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Last active November 24, 2025 14:23
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posters.md

Basics: 36" (w) x 24" (h)

We need to create a document that's 36 inches wide by 24 inches tall. You email me the pdf, and I'll print it.

  • Keep font sizes about 28 points or larger.^[The body font on the "Dealing with Separation" poster outside my office is 28 points.]
  • Save figures as PDF--this will guarantee they don't look blurry when printed (e.g., ggsave("filename.pdf", height = 4, width = 6, scale = 1.5)).

Objective

The poster is NOT a substitute for a paper. There's no need to cram as much information on there as you can.

Instead, the poster serves two distinct (but perhaps overlapping) purposes:

  1. First, the poster piques folks’ interest so they want to learn more.
  2. Second, the poster provides the key visuals that facilitate a good conversation about your project. These might be figures, equations, diagrams, tables, or text.
  3. (And as only a distant third, it should let a reader understand the project and findings.)

Software

There are two approaches:

  • PowerPoint (or other slideshow software, like Keynote or Google Slides). Highly recommend. Here’s a 36" x 24" template using Google Slides. If you prefer PowerPoint, you can make a copy and then click File > Download > Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx). You can download in other formats as well.
  • LaTeX. Do not recommend, but it's popular. Here is a 36" x 24" template using Overleaf. To make a copy, click Menu (top left) > Copy Project.

You can find lots of other examples to start with, so feel free to explore a bit.

Important: You must have a 36 in. by 24 in. poster. The "standard" size is 48 in. by 36 in. So make sure to update the dimensions for most templates.

If you want to start from scratch, I recommend using PowerPoint. Before you start work, click File > Page Setup... and set the Width to 36 inches and the Height to 24 inches. Then design away!

Other Examples

Here’s a great, simple example from the "better poster" collection. Read more about this philosophy here.

If you want to see what other posters have looked like, walk around the 5th floor of Bellamy.

The University of Texas has a nice list of examples with commentary here.

Yale has examples and tips here.

Branding

If you want to use FSU branding, see here.

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