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Steps to make an academic poster

Scientific Poster Design and Layout | Fonts, Colors, Contrasts, Screen vs. Print | MakeSigns

1. Size and Orientation

  • Check the size of the poster allowed. e.g., 90 cm (W) x 210 cm (H) is suitable for portrait posters up to A0 size
  • Choose the layout: Portrait or Landscape.
  • In LibreOffice Impress, go to Slide > Slide Properties to change the slide width and height.
  • 48" x 36" poster in landscape orientation could be used. paper-sizes-chart.png

2. Content and Layout

Abstract and poster title is to be submitted beforehand and from here we can begin the creation of poster. We can start things manually, or we can take some template and use that. Some common layouts are shown in the figure below.

common-poster-layouts.png

Some common practices - Posters should have subsections with short sentences, and in bullet points. - Order of the section goes from top to bottom and left to right. - Simple is good - Make important information stand out. - Line things up. - Don’t make it crowded.

3. Extra content

  • Logos
    • University logos
    • Conference logos
    • Funding agency logos 
      Use vector images if possible, otherwise high dpi raster images.

vector_vs_raster.png

  • Acknowledgement section
  • References section

4. Images

Use images as main source to convey the idea and properly mention the source. Again, use high quality images or vector images. 

Zoom the figure to 100% to see how it will look when printed

5. Fonts

It is good practice to use only 2 to 3 fonts in the poster. The two main font type that can be used are Serif and Sans Serif.

poster-font-pairs.png

Difference Examples
fonts.jpg fonts_example.jpg 
Use Non-serif fonts for title and sub-heading and Serif fonts for main body of the text. The following picture could be a guide to set the font size of the text in the poster. 

![poster-font-sizes.png](<../assets/poster-font-sizes.png>)

6. Colors

  • It is best to choose a light background with the darker text. The reverse could be done for the title and the sub-heading, i.e., darker background and light text.
  • We can use color for the bullet points and have thick color borders.

poster-color-schemes.png

7. Line up the content

  • Everything should be of right size and should be aligned correctly.
  • The grid lines can help with the alignment.

poster-alignment.png

8. Save as PDF

The poster should be exported as PDF after finalizing all the changes.