Creating Posters using MS PowerPoint 2007

Transcription

1 Staff and Departmental Development Unit GRADUATE TRAINING AND SUPPORT CENTRE Creating Posters using MS PowerPoint 2007

2 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 2 Creating posters with PowerPoint 2007 Although PowerPoint was not designed for producing posters, it can be set up to do so. The aim of this booklet is to provide practical guidance for producing posters using PowerPoint. It is continually updated in response to questions from postgraduate research students at the University of Leeds. Please let me know if there's something you would like to see included. CONTENTS CREATING POSTERS WITH POWERPOINT GETTING STARTED 3 INSERTING AND EDITING CONTENT 5 ARRANGING OBJECTS 12 DRAWING IN POWERPOINT 14 IMAGES 16 PROOFING AND PRINTING 18 Key Important Tip Mouse Checkbox Dr Heather Sears Staff and Departmental Development Unit Parkinson Building h.j.sears@adm.leeds.ac.uk

3 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 3 Getting Started Open Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 and a new file is created. The default slide included in the blank presentation uses the Title Slide layout. Change the layout of the slide to the blank layout. Select blank content layout. This will stop the font autosizing as you type Set the page size Design Tab Page-setup Page sizes Change on-screen show to Custom Set the desired orientation Set the width and height of your poster. This example is for an A0 landscape poster. A0 A1 A2 A3 A x 118.9cm 59.4 x 84.1cm 42.0 x 59.4cm 29.7 x 42.0cm 21.0 x 29.7cm ers up to 90cm wide, 120cm long

4 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 4 Grids and Guides The Guides are non printing straight lines used to visually align objects and the Grid is a set of intersecting lines used to align objects. They can make it easier for you to align objects, because they give you a visual cue in relation to the objects and the slide. Home Tab Drawing Group Align Button Grid Settings This will display two guides that intersect in the centre of the slide/poster. To get extra guides hold CTRL key down and drag from an existing line. To delete guides drag them off the edge of the slide. Set the background colour Design Tab Background Styles Format Background Under Fill, do one of the following: 1) For one colour Solid fill Color: Select the colour you want, or click More Colors and from the Custom tab to mix your own colour, and then click OK. 2) For Gradient effects Gradient Fill and then choose from the options provided 3) For Picture or Texture effects Picture or texture Fill and then choose from the options provided The grid includes an option called 'snap-to', which aligns objects to the nearest intersection of the grid or to another object as you draw or move objects. The 'snap-to' option is turned on by default and works even when the grid is not visible. I usually turn the 'snap to' option off. PowerPoint does not have a colour management system This causes problems in colour matching. What you see on the screen might not be what you get on the final print.

5 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 5 Inserting and editing content Create every shape and textbox separately and bring together (this may seem more effort but it will save you a lot of time in the end!). Start from scratch and type directly into the text boxes: It's much easier than trying to rewrite text you take from a paper or report that is written in the passive voice. You will be aware of how much space you have (or haven't) which will help you to be more concise Remember that text should be written in the active voice. Active sentences are easier to process and remember than passive sentences (and shifting from the passive to the active voice saves words!).

6 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 6 Text Insert a textbox Insert tab Text box and click and drag on the slide to draw the Textbox Inserting text into a textbox (a) type your text directly into the textbox or: (b) cut and paste text from another program (e.g. Microsoft Word) Adjust the indent in a bulleted or numbered list 1. If the ruler is not displayed, on the View tab, Ruler. 2. On the slide, click the bulleted or numbered text you want to change. If the text contains more than one level of bulleted or numbered items, the ruler displays indent markers for each level. First-line indent, showing the indent position of the bullet or number. Left indent marker, showing the indent position of text in the list. 3. Do any of the following: To change the position of the bullets or numbers, drag the first-line indent marker. To change the position of the text, drag the left indent marker. Drag just the pointed top part of the marker (if you drag the bottom rectangle, both indents move together). To move the indents as a whole and keep the relationship between the bullet or number and the left text indent as it is, drag the rectangular part on the bottom of the left indent marker. Repeat step 3 for each level of bullets and numbers and each level of text you want to change. Insert a shape Autoshapes From the Home tab Shapes, the shape you want. where you want to insert the Shape and drag. Shapes can be resized, rotated, flipped, coloured, and combined to make more complex shapes. Many have an adjustment handle that you can use to change the most prominent feature of a shape for example, you can change the size of the point on an arrow. The Shapes available several categories of shapes: lines, basic shapes, flowchart elements, stars and banners, and callouts. More shapes can be found in the Clip Organizer as well. You can add text to shapes. The text you add becomes part of the shape if you rotate or flip the shape, the text rotates or flips with it.

7 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 7 Text boxes can be treated as shapes. They are formatted in many of the same ways shapes are formatted, including adding colours, fills, and borders. Connecting objects There are various types of connector lines to connect objects, the main ones are straight, elbow (angled), and curved. After you choose a connector Shape, red connector sites appear on objects as you move the mouse pointer over them. These points indicate where you can attach a connector line. When you rearrange objects that are joined with a connector line, the connectors remain attached to the objects and move with the objects. If you move either end of a connector, that end unlocks or detaches from the object. You can then lock it to another connection site on the same object, or you can lock it to another object. Once the connector locks on a connection site, the connector stays connected to the objects, no matter how you move each object. Locked connector Unlocked connector After you rearrange connected objects, some connectors might need to be rerouted to make the most direct connections and keep connectors from crossing objects. For example: It could take a long time to draw this diagram using individual arrows. Connectors are quick and easy. Alternatively, you could try using one of the new SmartArt Graphics

8 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 8 Images and logos Make sure images are at a high enough resolution Avoid using images downloaded off the web as they tend to be low resolution (72dpi) and will not print well. Scanned images should be at least 300dpi. Save line art (charts and graphs) as.gif. Save photographs as.jpg. The University of Leeds logo The University has identity management guidelines. On full colour literature, such as a poster only the black or white logo may be used. The University logo is a fixed artwork. It must not be altered or recreated in any way. Neither the tower symbol nor the typography should be used independently of the other. For further information and guidance refer to the Identity management website: Inserting the logo into your poster Go to: Download the printed version of the black or white logo and save to disc. When you save the file you will need to add or change the file extension to.eps Go back to your PowerPoint file Insert tab Picture You will need to change the file type to 'All files' to be able to see the logo file where you have saved it. The logo you have inserted is Encapsulated PostScript EPS format (.eps). This does not render well on screen in PowerPoint. However it will print perfectly on a postscript printer. Sponsors logos Download a print quality logo from your sponsors' website. If you can't find one contact your sponsors and request one. Do not copy logos from websites as the image quality will be too poor for your poster

9 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 9 Making imported images transparent Image, from the Format tab, Recolor, Set Transparent Color Click the colour within the image to make it transparent. Maintaining an objects aspect ratio when resizing Do one of the following: Hold down the shift while enlarging the object Format tab Size dialog box launcher select Size tab Lock aspect ratio then alter the dimensions of your object. OK. THIS IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT WHEN DRAWING CIRCLES AND RESIZING PICTURES and LOGOS! Resizing the logo or a circle without holding down the Shift key Resizing the logo or a circle with the Shift key held down during drawing and resizing. How can I stop images looking choppy when they re enlarged? Convert it to jpg or.bmp before stretching it. Open in Adobe Photoshop, go to Image, Mode and select CMYK. Then Save As jpg as the image format. Give it a quality value of 6.

10 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 10 Adding borders to objects Add an outline: Format tab Picture Border The default line thickness is ¾ pt. This is not thick enough to show up well on a poster. I would recommend 4½ pt as the minimum line thickness you should use.

11 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 11 Tables and Charts Tables Use Cut and Paste to insert previously prepared tables. If this doesn t work use Paste Special and bring in as a picture. To edit Tables after they have been inserted into Powerpoint - select the Table and then use the on-demand tabs on the ribbon, Design and Layout to alter the appearance. Charts Use an Shape rectangle on your poster to decide on the size and proportions of the space you will use for the graph, including its title, key, axis labels and any annotation. Open a new Powerpoint file and in it, draw an Autoshape rectangle (no fill) the size and proportions you want. If you want to make your graph bigger than A4 you will need to adjust the size of your new Powerpoint file. Save this file with a name like fig1.ppt. Make the graph (chart) in Excel or in SPSS. Save or print out a copy with axis labels, titles and numbers (everything that uses a font) then delete all these things from the graph, leaving just the data and the axes. Recolour the graph using the Excel or SPSS menus, to match your poster colour scheme. If you want to change the style (eg shape of points on scatter plots, weight of lines, ratio between bar widths and bar separation, 3D effects) do it now. If using Excel: cut and paste the chart area into fig1.ppt. If using SPSS: export the chart to Powerpoint format then cut and paste from this new file into fig1.ppt. In the Format tab - Size dialog box, turn off Lock Aspect Ratio. Adjust the size and proportions of the graph to fit inside your Shape rectangle allowing space for titles and key. Use Text Boxes to re-insert all the axis labels, titles and numbers, selecting the font and text size(s) that you want for your poster. Make a key, if needed, using Text Boxes and coloured Shapes. Use Format tab - Align - Distribute to position all these objects. When you are happy with your graph, click on the Shape rectangle that defines its boundary and select Line - No Line unless you want there to be a line around the graph on your poster. Use the cursor to highlight everything in fig1.ppt and use Format tab - Group to fix the relative positions of all the elements. Save this file in case you want to change it again later. Copy and paste the Group of ppt objects onto your poster and move it to the place you want it, without resizing. (This section about Charts is courtesy of Sam Mason, Faculty of Biological Sciences) PowerPoint 2007 now uses the same Chart tools as Excel, so it is possible to create the Chart directly in the presentation and modify it using the same tools as Excel.

12 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 12 Arranging objects Moving an object Select the object by clicking its border, and when the pointer becomes a four-headed arrow, drag the object. When moving a text box, you may find that a single click does not select the entire object, only the text inside the text box. It may be necessary to click on the border a second time in order to select the entire text box, which will then allow you to move it. To constrain an object so it moves only horizontally or vertically, press SHIFT as you drag the object. Select multiple objects (a) To select multiple objects that aren t next to each other, hold down the Shift key and click on the rest of the objects you want to select one by one or (b) To select multiple objects that are next to each other. Click on one corner of the area and drag a marquee around the objects you want to select. drag the marquee around the objects you want to select. Group objects to form a single object To facilitate rearrangement of objects on your poster, it may be advantageous to group some of them into a single object so they can be moved as a unit, retaining their relative position to each other. You can flip, rotate, and resize or scale all objects in a group as a single unit. You can also change the attributes of all objects in a group at one time for example, you might change the fill colour or add a shadow to all objects in the group. Or, you can select an item within a group and apply an attribute, without ungrouping. You can also create groups within groups to help you build complex drawings. You can ungroup a group of objects at any time and then regroup them later. Select the objects you want to group then Format tab Group Group Reverse by selecting the object Format Group Ungroup

13 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 13 Order objects Objects automatically stack in individual layers as you add them. You see the stacking order when objects overlap the top object covers a portion of objects beneath it. You can move individual objects or groups of objects in a stack. For example, you can move objects up or down within a stack one layer at a time, or you can move them to the top or bottom of a stack in one move. You can overlap objects when you draw to create different effects. Select the object you want to move then Format tab bring to Front/Send to back as appropriate You can also display the selection pane to rearrange the objects on a slide Select the object you want to move then Bring Forward (blue arrow pointing up) / Send backward (blue arrow pointing down) as appropriate Making sure objects are the same size For PowerPoint 2003 file Right click on object you want to resize and Format Shape For PowerPoint 2007 file Right click on object you want to resize and Size and Position Size tab and adjust dimensions as appropriate.

14 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 14 Align and distribute objects Select the objects you want to group then Format tab Align appropriate icon. Moving objects up/down and left/right a little bit at a time Select object by clicking on it once and use the arrow keys to move object Practice - Fancy numbers Start a new slide ( Home tab New slide) Draw a small text box and type 1 Change the font size and colour Home tab Font Group Change text size with this tool Change text colour with this tool Then draw a shape that you want as the background. Fill the shape with colour. Change shape colour with this tool. You can also use Fill effects from the drop down menu Or apply one of the predefined Shape styles Drag the shape on top of the number. You may have to use Format tab Send to Back to make the number sit on top of the shape. You should then Group the number and shape before copying and pasting into you poster

15 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 15 Drawing in PowerPoint PowerPoint isn t a dedicated drawing program but if you need a simple drawing then PowerPoint may be all you need. Line Arrow Double Arrow Curve Freeform Scribble Line, Arrow and Double Arrow Choose the line tool and click where you want to create the starting point of the line. Drag the mouse pointer to wherever you want to create the closing point of the line. Let go of the mouse button. Curve 1. Choose the Curve tool and click anywhere on the slide to create a starting point. 2. Move the pointer down and to the right of the first point in a 45-degree angle and click again. 3. Move leftward in a straight line and click again. 4. Click over the first point to close the shape (If you don't want to close the shape, just double-click wherever you want to place the closing point of the curve).. Freeform line The Freeform line tool can create both freeform lines and straight lines. Its best capability may be a sequence of straight lines that form a shape or drawing. 1. Select the Freeform line tool and click where you want to create the starting point. Don't release the mouse button yet. Drag and draw the same way you would with a pencil on paper. 2. Click anywhere on the slide to create another point. Keep adding nodes with connecting lines to create your own shape. To do that, keep clicking to create new points and lines in between the points. Think of this as working in the same way as those connect-the-dots drawing books! 3. When your drawing is done, click the first node (the starting point) to close the shape (If you don't want a closed shape, just double-click the last node). Working with SmartArt graphics Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 has powerful diagramming features, which let you add much more than detailed diagrams and organization charts to presentations. All diagrams available in PowerPoint 2007 are now called SmartArt graphics. NT&lcid=2057

16 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 16 Working with WordArt WordArt is unrecognisable from previous versions of MS Office. You can visually enhance text in ways that go far beyond changing a font or font size and you don t have to be an artist to create stylized text, because WordArt now includes galleries of styles. Images Before including images in webpages, presentations or posters, you must have the permission of the rights owner - unless you know the image is out of copyright or covered by a licence held by the University of Leeds. When using material available for free or licensed for reuse, you must always credit the creator and the source. For guidance on using other people s images in your work Go to the University of Leeds Library website and type images into the search box Using digital images in Higher Education JISC Digital Media exists to help the UK s FE and HE communities embrace and maximise the use of digital media - and to achieve solutions that are innovative, practical and cost effective: Advice - Finding and Using Images from JISC Digital Media: MS Office On-line - Clip Art (clipart, photos, animations and sounds) Library image databases listing The image databases on this page are either subscribed to by Leeds University Library or freely available on the web: Microstock image sites Read the terms and conditions of use of the image carefully and ensure you are following any requirements 1) morguefile free images 2) Stock.XCHNG free images 3) Image*After free images 4) dreamstime free photos section Be careful to search the Free stock images only

17 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 17 Flickr - Photo sharing site 1) Creative Commons licence To restrict your searches to content available under Creative Commons licences, go to the Advanced Search and select the Creative Commons option. You can also narrow your results according to whether you want to use the material for commercial purposes or modify the content. 2) Contact the photographer You'll need to create a account (free and only takes a couple of minutes) to become a member. As a member of Flickr, you'll find a "Send [screen name] a message" link available on every member profile in the right-hand column so that you can request use of the photograph. When contacting the photographer, it's best to include as much info as possible. At a minimum supply your name, how you would like to use the photograph and the URL of the photo you're interested in. Also, remember to ask them how they would like to be acknowledged if they give you permission to use the photo. Freeimages: Free images is a high quality resource of digital stock photographic images for use by all. All images in the collection are free to use on websites, printed materials and anywhere you need photos for illustration and design use. Flickr Commons project: where cultural institutions make photographs with no known copyright restrictions available. Wellcome Images: World's leading source of images of medicine and its history, from ancient civilisation and social history to contemporary healthcare, biomedical science and clinical medicine. Over images ranging from manuscripts, rare books, archives and paintings to X-rays, clinical photography and scanning electron micrographs are available online. HEA Centre for Bioscience Imagebank: The user is required to acknowledge the contributor, the copyright holder and the Centre for Bioscience ImageBank on every use of the image(s). Browse the comprehensive Links sections to other evaluated bioscience image collections. EYYgO-0&respos=13&rt=2&ns=POWERPNT&lcid=2057&pid=CH

18 Creating posters with PowerPoint SDDU & ISS University of Leeds 2009 v2.2 P a g e 18 Proofing and Printing View the poster at 100% and examine it closely to be sure that all text and graphics is placed where it should be, with no unwanted overlapping. If graphics do not look good when viewed at 100% they will not look good printed. Examine the overall layout of the poster View tab > Zoom and then selecting Fit. Spell-check the poster Review tab > Spelling, and then carefully proofread the poster to catch errors the spell checker missed. Printing handouts and proofs In the Print dialogue Properties button Select the orientation (Portrait or Landscape) and paper size you will be using for your handout/proof OK. Under Print what select Slides and Scale to fit paper in the Print dialogue box. Check that poster has printed OK in black and white you may have to adjust slightly from your colour version Printing posters at the University of Leeds Print and Copy Bureau, Level 6, Roger Stevens Building pcb@leeds.ac.uk Proofs: Print and Copy Bureau can provide an A3 proof before printing your poster check colours/photographs for colour match Cost: A0 poster is Format:.ppt or.pdf. NOT.jpeg (check before sending other formats)