First, check with conference organizers on their specifications of size and orientation, before you start your poster. For example: maximum poster size and display area; the orientation, landscape (horizontal), portrait (vertical) or square format.

Bear in mind that you do not need to fill the whole space allocated by some organizers (eg. 4ft x 8ft / 120cm x 240cm, often used in the USA).

Do not make your poster bigger than necessary just to fill a given size. The average conference poster size is 84cm x 119cm (A0).

A poster is read like a newspaper or magazine. Plan your poster in columns of text, three, four, or five, depending on the poster's overall width, headed by a large banner containing the title, the authors' names and affiliation.

Windows

• MS PowerPoint

• Corel Draw

• Adobe Illustrator

• Canvas

• Adobe Acrobat (PDF)

Macintosh

• MS PowerPoint

• Adobe Illustrator

• Adobe Acrobat (PDF)

An example of one of MIU's scientific poster templates.

• Check conference instructions for display area size or maximum poster size before you start.

• Set-up the page size of your poster before you begin production.
  Note: If using one of MIU's templates, don't adjust the page size (we can scale-to-fit for you at the printing stage).

• In the absence of information, start with an A0 page size of 84 x 119cm (not A4!). This can be scaled to another size by MIU prior to printing.

• If the poster is being laminated, the maximum width is 95cm.

Poster margins

• A minimum of 2cm should be left between your poster's content and edge of the page.

Columns

• Make three, four, or five columns.

• Column widths and the number columns vary depending on the size of the overall poster width.

• Try to keep column width to a maximum of 60 characters & spaces.

Title

• A large banner containing the title, the authors' names and affiliations.

Font size

• Title: 85pt minimum (size will vary according to the length of the title). 

• Authors and origin: 56pt minimum

• Sub-headings: 36pt minimum

• Body text: 24pt minimum

• Captions: 18pt minimum

Typeface

• Use plain fonts such as; Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman.

Logos

• Hospital and UNSW logos are available on request at MIU, or directly from here: Downloads

Colours

• Your choice of colours should be visually appealing to your audience. Remember it is a scientific poster that you are creating.

• Some colours may print differently than they appear on your computer screen.

• Re-write your paper into poster format i.e. simplify everything and avoid data overkill.

• Headings of more than six words should be in upper and lower case, not all capitals.

• Never write whole sentences in capitals or underline to stress your point. Use bold characters instead.

• When laying out your poster leave 'breathing space' around the text. Don't overcrowd your poster.

• Use plain fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Univers.

• All body text should be the same size and style of font.

• Keep body text left-aligned. Do not justify text.

• Columns should not vary in width.

• Use photographs or coloured graphs wherever possible.

• Avoid long numerical tables. Convert complex tables to graphs or charts.

• Spell-check and get someone else to proof-read your poster.

• Poster templates designed by MIU can be downloaded to make your life easier.

Inserting files into MS PowerPoint

• To insert scanned images, graphs, etc. go though the menus as follows: Insert / Picture / From File ... then find the file to be inserted, select it, and press OK.

Resolution

• Avoid 'resolution overkill' which can result in enormous file sizes (see 'Image file sizes').

• Never import images from the Web. They are not suitable for printing as the resolution is too small.

File types

The best file type to import if you are using Powerpoint, is a JPEG file (high-quality/level 8). 

Image file sizes

The recommended size of the JPEG files (for posters!) is:

• Changing the page size after finishing your poster can cause formatted text to move and imported objects and images to go out of shape.

Large file sizes

• If the poster file exceeds 100Mb in size, printing problems may occur.

• PICT files, SigmaPlot, Prism, SPSS, DeltaGraph & CricketGraph into PowerPoint (they might be visible on your screen but can print incorrectly or not at all). Preferably import only JPEG files or TIFF files.

• Imported scanned images are a potential source of printer errors.

Therefore good posters are the ones that apply the best techniques of salesmanship:

• Titles and subheadings should be short yet meaningful.

• The content should be concise and to the point.

• The design should be visually appealing, exploring capabilities of colour, graphics and typography.

• Removable media: CD-ROM, 100Mb Zip disk, 250Mb Zip disk, or 1.4Mb  floppy disk

• Email: miunsw@unsw.edu.au

Note: Please phone us after emailing the poster, to ensure we have received it.

Beware: Files over 4Mb, get 'parked' by our Hospital server and transmitted overnight. Do not email files over 5Mb.

Hospital staff need to obtain and authorised signature on an MIU-supplied "Cost Centre Transfer" form.

External customers must pay by cash or cheque on the completion of the job (a UNSW tax receipt will be issued). Note: MIU does NOT invoice.