How to write a poster?

Here you will learn some tips about writing a poster in a successful way. So welcome once again and I hope you have fun with this short presentation.

Introduction

When writing a poster, what you must take into account is that your poster must:

● Capture the audience you're talking to● Inform the audience you're talking to

Goals of a poster

Here you will find some suggestions about capturing your audience in a successful way, it means, to make them feel interested (and they will, of course), when they take a look for the very first time to your poster and also for the very first time that your poster will be read:

Capture the audience

● Use concise and descriptive headings● Make use of colourful pictures and

diagrams● Take into account to make use of white

spaces (it could be pretty good for your audience)

For a first glance:

● Try to get one point across● Try to use a kind of writing that looks

like a newspaper writing

For the first read:

Who is the audience? That's what you must take into account for writing a great poster:

● Non-experts: Try to use more background● Experts: Use buzz words to attract

attention

Posters are often starting points to detailed discussions

Inform the audience

Your poster will include four sections written in one or two sentences each, which include:

● Hypotheses/Objectives/Main Goals● Research Method● Results● Implications

● Remember to use additional text only to support claims

Content

● Sometimes they are required, sometimes they are forbidden

● Some people just like to read the abstract

● Remember to keep it short, keep it small

Abstracts

Take into account these few suggestions in order to design your poster:

● Be as objective as possible● Step away from your research and look

at your poster● Why would you stop to read it?

Designing your poster

Time is an important value that you should consider the following suggestions when you write a poster:

● Only start designing when you are satisfied with the content

● Give yourself lots of time (a week or more)● Read the instructions carefully● Consider the final dimensions early

Timing

In case you feel like designing an interactive poster, you should:

● Use software you are comfortable with● Take into account the most common

softwares for designing a poster: Powerpoint, Adobe Illustrator

● New software will take time to learn● Consider converting into .pdf

Technical issues

You gotta be careful when using images, so follow these tips to design a successful poster:

● Use only high-quality images● Some images may look okay on screen,

but look poor when printed● Fewer big images are better than many

small ones

Images

Another important aspect for designing a poster is the way you write, because it will allow your audience to feel interested in reading. For getting that, you should take into account:

● Sans-seriffed fonts usually look betterE.g. Arial, Helvetica● Use a strongly contrasting colour schemeShould be readable from 3 metres away

Readability

If you want your audience to feel interested in looking at your poster, remember to use the following font sizes: ● 100+ pt. for Titles● 36+ pt. for Headings● 24+ pt. for Text

Font sizes

I hope this short presentation has given you some clues about how to design a poster (especially if it's a digital one) and I hope every poster you design attracts everyone's attention. So thank you very much for watching this presentation and get ready to work. Good luck!

Conclusion