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SCJ225: Corrections: Home

Creating a poster

  • Create one log in.
  • 36 in by 24 in. Make sure you're in inches not pixels.
  • Keep an eye on the percentage you're viewing it at.
  • Save often.
  • Export as a JPG.
  • Search for images to use.
  • Download then upload them.
  • Look for vector graphics, they tend to have transparent backgrounds and scale well.
  • If using images, not from here, use large images. When blown up for print, if they aren't large images they will pixelate badly.

Apex Poster Specs & Logos

- Posters must be no larger than 36” x 24” (excluding DNAS posters or posters from conferences with specific dimensions) 

- Digital posters must have the dimensions 1920 by 1080 pixels

- Must include a bibliography

- Must include student(s) names

- Must include course number and name

- Must include instructor(s) name

- Must include Apex and UD logos. 

 

Basics of Poster Design

What Goes on the Poster?

Your goal is to convey a clear message and support it with a compelling combination of images and short blocks of text. What is the one thing you want your audience to learn? If something doesn't reinforce your message, leave it out.

Laying out your poster

  • White space is good. Don’t fill up the whole thing. If it’s too busy people won’t take the time to stop and look at it.
  • Have a good visual balance of figures and text, separated by white space. Balance occurs when images and text are mirrored (at least approximately) across a central horizontal, vertical, or diagonal axis. Symmetry is key.
  • There should be logical flow between sections. A standard arrangement is columns followed top to bottom and left to right.

Fonts and Text

  • Stay consistent – double check that all headings (30-34pt), body text (22-28pt), and graph and photo captions (18pt) are the same
  • Use plain language. Avoid jargon and acronyms unless you're really positive your audience will understand.
  • Minimize text - use images and graphs instead. Keep text elements to 50 words or fewer. Use phrases and bullet points rather than full sentences.
  • Left-justify text; avoid centering and right-justifying text.
  • Dark text on light background is best. It is easiest to read and uses less ink when printing.

Images

  • Be sure to put a caption with each image or figure so people know what they are looking at.
  • Try to keep images 4x6 and bigger

Finishing Touches

  • Be sure to include a bibliography
  • Triple check spelling, grammar and punctuation

Laying out your poster

Image from from UW-Madison Writing Center