10 Tips in Designing Your Posters

Tip #1 Great contrast between text and background is essential. Black and white are ideal but dark red and blue also work on a very light colored background. Light text is possible as well if you use a very dark background and very light text.

Tip #2 If you use a picture as you background make it faded, with dark text over it. Dark spots can make it hard to see the text so make sure that your contrast is throughout the entire poster.

Tip #3 Choose you font and text size with care. The body of your text should be no smaller than 24 points and up to 36 points. Sub heading should be about 50 and title line 90 to 120. Topics that hold equal importance should be the same size.

Tip #4 The kind of font you use should be consistent with its placement. Typically the text body can be a serif font. Serif fonts have little points or culrs at the tips of each letter. They can make reading more difficult. Use sans serif, or more plain lettering in title lines and sub titles. This will make a cleaner line that is easier to use.

Tip #5 White space is the absence of printing. It can be used to indicate importance. They eye will be drawn to an indentation or pause in printing. More white space with give a bigger impact. So, don’t clutter up you poster with unessecary items.

Tip #6 Keep you poster well-organized. The most important points should be larger, the less important smaller. Background color can be changed to separate point on the poster. For instance make one half of the custom poster light with dark text and the other side dark with light text. This will set them apart and help the poster make sense.

Tip #7 Do not try to put too much information on your posters. Posters should contain the most important information. Some other good facts can be included. Any other information can be talked about in you presentation. Too much text or too many images can confuse the poster and your purpose cannot be accomplished.

Tip #8 Do a test run on the images you will use. Illustrations and pictures can be distorted when they are enlarged. Test them out before designing and printing the poster. In the same way images that are made to small can get jumbled and hard to discern.

Tip #9 Be concise with your wording. Your poster should look more like an outline than an essay. Eliminate all extra wording and use only the main points

Tip #10 Double check the details. Make sure that your grammar and wording are correct. Also check for phrasing or abreviations that are too technical and may not be understood by everyone.