Creating Posters

Content and Design
Technical Considerations
What Support Is Available?
Examples
Resources

Content and Design

The process of making a poster involves essentially three elements, the content, the design and the technical aspects of creating and printing the poster. These are not linear steps; the process is an iterative one with each element influencing the other. Many of us, however, tend to focus on the technical aspects and minimize the other two crucial elements. This is especially true if it’s the first time we are making a large poster. The truth is, the technical steps are much easier (and often less frustrating) if we have spent some thoughtful time on content and design issues. You can read more about content and design considerations here.

Technical Considerations | What Support Is Available? | Examples | Resources

Technical Considerations

Many software programs can help you design your poster. We recommend Microsoft PowerPoint because most people are already familiar with it. It does offer less sophisticated support for graphics, however and it is important to note that you cannot use gradients or transparencies in your poster. For addtional guidance creating you poster in Powerpoint, a comprehensive tip sheet is also available here.

You will definitely want to be involved in decisions around the content of your poster. But it is possible to have someone else design and print your poster. AICT offers Full Service Printing and Design if you'd prefer to pay to have someone do it for you.

Another option is to use a template that already has the design built into it. All you need to do is add your content and probably do some minor changes to make the poster more reflective of your needs. Educational Technology Services has created a template for the Faculty of Education with the University of Alberta logo and the university colors. Download the template here .

If you want to start from scratch and make your own poster, the first thing you will want to do is set the size of the poster. You need to leave a one inch border for the plotter or you risk having part of your poster cut off. This means if you want to print a 36"X48" poster, you will need to set your slide to a custom size of 34"X46" (86.35cmX116.83cm). The maximum size the printer can accommodate is 54".

In PowerPoint 2003, go to File>Page Setup and select Custom for size.
In PowerPoint 2007, click on the design tab and click on Page Setup.

Once you have the size set, creating a poster is the same as creating any other a slide in PowerPoint. Use the zoom tool to move between seeing the entire poster or one section of it.

Printing your poster involves saving your PowerPoint file as a postscript file and uploading this file to the AICT plotter. You can find complete instructions on this at http://helpdesk.ualberta.ca/printing/. Educational Technology Services has also developed a Plotter Tutorial to help you set up your poster and print it.

Content and Design | What Support Is Available? | Examples | Resources