Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (CUROP):

Poster Design Workshop12th September 2013

Dr Nathan Roberts

Dr Iain Mossman

CUROP Co-ordinators

Poster Design Tips and Principles

Why posters?

• Help you get your work across in a very

concise way

• Common dissemination tool in many

disciplines – a good skill to have

• A research output that we can use

Poster Design Tips and Principles

The poster session

• A busy, noisy room with up to 50 other posters

• Specialist and non-specialist viewers

• People look at posters for an average of 90

seconds. May decide in 10 seconds how much they

want to engage at all

• Make it visually interesting and easy to understand

at a glance

Poster Design Tips and Principles

• Powerpoint is often the easiest option– Design Tab, Page Setup – customise the size of

the poster• A2 = 59.4cm x 42cm• A1 = 84.1cm x 59.4cm• A0 = 118.9cm x 84.1cm

– In most instances landscape is better than

portrait.

• Other options for design, include Adobe

Illustrator/Photoshop and InDesign – but require

software and know-how

Poster Design Tips and Principles

• No matter what size you choose – no more than 1000 words!

• Fonts:– Sans Serif fonts (Arial, Helvetica, Calibri)

are easier to read, and should be used for headings

– Serif fonts (Times New Roman etc.) are fine for body text.

– 22 point font size is a minimum.• Instead of using words, think of ways in

which you can use photographs, cartoons or illustrations to illustrate your concept.

Poster Design Tips and Principles

Elements of the poster

Title

Poster Design Tips and Principles

Elements of the poster

Title

IntroductionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

ConclusionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

Poster Design Tips and Principles

Elements of the poster

Title

IntroductionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

ConclusionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

MethodsBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

Findings

Images

Graphs

Acknowledgements, references, contact details

Poster Design Tips and Principles

Elements of the poster

Title

IntroductionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

ConclusionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

MethodsBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

Findings

Images

Graphs

Acknowledgements, references, contact details

Include CUROP!

Poster Design Tips and Principles

Colours and backgrounds

Title

IntroductionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

ConclusionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

MethodsBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

Findings

Images

Graphs

Acknowledgements, references, contact details

Include CUROP!

Poster Design Tips and Principles

Colours and backgrounds

Title

IntroductionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

ConclusionBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

MethodsBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blahBlah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah

Findings

Images

Graphs

Acknowledgements, references, contact details

Include CUROP!

Example Posters

Exercise

• In groups, take a look at an old CUROP poster and discuss what is good and bad about the design.

• Be ready to share an example of one good thing and one bad thing about the poster!

Any Questions?

robertsn1@cardiff.ac.uk

mossmanij@cardiff.ac.uk

@cardiffedu

Useful Online Resources

• Poster Templates– http://www.posterpresentations.com/html/

free_poster_templates.html

• Designing academic posters and presenting them at conferences– http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign

• Print Centre Cardiff (www.printcentrecardiff.com)

CUROP2013