Poster Recommendations

The goal of your poster is to communicate your project and findings as clearly and efficiently as possible. Visuals (diagrams/graphs/photos) will be easier for your audience to understand while you are presenting your poster than large paragraphs of text. Be deliberate about which components are written out in text and don’t use more text than you need.

Research Content

• Briefly provide any (necessary) background info to introduce the project
• Clearly communicate your research questions or hypothesis
• Provide necessary details to help an audience understand your experimental design
• Use visual aids and make them large enough to easily see. This may be diagrams of setup or background info (provide citation if not made by you). For data, this may be graphs or images.
• State main conclusions

Text

• Sans Serif Font (i.e. Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana)
• A size that is viewable from four to six feet away (i.e. between 88 and 124, in Arial)
• Maximum of three font style types (don’t want a poster too busy or complex)
• Avoid italics (harder to read) and exotic fonts (printer may not recognize them)
• Include your full name and the name of contributing lab members/supervisor

Layout

• Differentiate sections (i.e. color, lines, boxes)
• Some blank space around text/images can help things that matter stand out.
• Maximum of 3 accent colors
• Increase use of visuals and minimize use of text (be brief, try lists instead of paragraphs where possible)
• Proofread for correct spelling and grammar
• Portrait, landscape, or square orientation options. Maximum poster size is 36 inches (height) x 42 inches (width).
• Be creative (but not at the expense of clarity!)

Imagery

• Desire good color contrast. Avoid yellow text on blue background scheme, lots of red, and color blind colors close to each other (i.e. light grey and green). Dark text on lighter backgrounds usually prints the best.
• For images/photos, have a border and a descriptive title. 300 dots per square inch (DPI) minimum.
• Watch your source of images, especially from the web (i.e. may lose resolution when enlarging image, be less DPI than recommended, be copyrighted).
• Desire foreground / background balance. Avoid making the background complicated or distracting
• View from a distance, what catches the eye? Hopefully the MOST important messages stand out!

FREE poster printing if submitted by Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024 (PDF format). If you registered you will receive a link for poster printing. 

After October 3, 2024: Poster Printing is up to you. FedEx in State College offers poster printing. 

1894 N. Atherton St., Phone number: 800-463-3339

• 12 to 24 hour turn around time.
• $8.50/sq ft
• Rush fee for same day Pickup,
• Submit file online, by email, or bring in on a drive (preferred).
• Make sure the file is formatted correctly, or they charge a fee to format it for you.