Research Posters

Sizing Your Text

Font size and type are important for legibility. Though text size may vary from poster to poster, the following principles can be broadly applied to research posters:

• Title Text: 85pt
• Author(s): 56pt
• Sub-heading(s): 36pt
• Body Text: 24pt
• Captions: 18pt

Selecting a Font

The general design rule for choosing fonts for a poster is to include no more than 2 font types. To balance headers with body text, you may wish to use both sans serif and serif fonts.

• Commonly Recommended: Sans-serif fonts such as Arial, Gill Sans, Helvetica, and Verdana for body and heading text.

• Serif fonts such as Times New Roman and Garamond are recommend for use as headings. 

Text Alignment and Readability

• Align all paragraphs and headers to the left in order to maintain readability and balance on your poster;
• Use bullets and numbers instead of long paragraphs of text to summarize your research;
• Be careful about overlaying text on images—text should always be easy to see.