Making Posters with PowerPoint and PhotoshopMaking Posters with PowerPoint and Photoshop Download add itional copies of this handout at it.med.harvard.edu/ris 3 Insert text blocks

it.med.harvard.edu/ris

Making Posters with PowerPoint and Photoshop

Research Imaging Solutions

[email protected]

it.med.harvard.edu/ris

Beth Beighlie

Digital Imaging Coordinator


Information Technology Department

Harvard Medical School

220 Longwood Avenue

Goldenson 521a

Boston, MA 02115

(617) 432-2323

[email protected]

Written by Beth Beighlie

Copyright © 2007 by


Version 1, May, 21 2007

WORKFLOW OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 WORKFLOW: STEP BY STEP .......................................................................................................................................................... 2

Creating your ‘storyboard’ to know what your target dimensions are............................................................................... 2 Insert text blocks and edit and format text ............................................................................................................................ 3 Determine target dimension of inserted raster images: inserting image placeholders ..................................................... 4 Determine target dimension of inserted raster images: finding the numbers .................................................................... 5 Edit raster images with Photoshop........................................................................................................................................ 6 Raster Objects: Inserting them into the poster ..................................................................................................................... 6 Vector objects: Paste Specialing them into the poster ......................................................................................................... 7 How to edit vector objects within PowerPoint ..................................................................................................................... 8

Other options for inserting vector objects ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Align, Group, Save and submit .............................................................................................................................................. 9

WHERE TO GET POSTERS PRINTED ............................................................................................................................................. 11


Download additional copies of this handout at it.med.harvard.edu/ris

1

Poster Making with PowerPoint and Photoshop

Using PowerPoint is perhaps the easiest way to make a good poster. Most users are familiar with Microsoft Office

and can navigate the tools with some confidence. Even easier than making a poster is making a poster that won’t

print. What follows are instructions for minimizing the likelihood of an unprintable poster.

You will find this process easier if you are familiar with the concepts in the Imaging Essentials guide before

beginning making a poster: it.med.harvard.edu/ris and go to Guides & Primers.

The following workflow is diagrammed later in this document. Workflow Overview

A. Contact the organizers of the poster session to find out the submission guidelines. Find out

• the size of your display space

• the orientation of the display space (landscape or portrait)

• consider making poster slightly smaller so you have somewhere to stand without blocking the

view of your poster.

B. Open PowerPoint- either a template or start from scratch (find templates at it.med.harvard.edu/ris)

• set the Page Setup to the correct dimensions for your poster (if the poster is more than 55” in either

dimension, set the Page Set up to one half of the target poster dimension and tell the printer service

bureau to print it at 200%.)

C. Insert text content into poster

• if using a template, insert text content into existing Text Boxes

• if starting from scratch, select the Text Box tool from the Drawing Toolbar and insert Text Boxes,

then add text content

• edit content so the message is conveyed with minimal verbiage

• Format content

• be sure to leave room left on poster for graphic elements

• font should be sized to keep number of words per line to about 12

D. Determine target dimensions for raster images

• select the Rectangle Tool from the Drawing Toolbar and insert placeholders where pixel based

images will go

• double-click image placeholder to determine target physical dimension

E. Edit a copy of raster image with Photoshop to meet file type, color mode, resolution, physical dimension,

etc. needs.

• file type: .jpg, flattened .tif or .png files are acceptable file types

• color mode: if there’s color, use RGB; if not, use grayscale

• resolution:

• if printing at 100%, 125-225 dpi


• physical dimension: see step D, above

(the goal is to use Photoshop to create an image that is exactly the correct resolution and physical dimension you need, so that once

you insert it into PowerPoint you only need to adjust placement and annotate. See the Imaging Essentials guide for ways to correctly

resize images. You should not resize or otherwise make raster image edits once you have inserted the image into PowerPoint)

F. Insert edited raster images into PowerPoint

G. Adjust placement and annotate raster images within PowerPoint

H. Paste Special or create vector-based images, if needed

I. Align, Group and Save



2

Workflow: step by step

Creating your ‘storyboard’ to know what your target dimensions are

Find poster templates at it.med.harvard.edu/ris

Have you noticed that I keep saying raster image? That’s because you will never need to edit vector-based

images in pixel-based editing applications like Photoshop. Vector-based images can be Paste Special-ed into

PowerPoint and resized within PowerPoint. Go to the Vector objects: getting them into Office documents section

of this document for instructions

• Open a template or a New Presentation in PowerPoint.

• Set document size: Set the custom Page Setup size: Menu Bar -> File -> Page Setup…

Maximum Page Setup size is 56” x 56”. (If you need a larger poster, calculate half the desired dimension and

insert those values into the size fields. You will then need to double the resolution of your inserted pixel-based

images to 250-450 dpi and print the poster at 200%)



3

Insert text blocks and edit and format text

• Insert, edit, and then format all text: Using the Text Box Tool, insert separate boxes for poster title, sections

and captions.

• Edit, format & size text (12 words per line is a good target)

• Edit all text until you have it just right.

Note: Font choice is important. Choose a versatile, cross-platform font like Ariel, Times, Times New

Roman, Georgia, Verdana or Trebuchet MS.



4

Determine target dimension of inserted raster images: inserting image placeholders

• Insert Image placeholders: using the Rectangle Tool draw place holder(s) that is (are) the approximate size for

you image

• Draw rectangles as placeholders for your images after you have all the text placed and edited, and after

you know how much room you have for images. These rectangles will determine the size that you will

edit your images to.

• Be mindful of the aspect ratio of the images you intend to use (are they oriented as landscape or portrait?)



5

Determine target dimension of inserted raster images: finding the numbers

Determine the target dimension of the images by double-clicking on the image placeholder rectangle to get the

Format Auto Shape dialog box. Select the Size Tab. Make a note the size of your image placeholder. You will use

these numbers as a physical dimension target when editing your image size.

You do not need to size your image to be exactly the size of the image placeholder rectangle, just use it as

a guide- it is likely that you won’t want either dimension of the edited picture to exceed either dimension of the

image placeholder rectangle.



6

Edit raster images with Photoshop

For instructions on properly resizing and editing raster images, see the Imaging Essentials guide at

it.med.harvard.edu/ris.

Edit a copy of raster image with Photoshop to meet file type, color mode, resolution, physical dimension, etc.

needs.

• file type: .jpg, flattened .tif or .png files are acceptable file types

• color mode: if there’s color, use RGB; if not, use grayscale

• resolution:



• physical dimension: see prior step: how to Determine target dimension of inserted raster

images: find the numbers

(the goal is to create an image that is exactly the correct resolution and physical dimension you need, so that once

you insert it into PowerPoint you only need to adjust placement and annotate. You should not resize or otherwise

make image edits once you have inserted the image into PowerPoint) For instructions on how to properly resize

raster images with Photoshop, see the Imaging Essentials guide, which can be it.med.harvard.edu/ris and go to

Guides & Primers.

Raster Objects: Inserting them into the poster

Delete image placeholders

Insert (do not copy and paste) edited pixel-based images into PowerPoint

Adjust placement, add captions and annotate pixel-based images within PowerPoint



7

Vector objects: Paste Special-ing them into the poster

You may have created tables, graphs, cartoons or other vector objects (see Images Defined section in the Imaging

Essentials document at it.med.harvard.edu/ris) in other applications (Word, Excel or other scientific applications

that generate vector objects). You can include these vector-based objects in your figures by using the Paste

Special . . . feature. Because they are vector objects do not edit them within the pixel-based Photoshop

application- it will rasterize the graphic and make it blurry

Because these type of images are vector objects, you can resize them and make other changes within

the original application or within PowerPoint.

A. Go to your source document and select a pre-

existing vector object (chart, table, graph or other

vector object).

B. Copy it

C. Go to your target document and Paste Special. . .

(using the Menu Bar > Edit > Paste Special. . . )



8

Depending on which Paste As…: option you

select, you will have different editing features available:

some options are appropriate for simple resizing, others

will allow you to change font styles and size.

The most likely options include Microsoft Document

Object, Picture or Styled Text. Try Picture first.

How to edit vector objects within PowerPoint

Once you have done a Paste Special to get your vector objects into PowerPoint you may wish to do some minor

adjustments on the image.

• To resize vector objects, you need only select a selection handle, then click and drag.

• To resize the image proportionally, select a corner selection handle and hold down the shift key while

clicking and dragging.

• There may be a greater degree of control if you Ungroup the vector— for instance, you can make changes

to text style and color, fill colors and delete portions of the graphic.

Other options for inserting vector objects

The steps outlined above tend to be more reliable, but you can also insert vectors in a way that is similar to

inserting raster objects. With Macs you can Insert > Picture > From File… and use .eps files. With both Macs and

PCs, you can do the same with Windows Meta Files (WMF).

In the Drawing

Toolbar, Click on the

Draw button to

reveal Draw options, including Ungroup



9

Align, Group, Save and submit

Access the Alignment Palette from within the Drawing Toolbar

Click on the Draw Icon within the Drawing Toolbar. The Draw Icon is the topmost button (or, if you are using

Windows OS, the left-most button is the Draw Icon). This will bring up a pull down menu from which you can

access the Align Palette. You can ‘Tear Off’ the Align or Distribute Palette by Clicking and Dragging on the top

of the Align or Distribute pull down menu. Doing this will allow you to place it on the desktop for easy access.

Tear away from Pull Down menu to place the Align or Distribute Palette on your Desktop

Align

• Select the Arrow Tool from the Drawing Toolbar and select multiple objects for alignment

• Align objects by clicking on an Align button on the Align or Distribute Toolbar. Be careful that you don’t

have the Relative to Slide button pushed

Click on double-lines to tear-away any palette



10

Grouping Objects

• Once done annotating and fine tuning all objects, Select All objects

• Group all selected objects

• In the Align or Distribute Tool Bar, click on the Relative to Slide Button.

• Click on the Center Align buttons (there is one for horizontal and another for vertical)

Everything is now centered and your poster is complete!

Access the

Group/Ungroup option from the Drawing Tool bar



11

Where to get posters printed

Physical Dimension of printable area: check with service bureau

For correct resolution requirements, check with service bureau, but usually it’s in the neighborhood of 125-200

dpi for photo images, bitmap images and raster images (with no scanned text or line art within).

At least 300 dpi for scanned or rasterized line art, illustrations, vector objects and cartoons.

If you have created your poster with PowerPoint and will be printing your poster at 100% of it’s size, the above

resolutions will work well. If you are printing at 200% of it’s size, you must double the resolution of any

inserted raster images. You must also remember to let the service bureau know that they need to print the

poster at 200%.

Before you begin making your poster, you need to know what the poster guidelines for the particular session you

are attending. You should then contact whoever is printing it and get specific instructions (acceptable applications

and file formats; appropriate physical dimensions and image resolutions, turn-around times, etc.).

General poster printing instructions can be found at it.med.harvard.edu

The following is a list of service bureaus that will print posters. This list is by no means an endorsement, instead it

is only suggestion of what’s conveniently available.

MakeSigns

http://www.makesigns.com/scientific_posters.htm

Mega Print

http://www.megaprint.com/medical.html

Thinkiii

http://www.thinkiii.com/

Imagers

http://www.imagers.com/poster.html

Children’s Hospital Multi-Media Services

http://web1.tch.harvard.edu/research/mrrc/mrrcmm/mrrc_multimedia_services1.htm or 617-355-6884 or

[email protected]

Documents

Making Posters with PowerPoint and PhotoshopMaking Posters with PowerPoint and Photoshop Download add itional copies of this handout at it.med.harvard.edu/ris 3 Insert text blocks