Research Poster Presentation

Choose a color scheme

As long as your poster remains readable, adding color is a great way to draw visitors. The effective use of color can help your poster stand out and, if appropriate colors are selected, can strengthen the tone of your message. Be aware that the color scheme you choose should match the tone of your topic. For example, if your research is more lighthearted (e.g., the role of play in an elementary classroom), a bright color scheme would tie in well. The same color scheme used with research on a very serious or weighty topic might be a bit jarring for your audience.

PowerPoint has a number of color themes to choose from, or if you want to experiment, resources like COLOURLovers have user-created color palettes that you can use to customize your poster. Focus your use of color in non-content areas (e.g., box outline and fill on graphs or charts). This use of color will make your poster pop without making it difficult to read.

Keep your background simple

Don't be afraid of a simple background. In fact, a simple background will be your safest bet! It is tempting to use a graphic for the background of your poster, but it can be very difficult to read text over an image. Aim for maximum contrast between your background and your text. If you have a light background, use dark text, and if you have a dark background, use light text.

Look at the two images below. The image on the left is difficult to read for a large number of audiences. The image on the right is much easier to read.