Up to you! Themes help you define the style of your poster, plus give a bit of your personality. Traditionally, researchers follow the color scheme of their home institution, but you can deviate from that as long as it is tasteful.
For example, people from WKU doing research may use the university's color scheme on their posters (red, black, gray, and white). For more information, view the official guide for WKU branding.
Consider your conference's guidelines.
Some conferences offer guidance for how posters should look; others don't and leave it up to the author(s).
View this example of poster guidelines from the American Public Health Association.
Consider the poster size.
How big do you want your poster to be? How much space do you need to convey your whole narrative? Do you have a lot to share or not so much? Again, some conferences provide guidance on poster size minimums and/or maximums.
| Minimum Size | Maximum Size | Common Size |
|---|---|---|
|
24 inches x 36 inches (2 ft x 3 ft) |
60 inches x 72 inches (5 ft x 6 ft) |
36 inches x 48 inches (3 ft x 4 ft) |
Consider the orientation.
Orientation does matter in your poster design because it dictates how you arrange your poster elements. Traditionally, posters are set horizontally (or landscape-style). Some authors choose to set their posters vertically (or portrait-style). As long as you remain within the conference guidelines, you'll be fine!
Colors are a very important element of your design. They help visualize your narrative and draw visitors. One consideration authors may forget is that some people are colorblind, so certain color combinations just don't work. The text blends in with the background, so those people can't read what you wrote. A way to make your poster accessible is to play with contrasting colors and combinations. See the table and image below for examples of what works and what doesn't. Ultimately, your poster should be viewable to anyone and everyone.
| Yes | No |
|---|---|
|
Dark font on light background Good dog bad dog |
Combining red and green Good dog bad dog |
|
Light font on dark background Good dog bad dog |
Pastel colors (Highlighted in gray so text is visible) Good dog bad dog |
|
Play with grays Good dog bad dog Good dog bad dog |
Combining other bold colors Good dog bad dog Good dog bad dog |
Image Citation
Chen, A. (2019 Oct 12). The controversy of accessible type + download a pocket guide of best practices. Medium, https://medium.com/queer-design-club/the-controversy-of-accessible-type-8def04eb8808
Emphasizing your text includes bold, underline, or italics. These format styles draw the reader's attention better than emphasizing with highlighted or CAPITAL letters. The other consideration is accessibility again. If you highlight text, then colorblind people may miss the emphasis.
Emphasis is especially important if your poster is digital. When hard-of-seeing people use screen readers, the computer tells them when certain parts of text are important or when they moved onto a different section. Screen readers don't pick up highlighted or all caps text very well -- the reader will miss the emphasis. But, screen readers pick up bolded, underlined, and italicized text very well.
Don't "Yell" at your Readers
All-caps text can look like yelling, and we don't want anyone feeling a TYPE OF WAY reading your poster.
Combining text emphases also appears like yelling and you are over-emphasizing your text unnecessarily.
Worst, don't combine text emphasis with all-caps. Then it really does appear like YOU ARE YELLING at the reader.
Image Citation
Chen, A. (2019 Oct 12). The controversy of accessible type + download a pocket guide of best practices. Medium, https://medium.com/queer-design-club/the-controversy-of-accessible-type-8def04eb8808