This document provides guidance on creating scientific posters. It discusses that posters visually display recently completed or in-progress research findings. Key sections to include are the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references. Figures should be simple, clear, and readable from 6 feet away. When designing the poster, use a column format and font sizes between 18-54 points depending on the text. Sans-serif fonts work well for headings while serif fonts are better for blocks of text. Colors should be chosen carefully and a color wheel can help select complementary hues. The goal is to tell a story in an interesting, eye-catching manner. Judges will ask about the project, findings and difficulties. Practice

1. PREPARING YOU
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
Isra Al-Turaiki, PhD
Information Technology Department
College of Computer and Information Sciences

2. Outline
• Research poster:
• What is it and Why?
• What to include?
• Design: Size, Layout, Fonts, Colors, Figures
• Judge’s point of view
• The poster session itself
• Examples
• Hands-on part
• 45 minutes to design your own poster and get
instant feedback

3. What is a Poster?
Display boards on which
scientists show data and
describe experiments for
recently completed research
or research in progress but
not yet published.

4. Why Posters?

5. Poster vs. Manuscript
• Posters have much greater visual impact.
• Contain less text.
• Most of the space will be used to illustrate the
results (images, tables, graphs or charts).
• The materials and methods and discussion
sections are brief.
• Only the essential images, tables or graphs should
be selected.
• Author decides layout.

6. Poster vs. Oral Presentation
Poster audience can:
• concentrate on parts they’re most interested in.
• determine time to spend studying material
• interact individually with presenter.
• walk around.

7. Poster Organization
• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References
• Acknowledgement

8. Poster Organization
Title and Author [1-2 lines]
• Brief, informative, interesting, attention-getting, inviting
• The title should be at no smaller than 55 point type.
• Include your name and school, as well as your faculty
mentor’s name, department, logo.

9. Poster Organization
Abstract:
• A statement of the research question/s or problem/s.
• Typically around 175-250 words.

10. Poster Organization
Introduction [200 words]
answer the:
1. What?
2. Why? Significance of your question.

11. Poster Organization
Methods [200 words]
• Describe the steps you used for your research.
• Equipment used.
• But not with much details!
• Use flowcharts and figures.

12. Poster Organization
Results/Data Analysis [200 words]
• More space should be devoted to your results than to any
other section.
• This is where you should use graphics, images and tables
• Describe what you found.

13. Poster Organization
Discussion/Conclusion [200 words]
• What can you conclude from your research
• What are the implications and the importance of your
findings?
• How does this compare to what others have found?
• Future work: what is the next step for your project.

14. Poster Organization
References [5-10 lines]
• Major sources on which your research project relied.

15. Poster Organization
Acknowledgment [40 words]
People who helped you with your research and/or poster.
• Mentors and/or collaborators.
• Funders

16. Poster Layouts
• use a visual grammar to guide readers to the important
parts of your poster.
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html

17. Poster Layouts
• use a column format to make your poster easier to read
in a crowd.
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html

18. Poster Layouts
https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

19. Poster Layouts
https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

20. Poster Figures
• Simple and clean
• Self explanatory
• Require a minimum of supplemental text
• Readable from 6 feet away

21. Poster Figures

22. Image Quality
For good quality printing:
• aim for at least 200 dots per inch (dpi), i.e. 80 dots per
cm
• but preferably 300 dpi (120 dpcm)

23. Poster Size
Paper size Portrait (w x h) Landscape (w x
h)
A0 84.1 x 118.9 cm 118.9 x 84.1 cm
A1 59.4 x 84.1 cm 84.1 x 59.4 cm
A2 42.0 x 59.4 cm 59.4 x 42.0 cm

24. Poster Design in PowerPoint
• Posters are designed as a single slide
• Go into File  Page Setup

25. Poster Design in PowerPoint
• Text can be typed directly in or cut and paste from existing
documents
• Import charts/tables/diagrams
• Print the poster out at A4: the text should still be readable
at this size
• Some possible font sizes?
https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/studentservices/graduateschool/skills/tkposter.aspx

26. Title: 80 pt
Authors: 54 pt
Subheadings: 36 pt
Body text: 24 pt
Captions: 18pt
Font Size?

27. Font Type?
Sans-Serif Fonts (e.g. Arial, Verdana)
 Titles and Headings.
ƒ
Serif Fonts (e.g. Times New Roman, Garamond)
 For larger blocks of Text
https://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Media/poster-tips.pdf

28. Use of Colors?

29. Use of Colors?
Text
Text
Text
Text
Text
Text

30. Select Colors in PowerPoint

31. Choose Colors: From Images
https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

32. Choose Colors: Color Wheel
https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

33. Choose Colors: Color Wheel
https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

34. Choose Colors: Color Wheel
https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

35. Choosing Color
http://colorschemedesigner.com/csd-3.5/

36. Remember
A good poster:
• Tells a story.
• Can be read from more than 5-7 feet away (1.5 -2 m).
• Poster content should be 60 percent images, 40 percent
text.
• Is interesting and eye-catching.
• Has a simple, uncluttered design.
• Uses clear language and images in a logical sequence.
• Summarizes key points without excess detail.
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/staffres/poster.pdf

37. The Poster Session Itself
• Practice your poster overview.
• Don’t talk only to your friends at the session—the idea is
to network and share ideas with others
• Smile and greet people, get their buy-in (e.g., “Can I give
you a 1-minute overview of our poster?”)
• Develop a 1-minute, 3-minute, and 5-minute overview of
your poster

38. General Questions
People Will Ask You
• Can you run me through your poster?
• How did you get interested in this project?
• Were the findings what you expected?
• What was the most difficult aspect of this project?
• What have other people in your field found?

39. A Judge’s Viewpoint

40. A Judge’s Viewpoint

41. A Judge’s Viewpoint

43. Poster Examples
http://colinpurrington.com/2012/example-of-bad-scientific-poster/

44. Another Example
http://betterposters.blogspot.com/

45. Final Thoughts
“A good poster can’t make up for bad research, but a bad
poster can make good research hard to recognize!”
http://www.washington.edu/research/urp/downloads/symposium12_Poster_Design_handouts.pdf

46. Thank You