How to make a poster:
1. General
- Use PowerPoint (ppt) to create your posters, best on a PC,
because the ppt versions for PCs and Macs are not entirely
compatible.
- We developed a template for posters (LastnameF_poster.pptx) that
you may use as a starting point for your poster and that should
print easily on the BC Env. Sci. Department's HP poster
printer. After downloading the file, save it as ppt file with
the following file name using your last name and the first
letter of your first name , e.g. StuteM_poster.pptx.
- The size of the poster should be 42" wide x 42" tall.
- Include less text, more graphs, charts and images
- Use color sparingly, because cartridges are expensive (no
background color or image, for example)
- Sign up for a 30 min poster printing session online
- Save your poster as .pptx and .pdf file.
- For your printing session, post your files on courseworks and
bring a copy on a USB key to the printing session.
- You may keep your poster after the poster session is
completed. Please print only one copy on our printer,
each poster costs about $20 for paper and cartridges plus our
time to help you in the process.
- The most important thing to keep in mind is to KEEP YOUR
POSTER FILE SIZE SMALL. We really cannot emphasize this
enough. Your poster file size should be between 1-5
MB. If you go over 10MB, you will increase your chances of
running into jams, clogs and errors printing. Image
size is what will make a poster file too large to print. Too
large files often are related to images that were imported
at much too high resolution.
- Feel free to print your poster elsewhere, but you'll be on
your own.
2. Text
- The structure follows a structure very similar to that of your
thesis, it has an abstract, introduction, methods, results and
discussion, recommendations, and reference section.
- Do not overwhelm the reader with text. The main points should
come through clearly, but nobody will spend 30min in front
of your poster reading small type text.
- Include at most a few key references (<5).
- To include text in your poster, type in the provided text
boxes or insert a text box in your poster using the Insert: Text Box option (or icon).
- You can type in the text box directly or copy the text from a
Word document and paste it into the text box you created.
- Leave one inch on either edge of the poster.
Fonts
- Recommended font: Arial (or Geneva, or Calibri) because it is
a sans-serif font (no curly or thin bits to the letters)
and is easiest to read
- Font sizes:
- title: 54 point bold
- Student researcher with affiliation: 48 point
- Reserach mentor(s): 48 point
- Seminar adviser: 48 point
- Section headings: color of your choice, 28 point
- Text: black, 24 point
- Figure and table captions: black, 20 point
- References: black, 20 point
2. Images, graphs and tables
- In comparison with your thesis, the same or more space on the
poster should be taken up by images or graphs than by text, a
good rule of thumb is 50/50.
- Include captions.
- Refer to your figures/table by number in the text.
Images
- Your images should have a resolution of 200dpi (dots per inch)
at the size they will be ultimately printed on your poster.
- Save them as either JPEG (or JPG), GIF, or TIF files.
- In PPT go to the Insert,
then Picture, then From file menu and find your
image. Of course you can change the size by dragging on the
corners once the image is placed on the PPT slide. By using the
handles on the corners of the image, the software will make sure
that the increase or decrease in size is proportional. You
can also use the Format a Picture
option in PowerPoint to change the size and position of your
image.
Graphs
- When importing graphs from Excel or other software, copy the
graph then go to the Edit
menu, Paste special, as Picture (Enhanced Metafile) (If you do a basic paste, you entire Excel
workbook will be saved in the ppt file unncessessarily
increasing its size.).
Tables
- If you do use a table on your poster,
it should be very compact. Use a table only if it would
support your story more efficiently than a graph.
3. Printing
Printing on regular letter paper
- You should print your poster on regular letter paper to proof
read it.
- Go to the Print option in
your File menu. In the
pop-up window, select the Scale to fit
paper box, and set the paper size to letter (8.5x11in.) and landscape mode.
- DO NOT CHANGE ANY OF THE OTHER SETTINGS!
- If you have good eyes, the font sizes are right if you can
still read the text.
HP DesignJet 500ps Poster Printing Instructions (from Mac,401
Altschul Hall)
Put your file into the desktop folder "20xx Senior Posters"
If you saved your file as PDF:
- Open the folder with your file in it and put the mouse over it
- Place two fingers on the track pad and click
- Open file in Preview
- Choose Select from the
options at the top of the window
- Outline the poster so the margins are tight, put leave a
little bit of white space all around
- Choose Tools from the
toolbar
- Choose Crop
- Choose File from the
toolbar, and Print
- Under Paper Size, select
SR Posters
- Page size should be 42 in by 42 in
- Printer Margins should be HP DesignJet 500PS
- At the bottom, choose Scale each
page to fit paper
- Click Print
If you saved your file as Powerpoint/Keynote presentation
- Open the document
- Choose File from the
toolbar
- Choose Save As
- Under Format, select PDF
- Click Save
- Check the pdf file by opening it in Adobe Acrobat
- Continue with the instructions above
Resources