◆ Posters & conferences
How to make a scientific poster: the complete guide
How to build a scientific poster for a conference: structure, how much text to actually use, visual hierarchy and the six mistakes we see arriving at the print shop.
GUUG · July 2026
◆ In short
A scientific poster is not a paper stuck on a wall: it is a visual hook that has to work from three metres away and support a three-minute conversation. The practical rule: fewer than 800 words in total, one research question up front, results as the protagonist and methods cut to the bone. The rest you tell in person. At the end you will find the six mistakes we see most often when files reach the print shop, all avoidable in ten minutes.
The structure: the eight blocks of a poster
Almost every conference expects the same scaffolding, inherited from the research paper but compressed. You do not need to invent it: you need to portion it. These are the blocks, with the space each one actually deserves.
Title
90% of the workIt is the only thing everyone will read. It must state the finding, not the topic: not "A study on treatment adherence" but "Treatment adherence drops by 40% after six months". Large type, readable from three metres.
Authors and affiliations
under the titleNames, institutions and, if the conference requires it, logos. Keep it sober: this line exists to make you identifiable, not to fill space.
Introduction
3-4 linesThe bare minimum of context plus a single research question, written so that it is understandable on its own. If it takes two paragraphs to get there, the question is not clear yet.
Methods
the shortestStudy design, population, measures, almost in note form. It is the block everyone oversizes and almost nobody reads: whoever cares will ask you out loud.
Results
the protagonistIt should take up about half the poster and be made of charts and tables, not prose. One well-made chart with a one-line caption beats three paragraphs.
Conclusions
2-3 bulletsWhat you found and why it matters, as bullets. If a conclusion is not supported by a chart above it, cut it.
References
4-6 entriesOnly the references actually cited on the poster, in small type. Nobody reads twenty citations on a panel.
Contacts and QR code
at the bottomEmail and, optionally, a QR code pointing to the preprint or the data. Test the QR with a phone on the printed poster, not just on screen: if it is too small or sits on a dark background it will not scan.
How much text: far less than you think
This is where a poster is won or lost, and almost everyone errs in the same direction. The reference figure shared across the scientific community is under 800 words in total, counting headings, captions and references. Many posters that reach us have twice that.
The reason is practical, not aesthetic. In a poster session people walk, stop two or three metres away and decide in seconds whether to come closer. If from that distance they see a wall of text, they move on. The poster does not have to tell everything: it has to stop someone and get them talking to you. The full content lives in the paper, and that is exactly what the QR code is for.
A test that always works: print the poster on A4, pin it up and step back one metre. One metre on A4 corresponds roughly to three metres on an A0 poster. If from there you cannot read the title, the block headings and the numbers on the charts, your type is too small.
How people actually read a poster
People walking past a poster do not read left to right like a page: they jump to the title, then to the biggest chart, then to the conclusions. Only if they are hooked do they go back for methods and introduction. Designing around that path, rather than the paper's order, changes everything.
Columns, not rows
Two or three vertical columns, read top to bottom then left to right. It is the flow people expect and it needs no arrows or numbers to be understood.
Body type size
On A0, body text works between 24 and 32 points, section headings between 48 and 60, the title between 72 and 100. Below 24 points it is unreadable standing up.
White space
Empty space is not wasted space: it is what makes everything else readable. A poster with generous margins and air between blocks looks more considered and reads faster.
Colour, sparingly
One accent colour to highlight the number that matters, everything else in greys or muted tones. Posters using six different colours guide the eye nowhere.
The six mistakes we see arriving at the print shop
These are not style tips: they are the concrete problems that force a reprint, usually the day before you travel. We see them at the counter and they are always the same.
⚠︎ Low-resolution images
By far the most common. A chart copied from a slide deck or downloaded from a website sits at 72 dots per inch: perfect on screen, blurry once printed at A0. You need images at 150 dots per inch at final size, or vector charts exported straight from your analysis software.
⚠︎ The file built at the wrong size
Posters laid out on a 25×19 cm PowerPoint slide and then enlarged eightfold. Enlargement multiplies every flaw. Set the document size to the final size from the start, or at least to an exact scale (half size, then doubled at print).
⚠︎ Type too small
The second classic. Below 24 points on A0 nobody reads standing up, and the temptation to shrink type to fit everything in is precisely the symptom of the real problem: there is too much text.
⚠︎ Colours that shift in print
The bright cyans and greens you see on screen do not exist in print: the monitor makes them with light, paper cannot. If a chart tells two groups apart only by a shade of blue, in print those groups look identical. Distinguish them by pattern or marker shape as well.
⚠︎ Fonts not embedded
The file opens at our end and the typefaces change, wrecking the layout. Avoid it by exporting to PDF with font embedding enabled, and by re-opening the PDF on a computer other than your own.
⚠︎ No safety margin
Text or logos pushed against the edge of the sheet. Trimming and mounting on the panel always eat a few millimetres: keep at least 2 cm clear on every side.
Frequently asked questions
- How much text should a scientific poster have?
- Fewer than 800 words in total, including captions and references. It is the figure the scientific community converged on and it survives the practical test: a denser poster does not get read in a crowded session. If the text does not fit, the problem is not the type size but the amount of content.
- What size should a conference poster be?
- The most requested format in Europe is portrait A0, that is 84.1 × 118.9 cm, but every conference publishes its own measurements in the rules and they must be respected, because display panels are a fixed size. All formats and how to read the rules are in the dedicated guide on scientific poster dimensions.
- Portrait or landscape?
- The conference decides, not personal taste: the assigned panel has a fixed orientation, and a landscape poster on a portrait panel simply does not fit. With no instructions given, portrait is the safer choice in Europe.
- Which software should I use for a scientific poster?
- Any program that lets you set the real document size will do: PowerPoint is the most used and perfectly adequate, Canva is convenient, LaTeX with beamerposter is the standard in maths and computer science. The comparison and the available templates are in the guide on scientific poster templates and examples.
- How far in advance should I prepare the poster?
- Printing itself is quick, but the margin is for surprises: a file to redo because the images are low-resolution costs a day. The practical rule is to have the final file ready at least three days before you travel. If you are in Rome and running late, same-day printing is possible: see the page on scientific poster printing.
- Should I put a QR code on the poster?
- It is useful if it leads somewhere concrete: the preprint, the dataset, your profile. Put it at the bottom, generously sized, on a light background, and test it with a phone on the actual print. A QR that does not scan is worse than no QR, because whoever tries and fails walks away.
- Can the poster be printed on fabric instead of paper?
- Yes, and it is the usual solution for anyone flying: fabric folds into a suitcase, while paper needs a rigid tube that often does not fit as hand luggage. The trade-offs between the two materials are in the guide on poster sizes and materials.
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