Before you start, sketch out your poster on a sheet of paper. Do you want to have two columns, or three? What visual elements will you include, and where? Having a basic outline of your poster before you start formatting will save you time in the end.
Your poster should be able to be read and understood in 3-5 minutes. Your visual elements will be the things that stick out most, so consider how you'll highlight the important information visually.
Here are the basics for poster design:
Before you send your poster to the printer, ask another person to take a look, and view the poster at 100 percent.
When choosing your font, the key is consistency. Choose 1-2 basic, readable sans-serif fonts and stick with them throughout the poster.
| Element | Size |
|---|---|
| Poster | Check with your professor or institution, but most academic posters are 48" x 36." |
| Title font | 85-150 pt |
| Authors | 56 - 66 pt |
| Headings | 40 - 60 pt |
| Sub-Headings | 36 - 40 pt |
| Body Text | at least 36 pt |
| Captions | 18 pt |
For more information about typology and fonts at Hood, go to the Brand Guidelines page.
1. Under the "Design" tab, click "Slide Size" on the upper-right side of the page.
2. Click "Custom Slide Size."
3. Choose the dimensions of your poster (in this case we've chosen 48" x 36"), then click OK.
One of the challenges of designing your poster is making sure your columns, headers, and images are aligned properly. You can do this using Align or by using Guides and Gridlines.
To use add Guides and Gridlines to your slide, click View. Under Show, check Ruler, Gridlines, and Guides.
To align pictures and other objects across the page, hold shift, then click the objects you want to align. Under the Home tab, click Arrange, then Align. There, you can choose to distribute objects evenly across the slide, or align objects by their top, bottom, left, or right sides. Once you're satisfied with the placement of your poster elements, you can group objects so that they don't move independently.