Visual Literacy

A research poster is a highly visual and engaging way for scholars to present their research and findings on a topic. The most effective posters will:

• Succinctly communicate the research questions, findings, and conclusion of the research project

• Strategically use visuals and design-thinking to engage the audience and further their understanding of your research project

• Be accompanied by a prepared and knowledgeable presenter. Your poster can only communicate so much on its own–you need to be prepared to tell the story of your research, expand on your findings and conclusion, and answer questions your audience may have.

Image Source: René Campbell, Australian Marine Science Association, July 2018. The Better Posters Gallery

A crucial step in developing your poster is synthesis. Synthesizing information is when you draw on multiple ideas, sources, or perspectives together to reach a broader conclusion. It is not the same as summarizing. Synthesis allows you to be more clear and succinct in your writing– two goals we have when creating a poster.

When creating a research poster, you'll have two major considerations: how you will design the poster and the content you will include. 

Design Elements

• Layout
  • Brainstorm the elements you want to include on your poster and develop a draft layout. You'll want to include a mix of text, graphics, and empty space. Decide how you want to organize and space your content. Think about the visual flow of your poster. Typically, posters have a banner at the top with the title and your name. Content may be organized underneath in columns.
  • Strategically use white space. Too much text and content can be overwhelming for your audience.
• Content
  • Different disciplines may have different expectations for what content should be included. Typically, researchers will include their research questions, findings, conclusions, and a list of works cited on a research poster. Ultimately, you want to think about what content will most effectively share the overall story of your research and work to share this in a clear and concise manner.
  • Don't forget to give your poster a title. This should be brief and creative. Have some fun with this!
• Visuals
  • You may choose to include photographs, charts, maps, artwork, diagrams, tables, or other images to your poster. Consider what visuals will enhance your poster. Remember, graphic elements should reinforce your content, not distract from it.
  • Make sure any diagrams or charts are clearly labeled.
  • Provide the source of any image you use that is not your own.  Use the Finding and Accessing Reliable Images page in this guide to locate open access images and the Using and Citing Images page for further guidance.
• Font and text size
  • Select an interesting font that matches the tone of your project for your title. You may use another font for your headings and content, but do not use more than three different fonts.
  • Titles should be at least 72 pt. font and no text should be smaller than 24 pt. font.
• Color scheme
  • Use a color scheme that evokes your topic and is professional. You can find free color palettes using Paletton or Coolors.
  • Your background and font colors should highly contrast so text is readable.

Examples of undergraduate research posters:

Now that you have synthesized your research and are aware of the components of an academic poster, you will need to determine what the poster on your research will look like. It is always more helpful to know what information you need to include first, so that you will be able to tell if any templates you find will work for your needs, instead of trying to squeeze your information into a format that does not work for you.

If you have not had much experience in developing visuals or determining how to showcase your research in a visual format, check out the Creating Visual Material page on this guide. This will not only take you through a variety of steps to narrow down your subject focus, but also provides ways to approach a variety of visuals.

Before you begin

• Most academic posters are 24x36 inches or 36x48 inches.
• Always set the dimensions in the program before you begin, since smaller dimensions can cause larger posters to become blurry when printed.
• Ensure that any program you use has the options you need, especially for saving, exporting, or sharing.

Choosing the program for your poster

Below are some programs commonly used to create academic posters, but if you would like to see a broader array of programs, take a look at the Area 49 Resources Guide. Remember, for any of these programs, choose the size of your poster before you begin creating. If you are using a slides program, change the size of your slides. This is typically found through File > Page Setup.

Choosing programs for additional elements

Many programs will have additions or extensions that will allow you to include a variety of visual elements in your poster from right within the program. However, if you are looking for something more than that original program can give, there are an infinite number of programs you can turn to in order to create your more customized visuals. Below are some commonly-used programs for some of these elements, For a broader array of programs, as well as sites for usable images, icons, clipart, video, sounds, and more, take a look at the Area 49 Resources Guide.

Before printing, exporting, or sharing your poster, view your poster at the intended final dimensions. If aspects of your poster are blurry in this view, they will be blurry when printed, exported, or shared. You will need to correct this before finalizing your poster. Take a look at the 5 Tips in 5 Minutes: Academic Posters video above (at the 3:20 mark) to learn about which images will work work for your final dimensions.

Printing

There are many places to print your poster for a fee.

On Campus:

• Area 49 - Your large format print request can typically be fulfilled in 24-48 hours, except during times of high requests.
• Repros

Off-Campus:

• Staples
• Office Depot

Exporting

You may find the need to only export a digital version of your poster for online presentations or virtual submission. In this case, ensure that you are exporting your poster to the file type requested by the submission site. Once exported, open the file to ensure that all of your elements saved correctly.

Sharing

When working with third-party platforms, there are often many options available for sharing your work. While these platforms do often allow an exporting function, where you can save your work as a .pdf or a photo file, some also allow you to link to the work in various ways. Note that if you are in the editing window of your work, and you copy the URL of that page, you are copying the link to the editing page, which others will not be able to access. In order to correctly share your work, you will need to find a button that says "Share" or something similar, then select one of two options.

• To share a link to your final version, choose options that say "link," "URL," or "share." There may also be a hyperlink symbol. This will generate a URL-style link that you can share with anyone you choose.
• You may have a need to include a visual or interactive version of your work in a website. In that case, you would need an embedding link. For this, find the option that says "embed" or the symbol that looks like < > . This will be a long code that you can then copy and paste into the embedding box on your site.