Have you submitted an abstract for a conference poster? Great! It can be an amazing opportunity to get valuable feedback, advance your career, and make lasting connections. But let’s face it: most conference posters are crammed with too much text, unclear graphs, and are difficult to understand. Don’t worry, we’re here to help. This is a step-by-step practical guide to help you create a poster that’s so good, that people actually stop to read it, start a conversation and even remember your poster years later.
This blog is based on our extensive Poster Design Guidelines, where we’ve visualized all the tips in six posters.
When we ask researchers why they’re presenting a poster, the typical response is, “I want to share my research.” Fair enough, but let’s be honest: if sharing your research was the only goal, there are much easier ways to do it. You could submit a summary in the conference booklet, email your paper to colleagues, or put it on social media.
Poster sessions are social events. The main goal is to network and connect with other researchers.
But here’s the thing—a poster session isn’t just about showing off your data. It’s your chance to dive into conversations, make new connections, and get instant feedback. In fact, it’s a social event! While sharing your results is important, the primary goal of a poster session is to connect with others.
Beyond that, you can also set personal goals. What do you want to get out of the poster session? How can you use this opportunity to advance your research, get answers to pressing technical questions, make an impact, or learn from others in your field?
Don’t just create a poster because you have to, this is your moment to define what you want to achieve with it. Here are some ideas for personal goals to inspire you:
Use these ideas to make the poster session work for you and then design your poster to help you achieve it.
Viviam attended our poster design workshop in Norway and was struggling with significant challenges in her PhD. She decided that her personal goal for her poster was to gather as much feedback as possible. To achieve this, she designed her poster around these roadblocks, and asked visitors to stick post-it notes with their tips and advice on the poster board. This approach not only provided her with valuable input but also earned her two poster awards!
“It was an amazing experience and the outcome was exactly what I wanted, a lot of interaction with the public, feedback, questions, many post-it notes, lots of connections in LinkedIn and possibly new collaborations. Also, my supervisors are extremely proud and happy. I couldn’t ask for more! THANK YOU!”
See her poster in our Hall of Fame.
Read more about the goal of your poster and writing a pitch in our blog Define the goal & pitch for your poster presentation
Before diving into the design, let’s make sure you’re including everything a good poster needs. Remember that your poster is a summary of your most important research results, so keep it short and to the point. If visitors want to learn more about the details, they can read (a printout of) your paper or start a conversation.
If you have additional materials or want to make it easy for people to find your LinkedIn page, you can consider adding a QR code to your poster. It can link to your full paper, other references, a video explanation, or any other online resource that complements your poster. However, keep the limitations of QR codes in mind. People might not have a phone that can scan a QR code, forgot their phone or have low phone battery. And most importantly: you probably don’t want people to stare at their phone in the middle of an engaging conversation.
If you decide to add a QR code, make sure you:
Check out part 1 of our Poster Guideline about the essential elements of a poster:
Now that you know the essential elements to include on your poster, let’s dive in to some of the elements to make them great. We start by focusing on the most crucial part—your title. Your title is often the first thing people read: it should capture attention and communicate your main message.
Don’t write vague descriptive titles!
Whatever you do, resist the urge to just slap the title of your paper onto your poster. Descriptive titles are used in almost all peer-reviewed papers, but for posters they are terrible: they don’t give any information about the main conclusion, and only tell us about the topic you’re researching.
Let’s have a look at this generic descriptive title from this article on air pollution as an example:
“Urban Air Pollution and Greenness in Relation to Public Health”.
When we read it, we still don’t know anything! And at the same time it raises all these questions: “Is there a relation?”, “Is less pollution related to greenness?”, “Does this paper answer how we can reduce pollution?”.
When you write a title like this, you’re delaying communication of the main message, which will frustrate your audience. Imagine if every newspaper headline was that vague—no one would bother reading past the first line.
The one thing all the people at a poster session are looking for is your main message. That’s why you want your main message to be the first thing people read. And that’s usually your title, since it’s big and bold and catches the most attention.
Think about the one thing you want people to remember after they’ve seen your poster. That’s your title.
When creating your title, think about the one thing you want people to remember after they’ve seen your poster. That’s your main message, and it should be front and center. Most of the time, your main message is your research conclusion, but it doesn’t have to be. It could be a recommendation, a warning, or promoting a new research method that’s more effective than the old ones.
The best titles don’t just hint at your research—they spell it out. A conclusive title ensures that even if someone only reads your title and nothing else, they’ve still walked away with your key message. And that’s a win in communication!
Let’s compare the following titles, and see which one tells you more useful information about the study:
Descriptive title: Urban Air Pollution and Greenness in Relation to Public Health.
Conclusive title: Expanding green spaces and enforcing low-carbon policies can effectively combat health risks from air pollution in Addis Ababa.
Write a conclusive title, so people can read your main message at a glance!
If you’re struggling to write a conclusive statement, or if your results aren’t finalized yet, consider writing your title as a question. A title question does not tell the whole story but it might make people curious enough to walk up to your poster to find out the answer or have a discussion with you. What about “Mental health in hospitals: what can health professionals do to ease the pain?”. It’s the perfect start to a conversation. Think about the first question that you would ask a person approaching you, that can be your title.
TIP: Does your research show negative results? Shout it from the rooftops! Don’t be disappointed, your research is just as important as anyone else’s. Do not hide it, show it, so other people can learn from it.
For more examples and tips on how to formulate your title, read our blog Write a compelling title about your research. Learn why descriptive titles are the worst for good science communication and try out different main messages to see which one works best for your research.
To be an effective science communication tool, your poster needs to be easy to scan. At a conference, most people will glance at your poster, spend a few seconds reading the title and maybe some bold headings, and then decide whether to stop and talk or move on.
If your main headings are the traditional Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, then you’re missing a chance to communicate your message quickly. Those headings won’t tell your audience anything new, and they’ll delay getting your main point across.
Your goal should be for everyone to quickly grasp your entire research story without squinting at that tiny 12pt paragraph text. So, let’s dive into how to rewrite your headings to tell your story clearly and concisely:
Start with a single, punchy sentence that gives context for your research. Forget the long paragraphs about why you’re doing this work—most people at the conference already know the big issues in your field (everyone’s out to cure cancer or save the planet, right?). Instead, summarize the core issue or background of your study in a single sentence. For example:
With that context in place, keep the momentum going by writing conclusive statements for each of your headings. These sentences become the bold, eye-catching headings on your poster—the “chapters” of your story. This way, anyone can quickly scan your poster and immediately grasp the main message of your research.
Once you’ve set the stage with a brief context, continue with this to write a conclusive statement for each of your headings. These sentences become the bold headings on your poster, effectively turning them into the “chapters” of your story. This way, your audience can quickly scan the headings and immediately grasp the main message of your research.
For instance, instead of vague headings like “Introduction” or even the slightly better “Costs of diabetes,” go for something more informative like: “Total costs of diabetes have increased to $245 billion.” This gives much more information at a glance.
People scan your poster, so turn your headings into a compelling story.
In our workshops, we encourage participants to start by writing their research in a single paragraph or a one-minute speech. Then, trim it down to just a few sentences. Those sentences will become your poster headings (think of them as the chapters of your story). This way, your audience doesn’t have to dig through paragraphs to find the key points—they can simply scan the bold headings and immediately understand your research.
If you’re afraid your supervisor is not going to like this departure from the traditional academic structure, you can keep those familiar headings as smaller, lighter eyebrow headings. This way you satisfy the more traditional academics while still making your main message stand out. (Learn more about eyebrow headings and text design in part 3 of our Poster Guidelines.)
Which behavioral and nutritional factors are targets for stomach cancer prevention programmes?
A meta-analysis and systematic review of 14 behavioral and nutritional factors in 52,916 studies.
Helicobacter pylori infection, smoking, alcohol, high salt intake were identified as the main factors contributing to stomach cancer.
These results may be utilized for ranking and prioritizing preventable risk factors to implement effective prevention programs.
Learn how you can write an engaging research story for your poster in our blog How to write a story from your research for posters & infographics.
Let’s have a look at this example poster we created from a paper on microbes in the Antarctic. Instead of sticking to dry, traditional headings, we transformed each section—Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion—into a conclusive statement that tells the story of the research. This makes it easy to scan. You can add more details in the paragraph text or graphs under each section. But don’t overcrowd your poster with details. If people want more information, it’s better to discuss these details or hand out your actual peer-reviewed journal article. The more information you give, the less people will remember.
How do you think you will come across if you use different backgrounds, colors and fonts for every section? Does that really make you look creative and professional? We know it’s tempting, but don’t use every tool PowerPoint has given you to design with. Don’t use gradients, drop-shadows, text effects if you don’t know how to use them.
The design of your poster should support your story, provide structure, and make your presentation more effective. Design can also help distinguish between the main message and supporting information. By using different designs for your main thread and quotes, anecdotes, or examples you make sure people don’t lose sight of your most important messages.
We love to show bad examples, so check out this poster presentation dissection:
We’re so proud of our workshops participants when they create a beautiful poster or win a poster award! So we created a hall of fame to showcase great posters. As you will see, there is no one standard, you can create any type of poster and still attract attention. Each poster is made under different circumstances and conference requirements.
Since text is often the bulk of your poster, let’s see how we can design it better to help your audience understand it better.
If there is one piece of advice we would love for you to remember from this post: do NOT use bullet points for sentences! It transforms them into weird short sentences and doesn’t make your messages any clearer. Please, only use bullet points for actual lists. Like countries, study details, or different outcomes you are measuring. Disregard your instinct to put bullets before sentences and just write a nice readable paragraph instead. People will love you for it!
Check out part 3 of our Poster Guideline for tips on structure, and writing texts:
We like to create posters about posters. So check out this A1 poster that shows the best practices for legible fonts on your poster:
Text alone can be a bit uninspiring sometimes. We encourage the use of images but make sure they contribute to your message. Either use them to show which topic you are researching (e.g. plane aerodynamics, body fat distribution, or the history of women’s rights), or when they have intrinsic value and show something that you cannot point out in words (e.g. the location of an aorta stent, or the flow of information between low-orbit satellites). Don’t add cute images of people, landscapes, university buildings or flower patterns to spice up your poster.
So please don’t use random useless stock photo’s like these in your presentation! #facepalm
Images aren’t just there to make your poster pretty—they’re there to attract attention and help people understand your message. Here’s how to use images effectively:
Don’t use Google to find images (these are usually copyright protected). Instead, check out these websites for great images:
For a huge collection of useful websites where you can find images, illustrations and icons, check out our blog Our favorite (free) tools to create better designs for science communication
Data is the heart of your research, but it needs to be presented in a way that’s easy to digest. Here’s how to nail your data visualization:
Check out part 4 of our Poster Guideline for tips on datavisualization.
Color can make your poster stand out from a sea of boring light blue posters, but too many colors can turn it into a visual assault. Here’s how to use color wisely:
There are many tools and articles to help you pick the right colors. Learn from their expertise:
Check out part 5 of our Poster Guideline for tips on the use of colors.
A well-balanced poster is a joy to look at. Here’s how to achieve that perfect balance:
Don’t just prepare your pitch, also think of what you want to say when someone approaches your poster. Or better yet, what you want to ask them. It’s an opportunity to learn something yourself. It also helps to reduce your nerves if it’s your first time (or if it’s just not your cup of tea to talk to dozens of strangers).
Also think about what critical questions people may have about your poster and prepare a short answer. Is your research about the benefits of cheese and it is funded by the dairy industry? Expect some critical questions. Be grateful you get these questions, it’s what proper scientific discussion is all about!
That other people are cramming graphs and text into their poster is not your problem. You don’t have to copy them. Do all posters need to be blue on white and have hundreds of bullet-points? The reason why so many academic posters are badly designed is because everybody is copying everyone else. And since almost nobody has followed a design or science communication course, they just do what everyone else does: copy their paper to a poster.
Institution templates are another hurdle to tackle. Maybe you have to abide by a standard template from your institution, or add huge logos from every single collaborator (and even pictures of their locations!) on it. We advise that you do NOT give in to these demands without a fight. Remember: these guidelines are not made by science communication experts, but often by the press officer with a desire for a uniform look, or by more senior scientists who think design is something achieved by rainbow-colored text effects in Word. You get our frustration…
Of course, it’s good to adhere to the physical format of the poster mount and have large and legible text, but we’ll try to push you out of your comfort zone here a bit. You will not get punished by anyone for using different colors than your institution, use a more legible font size, and use design in a way that makes your research pop. Remember: you can not stand out if your poster looks like all the other boring posters in the room!
Leonardo came to our workshop to design a poster for a conference that uses a specific template. It was a very ugly template with a brown gradient and a large conference logo and title. Since we could not change any of that, we advized to go all-in with the template colors. So we used the same browns as the header and made sure it was easy on the eyes.
With this poster Leonardo even won the best poster award! This shows that even with badly designed template you can still create a good poster if you apply all the design tips.
Conference guidelines are not all bad. We were surprised to learn that a lot of conferences actually want you to create something beautiful! Here’s a selection of some tips international conference organizers gave on their websites that we fully agree with:
There is a fear among PhD students that someone will come up to their poster and dislike it because it’s missing a specific detail. We get it, doing your first poster presentation can be terrifying. But remember, your poster is not the only source of information, you are! You’ll be there, ready to fill in any details that didn’t make it onto the poster.
If this doesn’t ease your mind, print out the (preliminary) paper or additional details not included on your poster, and keep them handy. Chances are, nobody will ask for them, but just having them around might give you peace of mind.
However, you might end up with 20 printed copies and no one to give them to. Plus, let’s be honest—how often do people actually read all the handouts they collect when they get home? Instead of focusing on the details, think about how you can make a lasting connection.
We think that making connections is more important than sharing all the details of your research right then and there. So instead, give out your LinkedIn or ResearchGate details, or your personal website URL, so you are instantly connected and they will see any new updates you post in their timeline. If they are still interested in the details, you have their contact information to send them your paper when it’s published!
Do you want to stand out? Bring a prop related to your research to the stand. Do you research fat cells? Bring a pound of lard with you (in a sealed bag please). Do you research tooth health? Bring a plastic jaw with you that people can touch. This will ensure that people visit your poster and can be a fun way to meet new people.
Bring post-it notes for people to write tips and feedback on. Or laminate your poster and give people a whiteboard marker to write things on it or highlight sections they think are important. This is not only a nice gimmick that people will remember, but can be good for you as a reminder of the feedback you were given. As an added bonus it gives visitors a chance to interact with each other.
Want to get a head-start on designing your poster? We’ve developed a simple template for your poster to get you ahead of the curve. But don’t take this template too seriously! In fact, we usually advise against using templates; if everybody starts using them to create the exact same poster, nobody will stand out. It’s your job to make it interesting and fit your needs and limitations.
Use the good design checklist from our workshops after you finished the design. If you tick all the boxes, you can be confident that you have created a good poster:
Are you proud of your poster design? Did it win an award, or do you think it could inspire others? We’re on the lookout for well-designed, original posters to showcase how effective and beautiful poster presentations can be in our hall of fame.
We’d love to feature your work and help inspire the scientific community! Send us your best poster design as a PDF or PPT, along with your name and LinkedIn profile, to liesbeth@theonlinescientist.com. Feel free to include a short quote about the feedback and discussions your poster generated, and how you felt presenting it. Your work might be featured, helping others create impactful posters too!
Want to learn more about how to create amazing posters? Check out our workshop on Poster presentation & Infographic design.
Are you’re a university communication officer or conference organiser, get in touch to learn about our webinars so we can train your researchers to present their work better.
Liesbeth combines her knowledge of science communication, technology and design to explain difficult topics to a wide audience. You can use her practical tips immediately in your (poster) presentations to create a bigger impact. She developed dozens of websites, infographics and animated videos, and regularly gives workshops about design at The Online Scientist.
