1. Creating Academic Posters
Mersedes Farjad
IT Training & Support
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2. Before you begin… Size & Quality Layout Colour Text Software Graphics
Links

3. Before you begin…
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Posters are a visual presentation - don’t overload with text, it’s not an essay
Easier to plan your content and layout before you start – write down key things you want to include
Think about your audience – don’t use specialist terminology or jargon
Posters should be eye catching – make them stand out

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Size and quality
Design your poster at the actual size it’s going to be printed otherwise there will be a significant drop in quality; the printer will pull/stretch your text to fit
Where possible use 300 dpi resolution images (high quality resolution)
Most printers will print at 300 dpi – whereas screens work at a lower resolution and show 72 dpi
Dimensions A1: 594mm x 841mm
Save the poster as a jpeg image before sending to print

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Here’s an example
A4 – Sharp
A1 – Blurred

6. Try to stick to a few colours that complement each other
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Colour
Try to stick to a few colours that complement each other
Use colour wheels to help – Adobe colour can help with using a colour palette
Think about your audience – be careful with colour combinations (such as green and red)
Be wary of using high contrast colours – however some colours such as shocking pink could stand out and be bold to highlight key points

7. Layout Use columns to structure and present information
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Layout
Use columns to structure and present information
Use blocks by creating shapes
Use arrows to show flow of document – but not too many
Rough sketch will really help – create a mock-up
Should be well structured like any other academic piece of writing (click to see) – but limiting how much goes on there

8. An academic piece of writing would most likely include:
Title
Introduction
Methodology
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References
An academic piece of writing would most likely include:
Take me back to the Layout slide!

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Text
Title text should be visible from around 6 metres away – 48pt or larger to catch the eye
Body text readable from 2 metres away – 24pt and larger
Funky fonts used in moderation – they are not easy to read – specially in body text
Use a clear sans serif body text – Arial, Calibri, Tahoma
Keep the word count down – 300 to 800 words, be concise – choose wisely

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Graphics
Use high resolution images – you don’t want to stretch it out - may look good on screen but will not print well
If using camera – use high setting for taking images
Clipart ? Use it sparingly – photos are much more professional
Charts and graphs are visual; SmartArt and tables are suitable too
Copyright – images must be referenced correctly, look for ‘Creative Commons’ licenced materials on Flickr or Google images
Free image websites such as Free Images (previously known as Stock xchng) are no longer free but do look for other websites

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Software
Your choice
Must support high resolution and output to A1 pages
PowerPoint or Publisher – more familiarity
Photoshop and InDesign – better results but complicated to learn and work with, and also costly

12. Useful links YouTube – search for examples, here’s one:
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Useful links
Sample 1
YouTube – search for examples, here’s one:
Flickr images – cc search
Adobe Colour wheel
Help with Microsoft Publisher
Help with Microsoft PowerPoint
Mersedes Farjad, IT Training & Support
You can find me within the 24-hr Computer Room