How to make an academic research poster

What size should an academic poster be?

Go with exactly the size and orientation the conference’s poster instructions give. Many calls write “A0 portrait”. A wide poster brought to such a board may not fit. Some conferences give board dimensions only. Then keep a margin of a few centimetres on all sides for pins or tape.

Set your file at the final size from the first step itself. The University of Birmingham’s print service says it clearly. Design on A4 and ask for it to be enlarged to A0, and the print quality may disappoint you. That photo which was sharp on your laptop, it comes out blurred when it is blown up four times.

How should you lay out a research poster?

Work on a grid. Most portrait A0 or A1 posters use three columns, and on top there is a title band running the full width. A wide poster has space for three columns, sometimes four also. People start reading at the top left and they end at the bottom right. Keep your sections in the same order as below.

1. Title band: the title, authors and affiliations. Skip institution or conference logos unless the organisers made them compulsory.
2. Column 1: background in three or four sentences. Below that the gap, and after it your research question or objective.
3. Column 2: the method shown as a diagram, and below it the first result.
4. Column 3: put the main result here, and say how it stands against earlier work. Conclusion goes at the bottom as three short points.
5. Footer strip: five or six key references, acknowledgements and funding, and also a QR code that leads to the paper or to your email.

Many scholars are filling every corner, and it becomes hard to read. As a rough balance NTU Library’s guide is saying 20% text, 40% visuals and 40% white space. On your computer it will look a bit empty, but in a crowded hall it looks correct. Line each box up with the grid with equal gaps. Better to number the section headings also, so the reader knows which box is next.

Visual hierarchy

The visitor’s eye should go to the title first, then the main result figure, then the section headings, and body text last. So make the main result figure the biggest one on the poster. On top of that figure put one line in heading-size type that gives the takeaway, for example “Recall rose from 0.71 to 0.86 on the held-out set”. From the title and this line itself, a visitor should get what you found.

How many words should a poster have, and what font sizes work?

Fewer than you expect. The word budgets in the size table above are for the complete poster, headings and captions also included. Your methods section may have taken two pages in the paper. On the poster it will get maybe 60 words and one diagram.

The distances come from NTU Library’s legibility chart. Text of about 30 points can be read from 1.8 metres, 48 points from 3 metres and 72 points from 4.2 metres. Also, the guidelines for the 2014 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium warned that the audience find it difficult to read text below 18 points. We worked out the ranges in the table below from these figures.

• Stick to one or two typefaces. From a distance, a clean sans serif (Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, Source Sans) is easiest for both headings and body. Don’t go above three fonts on one poster.
• Keep body text left-aligned. If you justify it, at this size the word gaps come uneven.
• Don’t write in all capitals, only very short labels can be in capitals. Mixed case is read faster.
• Use fragments wherever possible. Standing people read one-line bullets more easily than paragraphs.

Which tool should you use, and how do you get the poster printed?

PowerPoint

Most scholars use this. Before adding anything, change the slide size to the poster dimensions (Design, then Slide Size, then Custom). Switch on the grid and guides. Use tables and SmartArt only a little. Insert figures as high-resolution image or vector file. Screenshot of a graph prints badly at this size.

Canva

If design is not your strength, Canva gives a neat layout quickly. Skip their marketing templates and open a blank custom size. Do zoom in once and check equations and labels for sharpness. When you download, choose the print-quality PDF.

LaTeX with beamerposter

On CTAN there is the beamerposter package, which extends the beamer class to the A-series poster sizes and scales the fonts. It is good for scholars who are already writing in LaTeX and whose work has lot of equations. Shifting boxes around is slow in LaTeX, so start one week before you would start in PowerPoint.

Printing

• Send a PDF where all fonts and images are embedded. Open it once on some other computer and see that nothing shifted.
• Look at images at 100% zoom. A figure that is looking soft on screen at full size will be soft on paper also.
• First print a small proof. Take the whole poster on A4 or A3 and discuss about it with your guide. Catching a typo on the A4 proof costs a few rupees. If you catch it on the printed A0, you have to pay for a reprint.
• Keep time in hand. Near most universities the campus print shop or a local printer can do A0 on gloss, matte or fabric. Still, give them two or three working days before your travel date.
• Plan for the travel. A paper poster needs a tube and can get creased. A fabric poster folds into your bag, so it is easier on a train or flight.

What should you say at the poster session?

For the whole session, stand at the side of your poster and not in front of it. At some IEEE conferences, if the author is missing for most of the session, the poster is counted as not presented. The no-show policy of IEEE SAM 2026 says this in plain words. Get a two-minute pitch ready for anyone who stops at your board.

1. 1

   The problem (15 seconds)

   Say the problem and why it is important in one sentence. Point at the picture that shows it.

2. 2

   What you did (30 seconds)

   Explain the method in simple words while pointing at the method diagram. The finer details you can keep for when the visitor asks about them.

3. 3

   What you found (45 seconds)

   Give the main result and the one number that matters. Point at the single figure that shows it.

4. 4

   Why it matters (20 seconds)

   In two sentences, say what the result changes and what is its main limitation.

5. 5

   Hand over (10 seconds)

   Ask “What’s your own work on?” or “Would you like the paper?” and after that, listen to them.

Keep a 30-second version for passers-by and a longer one for specialists. Carry some A4 copies of the poster or paper, or a QR code, for those who want more. Whoever talks to you, write their name and question in your phone itself. Many useful research contacts are made at poster sessions only.

What do poster judges look for?

Many conferences and university research days give best poster prizes, and their published judging rubrics mostly cover the same points. At Washington State University’s undergraduate research showcase, for example, judges mark poster design, how the presentation is delivered, background and objectives, research methods and results. At a poster, judges are really asking a few things.

• Is the question clear in the first few seconds after they look at it?
• Does the method fit the question, and is there enough description for them to judge it?
• Do the results support the conclusion, and can they see the key number?
• Is the poster readable, with a clear hierarchy, fonts they can read and figures that make sense even without the paper?
• Can the presenter explain it, handle questions on the method and accept where the work is limited?

When two posters are close, this last point decides the result more times than the design. If a judge asks “why this sample size?” and gets a clear, honest reply, your work gets higher marks. Whether the proceedings carrying your poster abstract will count for your PhD is a different matter. That is covered in conference paper or journal paper?