. As is, the template would be perfect to market an upcoming Earth Day lecture or public speaking event.
Of course, you could also customize the text to make the poster work for anything.
2. Earthy Sale Announcement
The natural materials, lush plant life, and calming greens all give a clear nod to Mother Nature—a great choice for any marketing campaign taking place around Earth Day.
Pro tip: To reformat this social-friendly design into a traditional print poster, try Create’s Smart Resizer tool.
3. Motivational Quote Poster
Few things inspire the soul like a wide-open, starlit sky!
Print this motivational quote poster and hang it on your wall at home, or add some text at the bottom to advertise your Earth Day event to the public.
4. Earth Day Bike-a-Thon
Lots of Earth Day poster ideas revolve around gorgeous photos of nature (and understandably so!), but this poster is a great example of a successful design that doesn’t rely on photography.
A minimalist illustration of the earth—with bikes pedaling around—forms the perfect backdrop for a bike-a-thon designed to raise funds and awareness for the planet.
Did you know that if you design your poster in Create, you can insert tons of graphics like these for free?
5. Lecture Poster
This Earth Day poster design strays away from the common greens and blues and, instead, embraces the soft purples of lavender flowers.
With a title and contact information at the bottom, this template is tailor-made for a lecture series or other academic event—just add the time, date, and location.
6. A Message from Mother Earth
This horizontal poster (or slide deck presentation, if you prefer) grabs attention by giving Mother Earth a voice.
The flat illustration with bright, attention-grabbing colors further seals the deal.
7. Benefit Sale
Hosting a benefit sale to further your environmental impact? Then customize this template to fit. A funky font and retro-inspired color palette keeps this poster 100% on trend.
To recreate the look on your own (either with a blank canvas or any other poster template), try Create’s Background Remover tool.
8. Stay Green
Use this bright and friendly template to create a print poster or flyer for your “go green” event, or tailor the design to use as a cover for an “Earth Day tips and tricks” series via Instagram Stories.
Since you can customize every element of any template, it’s easy to create the design you need.
9. Brand Poster
With its rich greens and lush forest photography, this poster is ideal for Earth Day and versatile enough for any marketing message—sales, product announcements, event invitations, you name it.
Clipping a nature photo into your logo or wordmark is a fantastic way to support Earth Day (similar to how many brands incorporate rainbow flags to celebrate pride).
In Create, you can fill any text or shape with an image by selecting it and then clicking Fill with image from the top menu.
10. Donation Request
The vibrant blue of this Earth Day poster design certainly catches your eye—which is exactly what you need when you’re asking for money.
Raise funds for a worthy cause by customizing this poster with your own text and imagery.
5 Quick Tips for a Great Earth Day Poster Design
Elevate your favorite poster ideas by following these simple best practices. . . .
1. Find the Perfect Image
For any poster, capturing attention starts with the imagery. Whether you decide to go with a beautiful photo or a quirky illustration, make sure you choose carefully.
If you don’t have your own images, you can choose from Shutterstock’s library when you customize your poster in Create.
Interested in a GIF instead? Then give Mother Nature some movement by downloading this free Earth Day GIF bundle! Or take any poster template and use the Animate tool to add a snazzy sense of motion—perfect for any social media post.
2. Pick a Theme
There are hundreds of actions we could be taking to help protect our planet and promote sustainable living. And cramming too much into a single poster will likely lead to info overload.
Make your poster more effective by choosing one specific theme—such as water conservation, animal protection, or recycled materials. Take it one step further by making sure your call-to-action is crystal-clear—whether that’s donating, attending an event, etc.
3. Evoke Emotion with Color
The best poster ideas draw from the beauty of nature—especially in terms of color palette. Keep your poster feeling on theme by choosing colors that evoke life, nature, and growth.
Such as:
Pro tip: If you’re designing in Create, you can use our Color Palette Generator to automatically pull colors from any photo. Grab your favorite nature photo and instantly get the colors.
4. Set Up for Print Success
The vast majority of posters contain edge-to-edge color or imagery, meaning there are no white margins around the design.
Called “full bleed,” this effect isn’t hard to do, but it does require a couple extra steps during the design phase.
Here’s how to set your file up for full-bleed printing in Create:
- Right before exporting, click the Gear icon in the lower-left.
- Toggle on the setting for Show bleed marks.
- Expand all background imagery, shapes, and color to fill the newly enlarged canvas.
- Export your file as a Print PDF. (Other file types will not include the bleed.)
5. Be Earth-Friendly from Start to Finish
To be effective, all marketing messages have to be backed up by real action. This is especially critical around environmental issues, as consumers are understandably skeptical of greenwashing.
For your Earth Day poster design, that means finding the most eco-friendly means of printing and distributing.
Try to:
- Use environmentally friendly recycled paper in a standard paper size (to avoid wasted edges).
- Print with soy-based inks, which emit fewer pollutants.
- Order poster prints from a local shop.
- Distribute posters on foot or bike to reduce vehicle emissions.
- Print only the minimum amount required.
To stay authentic, check out a few other ways for brands to make a genuine impact on Earth Day.
Ready to Customize the Perfect Earth Day Poster?
It’s super easy to get started! Browse Create’s poster templates or do a quick search for “earth” or “planet.”
Then click on any Earth Day poster design to make it your own and download your file for free.
Create a Positive Impact
Looking for a few more ideas and inspiration for Earth Day? Make these posts your next read:
License this cover image via Martyshova Maria.
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