Creating an academic poster

Academic posters

What software should I use? Is there a template?

You have software options for creating your poster. Start and complete the poster on the same system with the same software, to avoid compatibility issues. PowerPoint has free poster templates and is likely the easiest to use if you are unfamiliar with other software. Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign are great to use, especially if you already know how to use them and want a more complex poster.

You may want to watch this YouTube video which explains step by step how to create a poster using PowerPoint.

I have a template chosen. Now what do I do?

Generally, posters take about 3-5 hours to complete. At UVic, you can take your poster draft on a thumb drive to Blink, located in the basement of the Bookstore, where Nick Graves can give you feedback and show you your poster on a bigger screen before printing. Nick is a graphic designer and can help you troubleshoot your poster. See his handout for graphic design tips, including what font size to use, how to make your text look great, and some tips from the professionals.

Layout

  • Choose a template size that meets the requirements of the conference you are attending. For example, at UVic for the JCURA Fair, students can produce a 4’ x 4’ poster, but other conferences will limit poster space to 4’ x 3’
  • Information flows from left to right, down columns
  • Think about what information can be displayed graphically instead of textually

Fonts

  • Your poster should be readable from 6’ away, and be concise and attractive. Your title should be readable at a distance of 10’
  • Black text on a lighter background is the easiest to read for all people
  • Use a serif font (e.g. Times New Roman) instead of a non-serif font (e.g. Helvetica), because your poster will be easier to read. Avoid using multiple fonts and ornate fonts
  • Body text should be around 30 or 32 point at a minimum

Logos and affiliation

  • Be sure to include your institutional affiliation along with the names of funding agencies related to the research
  • JCURA students should put in a corner of their poster their name, department, date of poster production, the name of their supervisor, and an acknowledgement of funding received, including the JCURA award

Other things to think about

  • Provide captions for your graphics
  • Avoid taking images from the internet because their quality is usually too low to be printed so large. There’s also a copyright issue, explained below
  • Save as a JPEG to print