Poster Guidelines

Generally, guidelines for successful posters require that you use:

* No more than seven words in the title

* No more than 25 words in figure captions

* No more than 50 words of text in one place

* The smallest type on the poster should be at least one quarter inch tall

* An attention-getter near the title. It should be the element with the most visual impact of the whole poster. What stops the passerby can be a photo, map, drawing, graph, or the title.

2. Keep the subject to no more than three or four points: do not crowd the information; create logical flow. The poster should contain title, introduction, methods, and conclusion but not usually so labeled.

3. Design your poster in panels or components of manageable size. The first panel should contain only the title, author information, introduction and attention getter.

4. When doing your rough layout, look at all the illustrations carefully. Do not use one 8-by-10 closeup photo and the rest 8-by-10 far-off shots; the closeup will pull the viewer's eye to its location on the poster.

5. Mix drawings, photos, graphs and texts to help prevent big blocks of text and to make the poster more interesting.

6. Color; use it sparingly to aid viewers and complement your poster. Use a bright color to draw attention to a point.

7. The maximum size for your poster is 68 inches wide and 44 inches high..

8. No Velcro, push pins best

9. You may bring your own display unit. Let us know what you need if different from the above size.

Posters should be designed for maximum impact on the audience.The busy audience participant needs to readily identify the information you wish to convey.
Be complete but concise, aim to make only three or four points. Reserve further detail for handouts.