Posters and Presentations

To design your poster using PowerPoint:

• Choose Design on the ribbon
• Go to Page Setup
• Under Slides sized for click on the black arrow
• Choose Custom
• The height of the paper is always 36 inches
• Plan the flow for the information. Usually it is in columns from left to right, but a horizontal arrangement might work for some information.
• Dark text on light backgrounds is easiest to read on paper and uses less ink than an overall dark background. However, including some information boxes with light text on a dark background is OK.
• The width of the poster can vary up to 56 inches.

How to make posters longer than 56 inches

• Make the poster half the size that you want, then enlarge 200% when printing.
• For example, to make 36 x 60 poster, enter the dimensions 18 x 30. We will scale by 200% on the print setup.
• Font sizes of 16 point for text and 24 point for headings are readable when increased to 200%.

For more help see the handout for our class on making posters in PowerPoint:

To check or change poster size in PowerPoint, check the Page Setup in the Design ribbon.

These posters were designed in PowerPoint 2013.

48x36 Templates

56x36 Templates

60x36 Templates

30x18 setup size, scale 200% when printing.

72x36 Templates

36x18 setup size, scale 200% when printing.

36x24 Templates

Some conferences may specify this size. For most, however, this is likely quite small.

A0 (Portrait) Templates

Template for A0 sized poster (84.1 cm X 118.9 cm) commonly used for European conferences. If printing using the library's 36-inch poster paper, the poster will need to be trimmed (or scaled up if the conference allows for larger posters).