David B. Weigle Information Commons
Library FindIt:
Make a great Poster with PowerPoint

WICshop Handout August 2007
Presenter: Anu Vedantham

Description: Trying to create a poster to explain your research project to others? Wondering how to make a powerful visual statement? We will explore designing your poster in PowerPoint. We will look at page size options, font and color choices, Word Art, Autoshapes and drawing tools. Bring your poster information with you as well as your personal laptop if appropriate. We will share tips and tricks for poster formatting, show examples and discuss preparing a PDF for printing in the Vitale Digital Media Lab or similar facility. Note: This is a hands-on workshop.

Questions? Email wic1@pobox.upenn.edu or stop by Vitale Digital Media Lab

Overall Web Resources:

Vitale Poster Printer FAQ: http://wic.library.upenn.edu/lab/posterprinter.html

Hess, G.R., K. Tosney, and L. Liegel. 2006. Creating Effective Poster Presentations. URL=http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters, visited 4/18/2007.
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/

Award-winning poster sample:
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/examples/Flounder.html

Handout from WSU workshop with screen capture images:
http://www.cmer.wsu.edu/~yonge/ce465/poster.pdf

Examples of posters (with reviewer comments): http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/speaking/poster/com2i1.cfm

Guidance on Fonts and Font Sizes:
http://www.aaccnet.org/meetings/2003/powerpoint_posters.htm

Tutorial on Poster Design
http://www.creativepro.com/img/story/posters.pdf

Workshop Agenda

  1. Plan for workshop
    • Crayons versus oil paints - discussion about tools
    • PowerPoint – setting up canvas and adding basic shapes
    • Group Activity – analyzing an exemplary poster and then some sample posters
    • Design – boxes on paper
    • Planning and starting on your own poster
  2. Before you start – plan for printing
    • Check that your computer can print to PDF before you choose unusual fonts
  3. Setting up page sizes in PowerPoint
    • Some standard sizes: 27” x 39”, 24” x 36”, 36” x 54”. Max side for Vitale: 41”
    • How to:
      1. File / New / Blank Presentation / Blank Layout
      2. File  / Page Setup / Slides sized for Custom then enter dimensions
      3. If you get a printer complaint – override, don’t choose “Fix”
    • Set the page size to be the real poster size – this way picture problems are easy to spot
  4. Font Principles: http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/CreatePosterText.html
    • At least 24 point, Serif font such as Times New Roman for basic text
    • 36 point sans-serif font such as Helvetica for headings
    • Title at least 5 cm tall
  5. Create a title text box. When designing your poster, start with Text Boxes. Place them to define text areas on your poster. Use separate text boxes for headings and content areas.
    • How To:
      1. View / Toolbars / Drawing (should be checked)
      2. Text box icon looks like a newspaper
      3. Make a title text box in Arial, 130 Point.
      4. Make some other textboxes with Times New Roman 24 and 36 point. Copy and paste some placeholder text
      5. Practice moving and sizing textboxes
  6. Planning your poster – Overall focus and writing:
  7. Layout
  8. Exemplary Poster:
  9. Looking at posters with a partner:
  10. Boxes on Paper – Five minute individual exercise
    • Using a blank sheet of paper, draw out the important components of your poster such as context, research question, methods, results, conclusions and recommendations.
    • Where will you put graphics? What graphics are available?
  11. Hands-on learning of PowerPoint Tools – “explain, then explore”
    • SAVE your file frequently – Tools / Options / Save to set auto-save timing
    • View / Zoom – Zoom in and out to look at and edit your poster in different ways.
  12. AutoShapes
    • Banners are a nice touch. Stars, rectangles and arrows also work well on posters
    • How To:
      1. Find Drawing Toolbar
      2. AutoShapes / Stars and Banners / look in last row
      3. Click and drag to make the shape
      4. While shape is selected, click on the text box icon. The shape is now a text box you can type in.
      5. Look at Color Fill Options
      6. Look at Text Color Options
  13. Colors, Fills and Textures
    • Textures: OK.
    • Fills: light colors OK, avoid large sections of dark fills. Try a light-to-light gradient
  14. Other Drawing Tools
    • Lines and Shapes – wonderful for many poster subjects
    • Shadows and Perspective - Use sparingly. Can be added to any AutoShape as well as other objects
    • Word Art - may be better to avoid. Or turn into a graphic explicitly (screen capture works)
  15. Layering Drawing Objects
    • Make one AutoShape (a star)
    • Make another AutoShape (a circle)
    • Put one on top of the other. Select one and use Draw / Order options to change how close it is to the front. This is an easy way to create complex effects.
  16. Bringing information into your poster
    • Graphs
    • Tables
    • Paste Special option – use whenever possible
    • White space is a good thing!
  17. Working with images
    • Formats
    • Advanced software – Illustrator or Indesign – better for perfectionists!
    • Avoid resizing image in PowerPoint – use a graphics program
    • Images from the web are often low resolution and cannot be enlarged
  18. Getting ready to print
    • Aligning your objects – use Draw / Align after you select objects. Do this just before you print. Save frequently and use Edit / Undo (Control-Z) if objects move in unacceptable ways.
    • Print a small version (choose Scale to fit paper on any regular printer)
    • Proofread twice and ask a friend to do the same. Spelling mistakes are both costly and embarrassing!
    • Check that font is readable on small size – if not make font bigger
  19. Printing your poster in Vitale Digital Media Lab
    • Print from PowerPoint to PDF on your own computer (or use a WIC PC). Need to set resolution to 150 (or next higher level) dpi and also set page size to match poster size.
    • How to:
      1. File / Print / Adobe PDF
      2. Properties / “Paper/Quality” / Advanced
      3. "Paper/Output" / Paper Size / Postscript Custom Size (choose from drop down menu and enter dimensions.)
      4. Graphic / Print Quality / 150 dpi (choose from drop down menu)
      5. Choose a directory and a filename and it will create a PDF file.
    • Bring BOTH the PDF and the PowerPoint file to the lab so that changes can be made if needed.
    • PC to Mac conversion can be brutal for PowerPoint – brace yourself.
    • Plan at least one hour to print from when you walk into the lab. If a class of students has a common deadline, the lab can get very crowded. Mornings are a much better time. We recommend you stay till your poster is done.

Comments and suggestions? Send to wic1@pobox.upenn.edu

*