How to Make a Poster

Sara Grex and Rodrigo Salvador

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Tips for poster
• The size of the poster board is 150 cm (width) and 120 cm (length), so you can use size A0 for the
poster. The poster direction can be horizontal or vertical
• A poster should attract the audience's interest and maintain the reader's interest until the message
you desire is received. A poster should "arouse" curiosity and inspire the reader to seek more
information and answers, and further get us to identify with it. A poster should be self-explanatory
even though you also make a presentation/pitch
• Important things to remember when making a poster:

• A poster can never tell the whole story and it is therefore important to choose what information it
should provide
• Hold specific data and facts to a minimum
• Use colour and graphics to attract and illustrate your message - too much text will make the poster
inefficient
• The poster should be readable and the chosen font size is therefore important. The text on the poster
should preferably could be read from a meter’s distance
• Write concisely, so the reader does not give up
• Bullets are your best friend and forces you to write concisely

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990) 3

 Make a poster to present your project

Source: Rossi (2018)

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Explore different layouts

Source: Rossi (2018)

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Making a Poster

Source: Rossi (2018)

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Making a Poster
Scripting

• Use bullet points

• Use sections with headings
– 1. Background
– 2. Questions / knowledge gap / objective
– 3. Methods (keep this to the bare minimum or skip it if you can)
– 4. Results
– 5. Conclusions
– 6. References and acknowledgements (smaller at the bottom)
• Less words
– Keep your word count under 250 in total. Possibly <150 words
• Graphs
– Use them!!! (… but with caution)
– One or two graphs is better than three or four, and certainly better than eight or nine!

Source: Rossi (2018)

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Making a Poster
Concept

• Layout and size

– Vertical or horizontal? For the course, you choose. For a conference, better check with
the organisers.
• Panels
– Left to right, top-down. Start with a readable title at the top, then create a simple layout of
panels that make it easy for the viewer to navigate. Use arrows and numbered headers
to help the readers.
• Leave space at the edges
– You don’t want to risk important information to be cut off
when printing AND you don’t want your poster to feel
cluttered.

Source: Rossi (2018)

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Making a Poster
Design

• Negative space
– It is a super important design concept, one that you should use to your advantage
• 40% of your poster should be clear

• Eye-catching visuals
– It’s smart to include one big visual that’s related to your research and has the ability to
hook people in from a distance.

• Colour
– Use a limited number of colours (3-5).
“Same colour, different shades”

Source: Rossi (2018)

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Making a Poster
Design

Source: Rossi (2018)

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Making a Poster
Design

• Fonts
– Fonts and font sizes work a bit like colours.
That is, the fewer you use, the better.

• Contact information
– Do not forget it!
– Perhaps make a QR code to your Twitter profile or LinkedIn!

Source: Rossi (2018)

9 August, 2022 DTU Engineering Technology Innovation Pilot (62990)

 Reference
Rossi, T. (2018). How to Design an Award-Winning Scientific Conference Poster.
https://www.animateyour.science/post/how-to-design-an-award-winning-conference-poster. Accessed 04 Mar 2022.

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