Academic Posters

Your poster is like a visual essay!

You should pay attention to the title or question which your poster needs to cover, and make sure

your poster answers this

The poster should cover the context of the topic, and key points, issues and positions surrounding the

topic

BRAINSTORM your ideas first on a sheet of paper, to make sure your poster has a good structure and covers all the necessary

material

This poster is laid out well, and the

information is colour-coded in

sections

Generally a poster is read from top left to bottom right, so make sure your information follows a clear route if you

choose a different pattern

Your poster should be visually appealing – not just lots of text. Use images and diagrams to convey meaning and add understanding to the words on

your poster.

This poster is NOT very

exciting as there is no colour and only very basic

diagrams

Pastel coloured backgrounds with dark text work well as they are easy to read

Use a FONT SIZE and STYLE which can be easily read,

such as Arial or Verdana.

Be consistent with your choice of font throughout your

posterCurly fonts like this one don’t work well as they are

difficult to read when the font size is small

One of the best ways to create a professiona

l looking poster is to

use specific poster

software eg.

Microsoft Publisher

or LucidPres

s