Say It Loud and Proud: Here’s the Inspo You Need to Design Your Pride Gear

Inspiration and tips to get you started.

Every year Pride is celebrated across the globe, bringing together members of the LGBTQI+ community, family, friends, and allies to continue the good fight of inclusivity, unity, and self-expression. This year, show pride in your authenticity and strut the streets with swag that shows how amazing you genuinely are — spreading love and leaving a trail of glitter behind. Quick! Assemble the craft party and let’s get started:

Poster pride

There are one million (okay, maybe not quite) ways to make a poster in Creative Cloud. Whether you’re an expert or trying to channel your inner creative, no matter how you choose to express your art, these tips can help guide you to create something amazing:

1. Focus on visuals

There is no better way to make a statement than visuals. This doesn’t mean your poster has to have an image. Using typography and whitespace can have the same effect when done correctly. Basic design principles can help create visual impact from a bold font, brilliant colors, or a striking image. Choose one design element to be the main focus of your poster and really let that shine. Start with an image or create your own illustration in Adobe Illustrator that conveys the message of your design. Customize by adding color (every color will do), then bring into Adobe Photoshop and play around with shapes or add filter effects to make the image stand out.

“Band Together: Pride” – by Viet Triet Nguyen.

2. Legibility is key

If people can’t tell what you’re saying, what are you really saying? Make sure everyone in the crowd can read you loud and proud by choosing a font that is clear and spaced appropriately. Use the classic Gilbert font or choose something more decorative or script from Adobe Typekit. If you have more to say that might not fit on a poster, consider inviting people to follow a social media page or visit a website as a way to get more information across without convoluting your message.

Pride T-shirts by Mirjam Moss and Carolin Schulze.

3. Establish hierarchy

Design hierarchy means that when there are multiple elements in a design, you are giving the most visual weight to your most important message. This can be achieved in a variety of ways — size manipulation, bolder fonts, having the message placed physically higher than other pieces of information, or using shapes to frame the focal point. All of these strategies are simple in Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop and Illustrator.

“What is Pride?” by Carmen Rodriguez Lo.

A great tool to get your creative juices flowing is the endless font inspiration available through Adobe Typekit. One of our favorite fonts is the Gilbert font. Created in honor of Gilbert Baker, the creator of the iconic rainbow flag, the Gilbert font was designed to boldly live on banners and posters for rallies and protests. Not only that, but you can also download it for free in classic black or as a color font.

Color fonts give you the ability to use colors, gradients, and even patterns as part of your font. You can download a pre-existing one, like the Gilbert font, or you can create your own.

Not sure where to start? Try Adobe Spark. Spark comes loaded with templates and inspiration to get you started. Start with our Diversity is beautiful template, then upload your own images and play around with the text. In one tap, size your design for any social network. There’s more remixable Pride templates available on Spark.

If you’re still wondering what to say on your poster, get inspired by Pride slogans from across the world:

Swag, swag, and more swag

If your company is participating in a float at the pride parade or if you’re personally on a mission to outfit all of your friends with as much swag as possible, Creative Cloud has the tools you need to make it happen. Using the same design principles for creating your poster, you can add a simple image or phrase to a number of items that will be the life of all the pride parties. May we humbly suggest a neon fanny pack? Enamel pins? Baseball cap? Stickers? Fake tattoos? Whatever your swag of choice, make it yours, kween.

Here are some of our favorite examples to get you inspired:

P.R.I.D.E.C.S. - Cosenza Pride logo and T-shirts by Achille Monteforte.

Love is Love temporary tattoo by Loud Mouth Ink.

Pride 2018 – T-shirt graphics: designed for Levis by Justin Poulter.

Harry Styles Pride Flag sticker + Love is Love rainbow pins by Worksbeautifully.

Portland Pride map by MapHazardly.

Share it!

At the end of the day, Pride celebrations are all about coming together and raising awareness for LGBTQI + issues within communities. It’s a time for people to join their voices in a message of unity and equality. And of course, you’ll want to document everything on social media. Adobe Spark allows you to create professional-level posts for the social media outlet of your choice. Create memory videos, photo journal pages, custom borders, and more.

However you decide to show your pride, have fun creating something that expresses your personal journey. Share your posters, swag, and social posts with us using #adobeforall.