Creating a Large Format Poster Using PowerPoint

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1 Creating a Large Format Poster Using PowerPoint This document will walk you through creating a large format poster, such as for Fall Fest or Academic Spree Day, using PowerPoint. The Ideal Poster is Designed To... provide a brief overview of your work initiate discussion attract attention give you something useful to point to as you discuss your work stand alone when you're not there to provide an explanation let people know of your particular expertise To Begin Step 1. Step 2. Step 3. Step 4. Open PowerPoint on your computer. Click View Task Pane. On the Task Pane, click to change Getting Started to Slide Layout then click the Blank layout. Let s plan for the final output of your poster by setting the poster page size to its final proportions (generally 36 x 48 for a standard landscape-oriented poster). Click File Page Setup, then Custom from the Slides Sized For box. Set the width to 48 and the height to 36. Be sure the slide is oriented for Landscape. Then click OK. 3 4 Step 5. Now, let s save the working document. Click File Save and name and save the file where you would like, such as in your My Documents folder. Step 6. In designing a poster, we are treating PowerPoint like a page layout application, so it will help to have the on-screen ruler visible. To turn it on use the View Ruler menu. We should also make changes to the invisible alignment grid that PowerPoint uses. Click on View Grids and Guides and adjust the settings to match the image. This will set default 6

2 object spacing to one-quarter inch increments and will display center reference lines. Step 7. Next, you should rough out your poster design using the Drawing tools usually displayed along the bottom of the window. 7 Click the Rectangle tool, and then draw a rectangle across the top of the poster by clicking and dragging the mouse to define the poster header space. Step 8. Now, use the rectangle tool to draw a column about a quarter of the width of the page. Double-click the rectangle to open the Format Autoshape window. Here, you can change the size and position of the shape with very fine control. For example, click on the Size tab and set the height to 28 and the width to Then, click OK. This is a good size for a full column of text. 8 Step 9. With the column still selected, you can Copy (Ctrl-C) and Paste (Ctrl-V) to create additional shapes. Move them by clickdragging them with your mouse or 9 use the arrow keys on your keyboard. When the object is selected, you can also click-drag on the resize handles (the tiny circles) along the perimeter to change the size of an object. Experiment with these shapes to layout the basic design of your poster. Here are two examples. Step 10. When you have completed the basic design, you can begin to add text, graphs, charts and other images. Here s how: From the Drawing toolbar, click the horizontal Text tool. 10 Step 11. Now, click inside the rectangle you created for your poster header. You should see a patterned frame around the box and a flashing cursor inside. You can now type the title information for your poster. Adjust font sizes as necessary. 11

3 The following font sizes should help guide you to produce a poster with readable text: poster heading 68 point sub-heading 58 point content headings 34 point body text 24 point Step 12. Use the text tool to add text to your other column placeholders in the same way. You will likely find that text positioning, alignment and wrap control are not working in the way that you expect. Fix this by double-clicking on the rectangles to open the Format Autoshape windows, and select the Text Box tab. 12 Adjust the Text Anchor Point to Top and click the checkbox next to Word wrap text in AutoShape. If you text does not fit in the area that you have defined, you can also click the checkbox next to Resize Autoshape to fit text. Step 13. Along with text, you will most like want to include images. According to the ITS Poster Printing Guidelines ( all images should be either JPEG or GIF files or your poster may not print correctly. You should use another application, such as IrfanView on the PC, ImageWell on the Mac, or something like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to prepare your images before bringing them into PowerPoint. In addition to converting your images to JPEG or GIF, we strongly recommend that you lighten up dark images for legibility, as the poster printer tends to print things darker than they appear on the screen. To add an image, click Insert Picture From File or the Insert Image button on the Drawing toolbar. Find the file and click OK. 13 Don t worry if the picture comes in very large or in the wrong place. Adjusting it is our next step. Step 14. If the image is quite large, double-click the image to bring up its Properties. Click the Size tab, and change the height to something manageable, such as 8 and click OK. By default, the picture should scale by equal proportions for both height and width, and you should now have a smaller image to work with. Click and hold on the image to drag the image where you want to place it. To resize the image, click and drag any of the resize handles on the edge of the image. Generally it is best to resize using one of the four corner handles to keep the proportions constant. When you are satisfied, release the mouse button. 14

4 You can also add lines, boxes and arrows by using other tools available on the Drawing toolbar. NOTE: If you would like to use the Clark University logo on your poster, you can find relatively good logos at the Publications page of the Office of Communications: If you are a member of the faculty or staff, higher quality images are available from the Office of Communications Logos page: Step 15. If you no longer need one of the placeholder rectangles where an image is now being used, simply click once on the placeholder to select it and press the Backspace key on your keyboard. Step 16. To add a chart or graph, use the Insert Chart or the Insert Table menu commands, respectively. Clicking Insert Chart will bring up a graph and a small datasheet with dummy data from which the chart is made. Change this data to your own and customize the chart to suit your needs. You can also Copy (Ctrl-C) and Paste (Ctrl-V) a chart from your own Excel spreadsheet file. Like images, you will need to adjust the size of the table or chart and make adjustments for text fonts and sizes. Double-click a chart to make changes to the data and/or the appearance of the chart. Right-click a chart and select Format Object to make changes to the chart s size or position. Again, too, you can delete any previous placeholder by selecting it and typing the Backspace key. Step 17. You should now remove the color and border outlines from the text fields on your poster. To do so, click the object (or shift-click to select multiple objects) and then right-click on the edge of the object and select Format Autoshape. Click on the Color and Lines tab. Change the Fill Color to No Fill and the Line Color to No Fill, and click OK. Step 18. While you should be saving all along, if you have not been doing so Save the file Now! To avoid problems, do not use spaces or punctuation characters in the title. It helps also if you include your name in filename. An example is jsmithfallfestposter.ppt 17 You re almost done! One problem that often comes up, though, is that your poster file size may be unnecessarily bloated by large images. To reduce your file size, you will need to compress your images. Continue to Step 19.

5 Step 19. To reduce your file size, you will need to compress your images. Right-click on any single image in your poster and select Format picture. This should open the Format Picture window on the Picture tab. Click the Compress button. In the Compress Picture window, use the settings in the image here, making sure that All pictures in document is selected. A warning will appear, but you should be fine to simply click Apply. This can significantly reduce your file size, leading to fewer problems when you get to Step 21 below. Step 20. Before submitting the poster, print the final version on a single piece of 11 x 8.5" paper to check it over. Make sure that all images print out, that text stays within the areas you want, that all text appears on the page, and for other problems such as spelling and grammar. 19 Fin Step 21. When you are ready to have the poster printed, review the Poster Printing Guidelines at and use the Printing Request Form link on that page to submit the file.