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And how much time does it usually take? I'd like to create a poster without having to put too much time into formatting.

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9 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

Powerpoint. There are hundreds of PowerPoint poster templates available online, many of them are good, and it is one of the standard formats people accept — and can be exported to PDF for easy post-conference distribution.

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5  
Ppt is the best for quick and dirty poster design. I'd caution against latex unless you really need the math. – Suresh Jun 5 '12 at 2:58
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Coming from a LaTeX world, I just had to do my first Ppt poster. It's been a pain in the a__. But not because of the math. Alignment and margin control has to be set all manual, with guessed accuracy. Hence I second the dirty in @EpiGrad's comment. – Sebastian Jun 5 '12 at 8:30
I made all my posters in ppt. If you use fancy transparent backgrounds (like I did) you may have some trouble with printing pdf, but you can always just save a large image, which will be printed correctly. – Ajasja Jun 5 '12 at 10:12
Earlier versions, and possibly the current version, had a mximum size limitation. – Daniel E. Shub Jun 5 '12 at 10:58
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@Sebastion - PowerPoint has the ability to control the size and position of any object to the hundredth of an inch. Right click the object and then choose size and position. PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 have an autoalign feature (it works better in 2010) that automatically aligns the object you are dragging around to the edges or center of other nearby objects. – Ben Norris Jun 5 '12 at 11:19
up vote 12 down vote

I haven't written a poster yet, but if you're a Latex savvy, there are plenty of packages that allow you to design posters.

See related questions:

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4  
The problem with LaTeX posters is that they look like LaTeX posters. – Dave Clarke Jun 5 '12 at 6:28
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@DaveClarke I think you have it wrong, it is not a problem, but in fact an advantage, that LaTeX posters look like LaTeX posters. – Daniel E. Shub Jun 5 '12 at 10:57
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@DanielE.Shub: In any case, that LaTeX posters look like LaTeX posters is certainly a defining characteristic of LaTeX posters. – Dave Clarke Jun 5 '12 at 10:59
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@DaveClarke: Yes, and the problem with PowerPoint posters is that they look like PowerPoint posters. – JeffE Jun 12 '12 at 5:48
up vote 9 down vote

I would recommend Inkscape:

http://inkscape.org/

  • vector graphics
  • powerful
  • free
  • intuitive
  • cross platform
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1  
I wonder if this would be better as a comment to the Illustrator answer. While there are differences between the two, the work flow for making a poster is almost identical. – Daniel E. Shub Jun 5 '12 at 11:00
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+1 I use Inkscape, and there are plugins for LaTeX so you can add vectorized math or content directly from your LaTeX-based publications. Also it's free.... – Yann Jun 5 '12 at 14:45
@DanielE.Shub If Inkscape was an Open Source version of Illustrator, you could have a point - but it is not. – torbenl Jun 6 '12 at 11:59
@torbenl According to inkscape.org Inkscape is a: vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X. Of your bullet points, the two that differentiate Inkscape and Illustrator are free and cross platform, but I don't see how this matters for making a poster. This is nothing against Inkscape. Had you posted first, I would have made the comment on the Illustrator answer. – Daniel E. Shub Jun 6 '12 at 12:42
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@Suresh: Inkscape is an open-source Illustrator like a Schwinn is a manual Harley-Davidson. – JeffE Jun 12 '12 at 5:51
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up vote 8 down vote

I would like to avoid bringing this question into the subjective situation but I'm personally a fan of Adobe Illustrator as it combines the speed and ease of ppt (but not as quick and dirty) but it provides much more control. If you save the files as *.SVG or *.PS files, you can get really into the details and obtain a WYSIWYG level of detail. Plus, if you're aiming to print your poster, it becomes much easier to switch between RGB and CMYK color.

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up vote 7 down vote

In general there are a number of different distinct workflows that lead to a poster. Each workflow has a number of software implementations.

  • Word Processor (Word, Pages, OpenOffice Writer)
  • Presentation Software (e.g., PowerPoint, Keynote, Impress)
  • Vector Graphics (e.g., Illustrator, Inkscape, OpenOffice Draw)
  • Desktop Publishing (e.g. Publisher, In Design)
  • LaTeX

There are advatages/disadvatages to each category and to each piece of software within a category. For making a poster, the differences within a category are much smaller than the differences across categories.

Word processors are probbaly the weakest for layout, but are likely the software you are most familair with. Presentation software is a little stronger on the layout and also something you are likely familiar with. Vector graphic programs are really strong on the layout, but take a lot of fiddling. Most academic work doesn't require extensive use of a vector graphics program, so most people are not familiar. There is little added benefit of learning one. Desktop publishing software is really designed for making posters and other complicated layout (think magazines and brochures). There is almost no reason for most academics to master a desktop publishing software. LaTeX is an "oddball" you can use it for everything and it is well suited for both simple layouts and complicated layouts. The learning curve is pretty steep.

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up vote 5 down vote

For completeness, Apple's Pages has quite a few nice poster layouts.

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+1 For me it works well. Especially as I recycle slides from Keynote. (But I know only LaTeX/Beamer for comparison.) – Piotr Migdal Oct 30 '12 at 9:13
up vote 3 down vote

Microsoft Publisher is quite easy to use if you're used to work with MS Office already (especially Powerpoint). It helps you with some basic checks, e.g. that images you include have sufficient resolution, you're working in the correct color space, ...

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Is publisher better than ppt in any obvious ways for a poster like this? – Andy W Jun 6 '12 at 22:07
I haven't made any posters in Powerpoint, but I do believe so. You can specifically design for a paper size of A0, check the print resolution of included images after scaling, check how it looks like in CMYK, things like that. Overall the additions might not be worth spending money on for everyone, but if you get it for free from your university I'd use it instead of PPT. – akid Jun 7 '12 at 7:08
You can do whatever paper size you want to in ppt. Thanks for chiming in though, resolution is a problem in ppt, as they make it hard to import vector graphics (EMF is not an export option when making many graphs). – Andy W Jun 7 '12 at 11:46
up vote 3 down vote

As always, if you are on a mac, you can use the combo omnigraffle + latexit.

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up vote 3 down vote

I want to add an additional tool that I always use:

Adobe InDesign

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Our school also recommends InDesign as an alternative to Powerpoint for posters. – mythealias Oct 31 '12 at 7:23

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