Poster Presentations

Common Elements 

Traditional academic posters include the following elements:

• Title
• Introduction
• Materials and Methodology
• Results
• Conclusions
• Works Cited
• Acknowledgments

Design Tips

• Remove unnecessary text. Describe main points succinctly.
• Make sure the font is readable from 5-7 feet away.
  • Title should be around 85-120 points.
  • Body text should be anywhere between 24 and 36 points.
  • Use headings to organize content. Double your body text size for any headings. 
• For readability, use consistent font in a high contrasting color (e.g. black font on white background).
• Include visuals that illustrate points from the research.
• Use white/negative space to create a clean, streamlined design.
• Consider using a color palette generator to identify complementary colors.

Example Research Posters

Content on this page was adapted from the University of Michigan Library's guide, "Designing Presentation & Research Posters with Illustrator." 

Organize Content Symmetrically