THE POSTER TITLE: BOLD 96 PT (1 in or 2.5 mm) 1 INCH SPACE BETWEEN TITLE and NAMES PEOPLE INCLUDED IN PROJECT• 72 PT (.75 in or 2 mm) ALL UPPER CASE, .75" BETWEEN PEOPLE and SCHOOL Department and The University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 Helvetica 72 pt upper and lower case

Text is Helvetica,the title of poster "1" is 96 pt. bold. Basics Design Headingss 36 pt bold Subtext 18 pt. The purpose of the poster is to present your work in a form that is easily understood Divide the poster in thirds, fourths or fifths Or attention getting curved shapes and lines. and stimulates interest. It should tell your research story with as little information as Visuals Paper sizes: for possible placement of columns. possible. 36” and 42”, up to any length Arrange elements to allow a visual flow Present numerical data in the form of graphs, Margins for our printer: At first glance the viewer should see an easy-to-read title and an uncluttered, neat from one item to the next. Numbers or rather then tables. Convert tabular material to a 17 mm, approx. .75 inch arrangement of photos and/or illustrations and brief text. arrows are an easy way to direct the graphic display if possible. Try scatter plots, bar the printer will cut off anything outside this viewers eye. graphs. (graphs make the data much more evident). Avoid unnecessary details that may clutter your poster. Too much detail on the poster will clutter it, making the overall message more difficult. Visuals should be simple and bold. Leave out or remove extraneous details. 3 4 5 Where to start The text material included on a poster should be extremely brief, or most of the 1 audience will walk away. A person should be able to fully read your poster in 10 For areas of particular try a mixture Make sure that any visual can "stand alone" • SIMPLICITY IS THE KEY. don't try to cover too many minutes or less. More can be explained in conversation. 2 6 (graph axes should properly labeled, maps have things. Present only enough data to support your of shapes and straight lines to attract the viewer's attention. north arrows and distance scales, symbols are conclusions but, make sure that you present A good poster has a substantial amount of negative (blank) space, close to 50%. explained, etc.). sufficient data to support your conclusions. Negative space allows to eyes to rest. A large and/or bright center of interest can draw the eye to the most important aspect of Make sure that the text and the visuals are • When you begin to make your poster, first create a An effective poster is neither a -by-page printout of a journal paper nor a slide the poster. integrated. Figures should be numbered list of the visuals that you would use if you were show, but balances figures and text. consecutively according to the order in which describing your project with only the visuals. Write the are first mentioned in the text. the text after you have created the list of visuals. A single background colour will create a visual unified presentation. The main tenet of a good poster is SIMPLICITY Each visual should have a brief title. • The main points should be clear without extended A muted or grayed colors provide a more restful background than do bright colors. viewing. In a brightly lit hall crowded with people and other posters a muted color is more Line weight should not be smalller than 2 pts. likely to draw attention to your work than a bright saturated color. Bolder lines are preferable. • Doing a thumbnail will help you get a visual of what the poster will look like. Remember a poster is Success of the poster is placement of a concise statement of major conclusions at Text Diagrams using bars should have a difference of essentially a visual presentation. the beginning of the poster -- perhaps as an expanded subtitle. The supporting text value, lightness and darkness instead of a is then presented in brief segments along with appropriate illustrations, and the The title should be legible from 4.5 - 6 meters or 10-15 ft. The minimum type size should be no less pattern, avoid open bars. • Generally where text is concerned less is more. significance of the findings is made forcefully and concisely clear at the end. than 18 pts. Posters crammed with too much information Bulleted or numbered lists are easy to read and are seldom read in their entirety. The supporting text should be legible from approximently 1-1.25 meters or 3-4 feet The title lettering effective ways to convey a series of points. should be the largest .5 - 1 inch, 60 pt - 96 pt. • An introduction should be placed at the upper Simple drop shadows and bullets for emphasis. left and a conclusion at the lower right. Ticks and Y Lines should be 2 pt Sanserif (without the cross stokes at the end of letters) such a Helvetica, Arial or Geneva are Bottom Line 2.5 pt to Give Weight good for titles, headings and labels. Captial and lower case are easier to read than all capitals because Featured parts can be highlighted by using they aid in creating unique word shapes which speed reading. warm colors (reds and yellows) or black if the background colors are soft -- or white if the background colors are bright or deep. In Black Background vs White Background 0,50,100,0 Arrange blocks of text or graphics in long visual lines and tight groups with adequate negative space. 15 14 choosing colors be aware that lighting in the

s Blocks of text should not exceed three . display area may not be optimal. i

s 10 i x x a 8 100,50,0,0 a

5 Y Line length should not exceed 65 characters and should be single spaced. Line spacing should be The less important parts of the poster -- the Y 10,70,0,0 roughly 20% of the type height. necessary background information, the 0 0 supporting data -- will seem to recede into the 0 40 80 background if done in cool or cool-neutral colors tick labels 24 pt X axis Do not set entire paragraphs in uppercase (all capitals) or boldface type (blues, greens, and some grays). Type that is flush left is easier for the eye to scan from a distance than justified text. Dark photos will look darker on a light background, lighter on a dark background, color photos will look more colorful on a neutral Avoid paragraphs with widows & orphans., a single word on the last background like medium gray and less colorful on a white background line. Color Choose Colors that are Easy to Distinguish Miscellaneous suggestions

• It's tempting to use color everywhere -- don't! The viewer's eye will jump There are always colorblind people in the audience. erratically around the poster instead of tracking through crucial points. Use color to enhance comprehesion not decorate the poster. Even for non-colorblinds, thin lines and small characters in blue and yellow are hard read. For thin Avoid dark backgrounds unless it is necessary. This puts a lot of ink on the paper, and • Use "warm" and "cool" colors alternatively. lines and small objects, use darker blue and orange is preferable to sky blue and yellow. tends to make it wet and wavy. • When using two warm colors or two cool colors, put distinct differences in Make texts and objects as thick or big as possible. Thicker lines and bigger symbols make it easier Do not use complicated PowerPoint backgrounds. Large images or gradient brightness or saturation. to distinguish colors. backgrounds take a long time to print - Allow EXTRA printing time. Avoid combination of colors with low saturation or low brightness. Lines have different shapes (solid and dotted) so that they look different even without color. • Avoid unnecessary words and marks. Imagine standing only 5 or 7 minutes in front of Different symbols are used for each points (circles, triangles and squares.) your poster; what information will you receive? Your message should be immediately obvious and easy for the reader to grasp. Separate keys are avoided. Labels are shown directly within the drawings, connected with thin lines. Images or scans should be at least 300 dpi to avoid pixelation. If images are at a higher Differences in Gray Images There should be enough contrasts in brightness and saturation between texts/objects and resolution it takes your poster longer to print. We recommend TIF files because they backgrounds. Bright texts/objects over dark backgrounds, or vice versa. save the most information and are compatible with most programs.

Images captured off web pages are low resolution and are pixelated when enlarged.

PC Colors You can use just about any application to create your poster, but Photoshop is not C M Y K Pantone Solid Uncoated recommended because the file generated would be too large to work with comfortably. 0/0/0/0 However, it is quite feasible to import pictures created in Photoshop into a vector drawing program such as Illustrator, FreeHand, Canvas, InDesign or PowerPoint. 0/50/100/0 144 When scaling and object hold shift key to keep the proportions jpg tif pict 80/0/0/0 306 Handouts of your poster are available but you must allow extra time for set-up and printing. 97/0/75/0 3405

10/5/90/0 3945 Allow two full business days for your poster to be printed. There are always unforesee- able problems. Every situation is unique and brings with it a new challenge! We will 100/50/0/0 2935 print a small version of your poster for you to proof before we print the final. File Format and Color Differences 0/80/100/0 179 10/70/0/0 239 PowerPoint Suggestons: Creating figures or illustrations in PowerPoint is not recommended in general.

When using Greek symbols use the “Symbol” . We have trouble with Greek characters not translating correctly. Page Set-Up & Document Size Graphs & Charts:

Delete background grids unless they are absolutely necessary, they add clutter and Creating a poster in PowerPoint compete for the readers attention. > File new "3-D" bars are busy and it is difficultl to see where the data begins and ends. page set up >slides sized for custom Delete lines around bars or data symbols and figure legends. DO NOT MAKE THE WIDTH MORE THAN 56” in length If your poster is wider or higher than (56”), create the jpg file - cmyk tif file - cmyk pict file - rgb Remove excess labels. If a left axis has many labels: ”0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50” perhaps ”0, 50, poster in a proportional dimension smaller than 56”. 100” are enough. The remaining letters can be larger. For example if you need a poster 72”x48”, enter ½ the size…36“x 24”, inform us that it needs to be scaled Multiple graphs can be placed together to share numbers and labels. There is less for up to 72”x48”. the viewer to read and they get to the information and comparisons quickly. Save a copy also as a PDF file Costs Bring us the Powerpoint and the pdf file Creating a poster in Illustrator > File Glossy paper $6.00 per linear foot new Satin paper $6.00 per linear foot page set up Basic heavyweight paper $2.00 per linear foot set document size We will need an account or grant number when you bring your poster to be printed. http://www.cns.utexas.edu/communications/work-request