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Research Posters

Poster sessions at conferences and professional meetings are a way to visually convey the details of your research or conclusions. This guide will offer you the basics in design, content and printing resources.

CREATING YOUR POSTER

You have two choices when creating a research poster:

  1. You can create your poster from scratch by using PowerPoint, Adobe InDesign, or a similar design program. 
  2. You can use one of the University of Illinois Research Poster Templates.

Sizing your Poster

  • If you are presenting for the Undergraduate Research Symposium, resize your slide to width 48 inches by height 36 inches.
  • If you are presenting at a professional conference, your instructions should indicate the size limits of your poster. Standard U.S. conference poster size is 48" by 36". 

​IMPORTANT: You must change the size of your slide before you start working on your poster. This will ensure that your images and text do not become pixilated when the poster is printed. See below for specific instructions. 

 

How to correctly size your poster in PowerPoint:

  1. Select the "Design" tab
  2. Click "Slide Size"
  3. Select "Page Setup"
  4. Under the "Slides sized for:" dropdown menu, select "Custom"
  5. Set the "Width" and "Height" to what is needed for your poster
  6. Click "OK" 

How to edit PowerPoint slide size image

 

 

How to correctly size your poster in Adobe InDesign:

When a new document is created in Adobe InDesign, a dialogue box prompts you to enter dimensions:

screenshot of Adobe InDesign create a document menu

  • Change the dimension metric to inches from the drop down box.
  • What to enter for margins, bleed, and slug?
    • Margins are intentional space from an object to the edge of the poster, intended not to be trimmed. You can set this to 0 inches on all sides unless you have a specific plan to use margins in your design.
    • Bleed shows the printer where to trim white space that occurs when printing color onto white poster paper. If you are printing your poster, include at least a 0.25 inch bleed on each side; remember not to place any content in the bleed as it will be trimmed by the printer.
    • Slug is a space for the creator to leave any notes for the printer. You can set this to 0 inches unless you have notes. 

If you ever want to change your poster dimensions after starting the poster, you can do so through the Document Setup Menu.

TYPOGRAPHY

Using multiple font styles can really make your poster stand out and look professional. Consult this graphic to understand different font styles, what fonts work best together, and what fonts to avoid.

COLOR SCHEME CHOICES

Sticking to a color scheme can help your poster look professional. Consistent use of color can help your viewer understand how information is organized on your poster. Not sure where to start with color?

  1. Try a free color palette generator:
  2. Use Illinois branding colors

Not sure what to do with the hex code from a brand guide or color palette generator?

Always check that your text is accessible on background colors using WebAIM's free contrast checker.

If printing your poster, it's a good idea to do a small-scale test print of your poster before getting it printed. Colors often appear brighter and more vibrant on a screen than when printed. There still might be some variation in color depending on the color scale the printer uses, but it will be a closer match on paper than what you see on screen.