Poster design creates a visual story of your research, internship or coursework. When designing your poster, always keep in mind those viewing your poster may not have expertise on your topic. Your poster should be a visual guide to communicate the most important elements of what you learned.

Begin by organizing your ideas

1. What is your take-away message?
2. What is your supporting information?
3. What is the logical flow to your work?
4. Create an outline and organize the poster around a few key take-away points.

Poster design software

• Microsoft PowerPoint: This is the recommended software to construct a research poster by using a single slide and changing the dimensions. Learn how to change the size of the slide in MS PowerPoint to print a 48 inch x 36 inch, landscape orientation poster. Change the size before you add anything to the poster!
• Other products: Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign for building posters and editing graphics. These programs are more complex than Microsoft PowerPoint.

Poster dimension requirements

48 inch x 36 inch, landscape orientation

Poster formatting

Font and text size: Keep the fonts simple and limit them to no more than two font types. Arial, Verdana or Calibri are typically used. Use bold, underlined or italicized type sparingly to emphasize certain text. Everything on the poster should be easily read by a person standing three feet away, while the title should be read from 12 feet away.

Font size recommendations by category:

• Title: 72-85 pt
• Authors: 56-60 pt
• Mentors: 56-60 pt
• Contributors, University organizations and community partners: 48-56 pt
• Headings: 36 pt
• Body text: 26 pt
• Captions: 20 pt

Logos, graphics and photos

• University of Nevada, Reno logo or the official logo of your institution, must appear on your poster.
• Images copied from the web are low resolution (72 dpi) and are poor quality for a printed poster. Image resolution should be at least 150 dpi or higher. 
• Copyright: Please review the University’s information on educational copyright and fair use.
• If you have graphs or charts from Excel, copy and paste them into your design program (ex. Microsoft PowerPoint). Size appropriately. Check that all labels are large enough and that the figure has not become blurry or pixilated as it was resized.

Poster backgrounds and color/contrast

• Use only two to three colors in your poster. Too many colors will distract from your information and message.
• White space: Divide your poster into logical sections. Leave at least one inch of space between sections, otherwise the poster will be overwhelming to the audience. Avoid crowding text and graphics. Using bullet points or graphics to make some of your points can ease readability and help to break up text.
• Backgrounds: Keep it simple by selecting a color tone that will complement your font color, either lighter or darker. A simple gradient may be used, but do not use a background with a complex pattern. Do not put a gradient, photo or pattern directly behind text.
• Be sure elements and text have enough contrast to be easily read. Example: Don’t put a medium to light shade of blue text on a gray background.

Poster elements to include

• Title: The title should be at the top of your poster and be the most prominent. It needs to communicate your research, internship, or coursework in a concise and professional tone.  Avoid jargon and acronyms in the title. 
• Author(s): List the author under the title, but do not list the word “author”.
• Mentor, if applicable: This should be placed near your name but list them as the mentor. Example: Mentor: Albert Einstein
• Check with all authors and mentors to be sure you are using their preferred version of their name.
• University organization(s): This can be represented by a logo or name along with the University of Nevada, Reno logo. (Ex. Nevada Career Studio, Service Learning, Undergraduate Research)
• Collaborators or community partners, if applicable
• Abstract or summary of your experience
• Research questions, if applicable
• Materials and methods, if applicable
• Key points
• Photos and graphics: All photos or graphics should add information to the poster. Don’t add photos or graphics that are decorative.
• Results, if applicable
• Conclusion or future direction, if applicable
• Acknowledgments, if applicable
• Contact information

Review

After you have constructed a first draft of your poster, be sure to review it for errors, pixelated images, readability, and if the message is effectively communicated.  Having a friend, instructor or classmate review your poster is always best.  If you are working with a mentor, they should review your poster at least once before printing. 

Campus printing locations

It is highly recommended that you print your poster at least five business days before presenting at Wolf Pack Discoveries. 

• DeLaMare poster printing
• @One poster printing
• Nell J. Redfield Learning and Resource Center printing