A formal poster is a great way to share your idea with others, and for UCF Celebrates the Arts posters will be our primary vehicle.  The bad news:  Because of the high profile of this event, how it represents UCF Digital Media, and our industry partner guests you are not guaranteed placement in the event.  Unsatisfactory posters will not be admitted at the discretion of the professor.  The good news:  If your work is accepted, UCF will print and mount the poster!

Composition requirements:

  • 33% images, 33% text, 33% blank space
  • 500-800 total words in the text parts
  • Use a short, catchy, and understandable title
  • Under the title, identify the research investigators on the project
  • Write clearly and concisely, identifying any terms that may be unfamiliar with your audience.  Strive for short, easy-to-read sentences in the body of the poster. Present the text in easily digested chunks. Avoid long paragraphs.
  • Poster should clearly describe your research question, solution (MVP), and target audience.  A person should gain a solid understanding of your project from viewing the poster without any input from you.
  • Include a condensed version of your SWOT (exclude the financials).
  • Poster should demonstrate project feasibility.

Technical requirements:

  • Horizontal layout, 24″ X 36″.
  • 300-600 DPI resolution.
  • Include at .125″ bleed area.
  • 72pt title, 36pt headings, 20pt body text.
  • Use a sans-serif font for titles and headings, and a serif front for body text
  • Include the UCF “tab”.
  • If using Illustrator, create outlines from text and embed images.
  • Export to PDF with at least 300dpi resolution.
  • Work on your documents in CMYK color space (if using Photoshop / Illustrator).
  • Mind your color and value contrast; black text on a gray background won’t work.

Up to speed training:

  • Adobe Illustrator is the best software to use for making a poster, with Photoshop coming in second, and PowerPoint third.  If someone on your team is well versed in one of these applications they should do the final assembly and layout of the poster (though others can generate the text, photos, etc)
  • If no one on your team has used any of these applications, some one (whose interested) should get up to speed with one of the programs (any will make you more marketable for future careers).
  • Here’s some resources for getting up to speed, available to you free through Lynda Campus, but note the time commitment.