Preparing a Poster Using PowerPoint

Producing a Poster using PowerPoint

The following give some suggestions on producing an appropriate sized poster using PowerPoint. For more detailed tips and resources, please refer to the library's research guide Poster Design.

  1. Open up PowerPoint.
  2. Change the size of the page (Under the Design tab, click Page Setup or on the Mac, choose the File menu then Page Setup) by selecting "Slides sized for": Custom, then "Width": 48, "Height": 36.
  3. The default for a PowerPoint slide is a slide title and slide body. You should put the poster title and all authors and sponsors in this box, and resize the box if needed.
  4. The main poster material should go in the box. At this stage you can create boxes for text, import images and other desired layout features. Most of this layout is in the Home tab (on the PC) or on the Insert tab on the Mac.
  5. After creating your poster, you should save the final version as a high quality PDF. Under the Save As… menu item, this is listed as an option.
  6. The finalized poster should be submitted to printservices@fitchburgstate.edu by your faculty sponsor. The standard size is 48” wide x 36” tall, exported to a PDF file.

Other Helpful Points

  • The title of the poster should be at least 80 pts.
  • You should include all authors and their affiliations as well as the faculty sponsor. These should be displayed at 54 pts.
  • Any body text should be at least 24 points.
  • For posters with a good deal of text, often making 3 or 4 columns is a good layout decision.
  • Use color for accent or emphasis instead of for the basic font color. The most legible text is black on a white background. Even though PowerPoint includes many templates with lots of color, refrain from using too many colors.
  • Any images should be included at a high resolution (at least 150 dots/inch).

Sample Posters and Templates