Before starting your poster, be sure to get all the necessary instructions and requirements for your final product. Check with your instructor if it's for a class. Organizations hosting poster sessions will normally have the information on their web site.
Some things you will need to know:
Posters are ways of communicating your work visually and concisely to interested viewers. As viewers walk through the poster display area, they may skim your poster, stop to read, or ask questions. A poster session is a good opportunity, not only to explain and promote your research or project, but to get feedback on it, make connections with researchers working in related areas, and possibly even meet a future employer.
Often held in conjunction with conferences, poster sessions are an important part of the scientific communication process. They allow you to reach a large audience more informally than a prepared research talk and to interact directly with interested viewers.
You might be preparing for a poster session for a number of reasons:
Regardless of the purpose, the same basic principles of poster design and presentation apply. Some details may vary depending on the requirements of the session organizer and whether you are presenting for a class assignment or for a conference.
Source: Poster Presentation, ULS.
Maintained by Fred Stoss, a librarian at SUNY Buffalo.This site links to an inventory of helpful readings and resources for creating posters.
This site by George Hess, Kathryn Tosney, and Leon Liegel contains lots of practical advice. The "Resources" section links to criteria for evaluating posters. The site also contains example posters with evaluative comments.
This evaluation sheet by George Hess at North Carolina State University is found on his Creating Effective Poster Presentations web site.
Colin Purrington covers a lot of practical issues in an informal way.
Design tips along with sample posters and templates from the "Writing and Speaking Guidelines for Engineering and Science" web site from Pennsylvania State University.
Practical design issues from the graphic designers at Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn State.
Created by Dina F. Mandoli of the Department of Biology and Center for Developmental Biology at the University of Washington. It contains concise and specific advice.
Prepared by the Education Committee of the American Society of Primatologists. It poses questions to help you organize your content and the poster and includes tips on what to do at the session.
From the Health Sciences Library at the University of North Carolina.
Source: Poster Presentation, ULS.
Color can enhance your poster and attract viewers, if used effectively.
You might use color to:
Things to watch:
Your poster should tell the story of your research or project - what you did, why it is important, what your results and conclusions were. It should highlight the main points of your work without going into all the detail that you would include in a research paper.
Here are some things to think about as you organize the content of your poster.
Remember, most viewers will not read your entire poster in detail. They should, however, be able to understand its basic message by looking at the title, abstract or introduction, section headings, figures, and conclusions.
Text is an important part of your poster. Use it effectively to tell the essential parts of your story.
In choosing a layout you'll want to keep these issues in mind.
You may choose to design your poster from scratch, but sometimes a template already exists that may fit your needs. Check out examples of real posters to get ideas that may work for you.
A collection of PowerPoint templates for posters in various sizes from the Posters4Research company web site.
Contains tips on design issues as well as sample posters and templates. From the "Writing and Speaking Guidelines for Engineering and Science" web site at Pennsylvania State University.
Poster design tips from Gary Ritchison at Eastern Kentucky University.
Browse thousands of examples of real conference posters for biology and medicine that have been deposited with F1000.
View posters with evaluative comments from the Creating Effective Poster Presentations web site by George Hess, Kathryn Tosney, and Leon Liegel.
Cigdem Issever and Ken Peach
The discussion in Chapter 5 on style and design of slides is also relevant to designing posters. Pages 77-79 address posters specifically.
Using visual components can help present your story to viewers in an appealing style that helps them grasp your content more quickly. Here are some issues to think about in planning your visuals.
It's very possible you will create all the graphics and take all the photographs used to create your poster. However, you may want to use images or graphics from other sources. Here are a few sources you can check for reusable images. Licensed for reuse, however, doesn't necessarily mean use without any restrictions. Be sure to check the licensing for any item you wish to reuse.
Wikimedia Commons is a source of freely reusable media files. There may be limits on how an item can be reused because much of the material is still owned by the individual creator. Check the license before using any item.
Useful information for anyone planning on reusing any material, including images, from Wikimedia Commons.
Credit: Copyright symbol. From "Copyright" article in Wikipedia.
If you use photographs or images in your poster that you did not take or create, you must be sure to abide by the copyright status and requirements for use of those images. Give appropriate credit to your sources.
This resource will help make you aware of copyright issues, but it does NOT provide legal advice.
Source: Poster Presentation, ULS.
Find out in advance:
When do you need the final poster?
Does your poster need to be printed?
When should you submit the poster to the printer?
What kind of file or files are acceptable?
How do you submit the file?
What are the cost and payment method?
PowerPoint is commonly used for creating posters. It is available in the University Computing Labs and can be acquired by all Pitt students. You will create your poster on one PowerPoint slide. Be sure to set the proper dimensions at the beginning, since the program defaults to standard settings for a slide show.
Links to tutorials from Microsoft.
Guidelines from the Design Help page of the Posters4Research company web site.
A series of short training videos provided by Microsoft for creating charts with Excel.
Video from Microsoft. Also provides videos on adding and removing titles, legends, trends, etc.
Be sure to proofread your entire poster carefully before printing.
Check for:
Check with your instructor or research advisor for any specific instructions they may have. There may be a preferred printer, or special arrangements may have been made for a class assignment.
Source: Poster Presentation, ULS.
If you use another person's work, you need to acknowledge it, usually by citing it.
Check out the Use Sources Research Guide for information on using citations.
Creating your poster may be entirely original work on your part, but if you use text, images, or designs from another source, you need to be aware of copyright. If an item is under copyright, there are limits on whether, how, and how much of the item it is fair for you to reuse.
Credit: Copyright symbol. From "Copyright" article in Wikipedia.
This resource will help make you aware of copyright issues, but it does NOT provide legal advice.
Creative Commons develops copyright licenses designed to enhance the sharing and creative reuse of digital content. Copyright owners may choose to license their materials under one of several licenses with various requirements or limits on reuse, such as attribution required or no commercial use.
Learn more about using Creative Commons licensing - for your own work or for reusing others' work - at the links below.
The web site for Creative Commons.
Descriptions of Creative Commons copyright licensing and the six licensing options.
Tips on marking your work to properly attribute the work of others.
A guide from the Australian Creative Commons team on attributing Creative Commons materials.
A list of frequently asked questions regarding Creative Commons.
Public domain is not the same thing as Creative Commons licensing. Authors retain certain rights with CC licenses, but essentially relinquish all rights to the work when it is put in the public domain.
Source: Poster Presentation, ULS.
Although many poster sessions only involve informal oral presentation and conversation with your viewers, some sessions or class assignments may involve a more formal presentation to an audience. Be sure you know which you need to prepare, although some tips for preparing a regular talk will also be useful for an informal presentation.
Preparing for an informal poster presentation:
During the poster session:
Source: Poster Presentation, ULS.
