Michael Georgiopoulos

Based on original slides from “Creating Professional Posters”,a presentation of FSU College of Medicine

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Purpose• Your poster will be used to showcase your

research work follows:

During the YES Symposium/SURE poster presentation On our website.

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Create posters that are

• Attractive

• Readable

• Professional looking

• Display rules of consistency

• Effectively convey idea, messages, etc.

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Plan • Size: 48” x 36” portrait• Text content: project description, analysis of results, etc.• Images and graphics: tables, diagrams, plots, schematics

Assemble• In MS Publisher

Use of MS Publisher is mandatory to ensure uniformity in final posters. You will be provided with a template poster (*.pub file)

• Proof and Edit Interact with your mentor(s)

Submit for printing• Coordinate with your mentor(s) about due dates of intermediate

draft versions• The final draft of the poster (a *.pub as well as a PDF version)

will be due one week before SURE

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Research paper• Background• Hypothesis• Methods/Materials• Results• Conclusions• Discussion/Future

research• References

Trick• Draw from previous

PowerPoint presentations or create a new one to help you appropriately compile your material.

• Convey your message• Sequenced logically• Use to copy and paste

words, charts, images into poster

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20% Text, 40% Graphics, 40% Empty Space

Text20%

Space40% Graphics

40%

Put details in a Handout

A handout can be a printed copy of• Your Technical Report• A smaller version of poster• A brochure

Think about where you can put them

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Photographs: Resolution• 72 DPI computer screen (too low)• 150-300+ DPI print• Find original digital pictures 1+ M pixels• Scan at 600+ DPI

Charts and Graphs• What data can be best illustrated?• Use existing MATLAB/Excel graphs, plots

and tables

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Avoid sensory overload – too much information on one chart

Avoid artistry gone wrong – while 3D is pretty, it is hard to interpret

Avoid distortion – adjusting scale to give appearance of greater effect

Avoid huge tables of rawdata

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Pick 2-3 fonts. Use the same Font for all… (size, color, capitalization, alignment) • Headings (i.e. 60 pt Goody Old Style, Bold,

Shadowed, Garnet, Centered)• Body Text (i.e. 32 pt Verdana, Black, Left

justified)• Labels (i.e. 20 pt Arial, black, centered)

Pick two or three colors, use throughout poster

MS Publisher can set a font & color theme automatically

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Keep shading same (color and fade)

Keep borders same (color, style and thickness)

Keep objects (text boxes, headings) aligned to guidelines (vertically and horizontally)

Keep margins and gutters consistent

Keep line spacing consistent, adjust for readability

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Title banner read from 20 ft

Body text read from 6 ft

Suggested font sizes (depends on font)• Title of poster 96-120 pt• Author(s) and institution 60-72 pt• Headings 60-72 pt• Body Text 32-48 pt• Labels 20-32 pt

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ALL CAPS

No solid dark color backgrounds• Use white or gradient of light color

Compensate with decorative graphics, small areas of solid color

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Actual posters presented at AAMC, STFM and SGEA

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Arrange Menu > Layout Guides

# columns Spacing = gutters Add horizontal lines

Arrange>Ruler guides

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Publisher

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Text boxesTablesWord ArtImagesLinesArrowsCirclesRectanglesAutoShapesDesign Gallery

Fill ColorLine ColorText ColorLine SizeLine TypeArrow TypeShadow Style 3D Style

Use bulleted lists if possible

Align text boxes with guidelines

Indent first line of paragraphs

Keep font size as large as possible, but be consistant

Edit ruthlessly -- there is always too much text

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Centering Vertically Right click on Text Box Pick Format TextBox Choose Text Box tab Under Vertical

alignment pick Middle

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ResultsResultsResultsResults

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Graphics File Formats: • .gif (clip art) • .jpg (photos)• .tif (scalable)

Propriatary Formats• .psp• .psd

Resolution DPI: • Web (72 dpi)• vs Print (300 dpi)

# Colors • Gif 256• Jpg 16 million

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Vector vs. Raster Graphics• Raster Graphics contain pixel-related information and

describe an image as a collection of pixels.• Vector Graphics describe an image as objects, which are

defined via attributes and models (typically, equations).

Advantages• Vector Graphics can be rescaled/resized without

“pixelation”, which results when trying to resize a Raster Graphics image. “Pixelation” occurs due to the interpolation of pixel colors, while re-sampling the image.

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Important Note• Create/save images in Vector Graphics based format. Examples are

diagrams, charts, plots, etc.• When this is not possible, only then use raster based graphics

formats. Examples are photos and scanned images.

Some of these formats• EMF: Windows Enhanced Meta-File• WMF: Windows Meta-File• CGM: Computer Graphics Meta-File• EPS: Encapsulated PostScript• SVG: Scalable Vector Graphics

MS Publisher supports all but SVG.

Use InkScape (free software) or MS Visio to create vector graphics.

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Maintain Aspect Ratio (Shift-Corners) Do not distort photographs

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Grab Here and drag

Not Here

Crop to fit space. Do Not Distort Picture. Put a border around photos.

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Right click on image

Select Format Object

Set size

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Align top (bottom, middle, left, right, center)

Distribute horizontally or vertically Publisher – Arrange> Align or Distribute

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Example of align top, distribute horizontally

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Shape Atributes:Fill ColorLine ColorLine StyleDash Style

Fill colors (256 or 1M) Transparency Fill Effects (1 or 2 color)

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Send to Back Bring to Front Bring Forward Send Backward PPT - Draw Menu Pub – Arrange Right-click object Suggestion: don’t put text on top of

pictures

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Multiple objects like picture and label Moved or resized more easily Select all objects

• Hold down SHIFT• Click on all objects to select

Publisher will put up Group Icon to click PPT – Draw > Group Right click on object

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Publisher only. PPT get text box properties.

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Keep overall look in mind Work zoomed in Pub – zoom to selected area

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Important points

• Make sure that all fonts you have used are embedded in your PUB file

How to: Go to Tools|Commercial Printing Tools|Fonts and check “Embed TrueType fonts when saving publication”.

• Use the “File|Pack and Go|Take ot Commercial Printing Service” feature to create a bundle of your poster and its elements.

• Include in the bundle a PDF version of the poster.

• If the bundle is larger than 2MB, use WinRAR to segmented into parts., so that you can upload it to Moodle.

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Thank you for your attention…

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