Your poster should outline your research with interesting commentary about what you learned along the way. It is essential that your poster be a balance of visuals and text.

When presenting, make sure you prepare a 1-2 minute lightning talk about your research. This should be a unique experience or insight in simple, easy-to-understand language. Also prepare to answer questions about your research.

If you are creating a virtual poster, consider adding in a voice-over or video of your lightening talk!

Questions to ask when designing a poster:

• What is the most important/interesting finding from my research?
• How can I visually share my research? Should I use charts, graphs, photos, images?
• What kind of information can I convey during my lightning talk that will complement my poster?
• How can people find out more about my work?

Learn to see your research through the lens of others. Ask new questions!

Items you may want to include:

• Title: Something interesting and catchy that will grab people's attention. Avoid lengthy titles, and the use of technical terms or discipline-specific jargon when possible. The title should be legible from a distance, so use a large font (around 72 point). 
• Authors: Include the names of all authors, your institutional affiliation, and your contact information.
• Background/Introduction: Provide some background or introductory information that provides context for your project. This will help those unfamiliar with your field better appreciate the significance of your research.
• Research Question: Include your research question or hypothesis. What question were you trying to answer? What claim were you trying to test? 
• Findings/Conclusion: What was the answer to your research question? Did your research support your hypothesis?
• Methods: How did you go about answering your research question? How did you test your hypothesis? Although we typically associate research methods with the sciences and social sciences, all researchers employ methods of some kind. If you're having trouble figuring out what your method was, ask yourself, "How did I carry out my research?" Perhaps you analyzed 19th century literature, or visited an archive to examine primary source documents.
• Observations: These could be observations from a laboratory setting, or field observations. Whatever might be applicable to your research.
• Data: In many disciplines, it's important to show your data. Consider using visualizations like charts or graphs to make it easy for people to take in your results. 
• Images: If you've taken photos during your research, you may want to include a couple on your poster. 
• Interesting Quotes: Including quotes from interviews is a great way to add qualitative data to your presentation.
• Recommendations for future research: How will you continue developing your project? How might others build on your work?
• Acknowledgements: It's particularly important to acknowledge any funding you've received, as well as support from advisors and colleagues. 
• Citations: Use only a few, the rest should go on a handout, unless a full bibliography is required.

Credit: How to Prepare for a Poster Session LibGuide, West Virginia University Libraries

Most posters are created on PowerPoint. To use PowerPoint to create a post, the slide must be resized to match the size of the poster before images, text, and other information is added to the poster. Otherwise, the poster will not print or display properly. To resize a PowerPoint slide, follow these directions:

1. Open PowerPoint
2. Select the "Design" tab
3. Open "Slide Size" and select "Custom Slide Size"
4. Enter the width and height in the boxes, using inches, and click "Ok." The typical poster is 36" high and 48" wide.
5. Select "Ensure Fit"
6. Your poster is now ready for content!

TIP

You can also create digital and physical posters using UB branded templates here or download Microsoft Office PowerPoint templates.

Design Tips

• Instead of creating large blocks of text, break up paragraphs into numbered lists or bullet points.
• Keep the number of font styles down. One type for the title and section headings, with another for the body text, is usually sufficient. Generally, serif fonts (with "feet") make smaller fonts easier to read. 
• Body text should be in 24-48 point font. The title and other heading should be larger. Make the title visible at a distance, and the body text readable from 4-6 feet away. 
• Be aware of the common colorblind combinations, such as red and green, and avoid them in your poster.
• If you have a colored background, or one with an image, make sure the text is easily readable and that the overall effect isn't too busy. 
• When choosing images, make sure they aren't pixelated when the poster is at 100%.
• Be consistent in your design choices. If one text box has a border, they should all have borders, or if one section heading is bolded they should all be bolded, etc. 
• Know your audience when choosing which subject-specific jargon to use. People who can read music know that forte means loud, and a fencer will know that the forte is the lower third of the blade, but for most people it means an area of strength. 
• Graphs, charts, etc. should have informative titles and labels. 
• Correct bibliographic formatting is very important, so pick a citation style, stick with it, and double-check your citations.

Design Resources

Kick your presentation up a notch with these recommended tools!

NYU Images Guide: A list of resources for image compiled by NYU Libraries

Tableau Public: Tableau Public is a free desktop app for data manipulation and visualization. It allows you to create custom interactive visualizations and combine multiple visualizations, text, and design elements into a "dashboard" or infographic.

Piktochart: An online design platform for creating infographics, presentations, reports, and other designs. The free version of the tool requires users to create an account or log in with another social media account.

Canva: Canva is a graphics design platform that allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content.

Google Maps: Are you highlighting a specific location? Embed or insert a link to show the location with photos and/or panoramic. 

Open Street Mapping: OpenStreetMap is an open-source online mapping platform created by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. The map data is entirely open and collaboratively added by a global community of volunteers. 

For a complete list of tools and helpful tips on creating visualizations, check out UB Libraries' Data Visualization Guide.

When you are ready to submit, save your poster as a PDF file. Test to ensure links and images are appearing correctly before submitting via UBLearns.