Guide
How to design a club flyer
To design a club flyer, start from an A4 or A5 page, make the club or event name the biggest words, put the day, time and place right underneath, and add a QR code that goes straight to sign-up or tickets. MyCanvasDesign opens an A4 page (794 × 1123 px) free in your browser, with no sign-up and no watermark, and downloads a PDF ready to print.
Whether it is a club night, a book club, a five-a-side team or a university society, a flyer gets about three seconds on a noticeboard or in someone's hand. This guide covers what to put on it, the sizes that print well, a layout that reads at a glance, and how to print and spread it without wasting money.
At a glance
- Size
- A4, 794 × 1123 px
- Time
- 30 minutes to an hour
- You'll need
- The event or club details, one strong photo or your logo, and the link where people sign up or buy tickets.
Design a club flyer in seven steps
Decide the one job the flyer does
A flyer does one job: fill a club night, find new members, or get people to a taster session. Write that job down in a sentence, then list only what someone needs to act on it: what it is, who it is for, when, where, how much, and how to join or buy a ticket. Your club's history and every sponsor belong on your website instead.
Pick A4 or A5
A4 (794 × 1123 px) suits noticeboards, shop windows and doors; A5, half of A4, is the usual size for handing out and posting through letterboxes, and usually costs less to print. For A5, type 559 × 794 px as your own size on the dashboard. Both come out at their true size in the PDF, and A6 (397 × 559 px) suits small cards left on café tables.
- A4 and A5 are the same shape, so an A4 flyer also prints cleanly on A5 paper: choose "fit to page" when you print.
Write a headline that stops people
The biggest words should be the reason to care, not "Flyer" or a vague "Join us!": "Thursday Swing: free beginners’ class", "Westfield Runners: all paces welcome" or "Drum and bass all-nighter, 6 March". Keep it to six words or fewer if you can, set it in a bold display font such as Anton, Bebas Neue or Oswald, and make it readable from three metres away.
Put the when and where right under it
People look for the day, time and place next, so give them their own line at about half the size of the headline: "Every Tuesday, 7 to 9 pm, St Mark’s Hall, Elm Road". Write the weekday as well as the date, and the start and finish times. For a club night, add the door time, the price and any age limit.
Add one picture that sets the tone
One strong photo says more than five small ones: dancers mid-move, the team celebrating, a packed room or the band on stage. Upload it (files up to 15 MB), crop it on the page and let it fill a third to a half of the flyer. With no good photo, use bold shapes, a burst or a few icons in your club's colours instead.
- Put words on a solid shape when they sit over a busy photo, so they stay readable.
Make joining one step
Add a QR code with the QR code tool that goes straight to the sign-up form, the ticket page or your group chat invite, and print a short web address under it for people who don't scan. Say what scanning does ("Scan to book your free first session"). Make the code at least 2.5 cm wide (about 95 px on an A4 page) for a flyer held in the hand, and 5 to 6 cm (190 to 230 px) on a noticeboard, where people scan from further away.
Check it from across the room, then print
Zoom out until the flyer is about the size of your hand on screen: if you can still read the headline and the date, it will work on a noticeboard. Proofread the date, time, price and web address, scan the QR code with your phone, then download a PDF. Print one copy at home to check colours and sizes before you order a stack.
- Keep words at least 5 mm (about 19 px) in from every edge: most home printers cannot print right to the edge of the paper.
What to put on a club flyer
Leave out anything nobody needs at a glance. These are the details each kind of club flyer can’t do without.
- Club nights
- The name of the night, the headline acts or DJs, the date, door and finish times, the venue and its address, the price in advance and on the door, any age limit, and a QR code to the tickets.
- Societies and hobby clubs
- What you do in one line, who it is for ("complete beginners welcome"), when and where you meet, what it costs, and the easiest way to try it, such as a free first session.
- Sports clubs and teams
- The sport and the level, training times and place, any kit people need, and who to contact. Say if all ages, genders or paces are welcome: it is often what stops people asking.
- Every flyer
- One way to get in touch, and anything that helps people come along, such as step-free access, a quiet space or what to bring.
Printing and spreading your flyers
For 20 or 30 copies, a home or library printer is fine: print the PDF at 100% on 120 gsm or heavier paper so it doesn’t curl on a noticeboard. For a few hundred, a local or online print shop is usually cheaper per copy. Send them the PDF and ask for 130 to 170 gsm silk paper, which makes colours richer without the glare of gloss. If colour or a photo runs to the edge, ask whether they need bleed: the free PDF has none, and print-ready PDFs with 3 mm bleed are coming with Pro.
Put flyers where your people already are: noticeboards in libraries, gyms, cafés and student unions (ask first), shop windows, and into hands at related events. Then post the same design online: add a page, set it to 1080 × 1350 px for an Instagram post, and copy the headline, picture and QR code across.
Club flyer mistakes to avoid
The flyers that get ignored usually have too much text, a date in tiny letters at the bottom, pale words on a busy photo, five different fonts, or a QR code that lands on a home page instead of the sign-up form. Others give the date but no weekday, or the wrong weekday for the date. Check each of these before you print: they cost nothing to fix on screen and a lot to fix after a print run.
Questions about designing a club flyer
What size should a club flyer be?
A5 (148 × 210 mm) for handing out and letterboxes, and A4 (210 × 297 mm) for noticeboards and windows. In MyCanvasDesign, A4 is 794 × 1123 px and A5 is 559 × 794 px, typed in as your own size.
What should a club night flyer include?
The name of the night, who is playing, the date and door times, the venue and address, the price, any age limit and a QR code to buy tickets. Keep the name and date biggest.
How do I print club flyers at home?
Download the PDF and print it at 100% (actual size) on 120 gsm or heavier paper. Keep words 5 mm in from the edges, because most home printers leave a thin white border.
Is it free to make a club flyer here?
Yes. MyCanvasDesign is free in your browser, with no sign-up and no watermark, and you can print as many copies as you like.