These Poster Session instructional videos by WWU libraries offer guidance on “Creating Research Posters” using PowerPoint. 

NOTE: This explanation is adapted from “Research Posters: Designing for Impact,” presented by the Western Libraries’ Hacherl Research & Writing Studio and the Student Technology Center.

Goals

• Decide what information belongs on your poster (see above requirements)
• Apply good design principles for images, text and color

Focused Content

• Include just enough information
• Make your thesis extremely obvious
• Skip details, keep it simple
• Use IMRD Format to organize information (Intro, Methods, Results, Discussion)

What Not to Include

• Whole paragraphs: Use short sentences and bullet points instead.
• Citations: If citations are necessary, shrink font size to save space.
• Fun facts: Unless it is crucial to the goal of your poster, save entertaining information for your written explanation.

Special Situations: Required Text

• Sometimes assignments require too much text to be on your poster.
• Shift as much text as possible to your explanation / abstract.
• Visual Design: Use patterns, shapes, images and placement to show the relationships between your ideas.

Use of images and symbols

• As clues to help your reader understand big ideas
• As a central focus to draw attention from far away
• As visual “anchors” to help people read text more easily.
• Set up a visual path for your audience to follow. Think about how you are guiding the reader/viewer’s eye across and around the poster.

Establish Visual Hierarchy

• Use font, image sizing and prominence to establish a visual hierarchy – Make the most important aspect the most prominent, etc.
• Choose large images that will not appear pixelated.
• Use advanced search options to find large images.
• Don’t enlarge or stretch the image – it will look pixelated.

Fonts and Text

• Choose simple fonts.
• Use no more than 2-3 fonts.
• Keep text large.
• Font size should be 25 pts or larger,
• Dark text on a light background is easiest to read.

Design for Everyone: Color

• Roughly 1 in 25 people have a form of color blindness.
• Label data clearly.
• Use features other than color to help people understand information.
• Shapes, styles, patterns.
• Colors that touch each other should have different levels of brightness.

Proofreading

• Use proofreading strategies to help your brain focus on details you might otherwise miss.
• Zoom in, read backwards, read out loud, check visual details like spacing and contrast. 

The Hacherl Research & Writing Studio can provide online support with:

• Planning research, writing poster content, and getting an outside perspective.

The Student Technology Center can provide online support with:

• Visual design, software questions, and optimizing posters for printing.
• Email: techcenter@wwu.edu, Phone: 360.650.4300