Some classes may require students to create and print an academic poster for presentation during class or a campus event.
Software Needed
The print shop requires a PDF file for printing a poster. While students can use professional design software such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign to layout a poster, most students use PowerPoint to create the poster and then save the poster slide as a PDF file before sending it to the print shop.
Design Tips
- The staff at Musselman Library have created a guide to designing an academic poster that includes design tips, poster templates, and copyright information.
- Designing Conference Posters by Colin Purrington provides a detailed discussions of the dos and don’ts of traditional poster design.
- Mike Morrison’s #BetterPoster approach offers what he believes is a less cluttered, easier to process poster design that has a main image or message flanked by two side bars. See this article for an overview of the #BetterPoster technique.
Printing a Poster
Ricoh, Gettysburg College’s print shop, is located in the West Building and can print posters in PDF format up to 42 inches. Students can use Vending$ to pay for posters. The print shop requires at least one week advanced notice to print a poster. See Ricoh’s web page for more information.
