Posters: Design considerations

Posters are highly visual, deliver a concise message, and are easily read from a distance.  Your choice of layout will depend on the number of sections you have, the content you need to include, and your task description. You may be provided with a template.
The layout of your poster will determine your visual structure and how you present your information.  
Ask yourself these questions:  

1. What is the poster’s orientation? Portrait or landscape. Is there a requirement? What are the dimensions? This is important information if you are presenting at a conference, and your poster is one of many being displayed.  Ensure you only use the space allocated to you and do not encroach on others.   
2. Take time to plan a rough sketch on paper to map out the overall structure.  
3. Where should the text and accompanying visuals go? Important information should be prominent. What message do you most want to convey to your audience?  
4. Are the sections easy to follow and is the reading sequence clear?  Or is the flow of information confusing to the viewer? 
5. Leave a 3-5cm border around the entire poster. This will frame your work and ensure that you text and images are not cut off during printing.  
6. Columns:  

• Arrange your text and images into columns will improve readability. The amount of columns depends on the orientation of your poster.  
• Portrait orientation: use fewer columns (maximum 3) so that the text and images are not “chopped” up.
• Landscape (3-4 columns): to make use of the space  
• Column widths that are too wide or too narrow are difficult to read. The optimal width of a column should accommodate 50-75 characters.

Figure 5: A visual showing different column widths for poster. Figure adapted from Scott, E. (2022, May 10). Readability: The optimal line length. Baymard Institute.

7. Alignment  
Every section and panel should line up withing the overall structure of your layout. 
Ensure constant spacing between each section and between each column.  

Figure 6: A visual showing section and column alignment for poster structure layout. Figure adapted from PosterNerd. (n.d.). Scientific poster design and layout: Fonts, colors, contrasts, screen vs. print. 

8. Negative space  
Negative space or white space is what is left empty without text, images or other elements.  
Without sufficient white space, your poster will look cramped or busy.  

The poster should be eye catching, readable, engaging, and easy to follow.  
There are several elements you need to keep in mind:  
Graphics: 

• Avoid heavy text content, this is not an essay. Your audience is likely to have more than one poster to view. Keep them interested. Don’t forget that you will be there for explain your work so there is no need to include everything in the text.  
• Present your ideas visually using images, graphs and charts.  Remove unnecessary information from graphs such as grid lines, or grey backgrounds where they are not needed.   
• Images and diagrams are clearly related to the content of the poster.  
• Explain your visual elements with captions. Tell your audience what they are looking at and opt for engaging figure legends that stand alone, conveying the message fully. Images should not be too complex.  
• If using images that are not your own, ensure you are respecting copyright (and referencing appropriately). 
• Use high-quality, high-resolution images (300dpi, saved in PNG or TIFF formats). This is a also a common requirement when you publish in scientific journals.  

Font type and size:  

• All text should be legible from 2 metres away, with larger titles and headings to grab reader attention from the back of the room.  
• Avoid intricate fonts and choose easy to read, professional fonts such as Calibri, Arial or Verdana.  
• Use text minimally and make every word count.  
• Consider the use of dot points over long paragraphs.  
• Use italics and bold texts instead of underlining. Underlining draws too much attention to a word.  

Colour:  

• A consistent colour scheme of 2-3 colours looks professional and helps to unify your poster. 
• Avoid colours which clash, are overly bright, or hard to read.  Consider your background colour.  If it is too similar to your text colour, it will be difficult to read.  
• Colour blocks can be useful to organise your information making it easier for your audience to read.   

Example: 

Figure 7: A visual depicting the use of colours in a poster. Figure adapted from My Assignment Services.