Designing Effective Posters: Adding and Revising Content: PowerPoint

Adding and Revising Text

To add text to your poster, click Text Box under the Insert tab.  Then click and drag to create a text box.

You can move a text box by clicking on an edge of the text box and then dragging it. You can resize a text box by dragging its handles. 

To change its formatting, select text and then choose options from the home tab..

To add bullets, select the lines to which you want to add bullets, then choose bullet options from the paragraph area of the toolbar. 

A very useful plugin for PowerPoint is BrightSlide (https://www.brightcarbon.com/brightslide/).  This free plugin works for both Windows and Macs running Microsoft 365.

Once the program is installed on your machine, you will see a new tab called BrightSlide within PowerPoint.

Creating columns

On the BrightSlide tab you have a section called File & Master.  Click on the Guides down arrow and select Create Guides > Add to Layout

The next box will allow you to set a margin around the poster and set columns and row within the poster.

For posters, you will want a 1 inch margin around the poster and no more than 3 columns with a 1 inch gutter between.

You can also set the colors of the guides by selecting the Guides > Change Colors menu option.

Setting theme colors

If you have selected your color palette for your poster, you can set those colors within BrightSlide.  From the File & Master box select Theme Colors > Edit Theme Colors

A box will open showing your theme default colors.  Click on the box you wish to change to your color and add the RGB value for that color.  Click on the next color to change its HEX value (eg: #000000) or its RGB value (eg: 120,230,145).  Click OK when you are completely done.

When you now go to select a fill or text color, your new theme colors will be at the top of the box.

Unfortunately, PowerPoint does not have a Text Wrap feature.  Here are some ways to accomplish this for your poster.

Shapes and Lines

To add shapes or lines, click on the Shapes icon in the toolbar. A dropdown menu appears which allows you to choose from many different shapes.  Choose a shape, then click and drag to add it to your poster. 

To align shapes (or text boxes), select the objects you want to align, then click on the Arrange icon in the toolbar (just to the right of the Shapes icon). Then choose one of the  Align options.

The Arrange icon also reveals options for ordering and grouping objects. When objects overlap on the screen you can change  the "stacking order" by choosing options under Order Objects. You can group items together by choosing Group Objects.  

Editing Shapes

To constrain proportions as you are drawing or editing an object or image, press the SHIFT key down as you drag on one of the "handles" (small circles and squares that appear around an object that indicate it is selected). 

Note: Right-clicking on the background lets you access additional formatting options: 

• Ruler/grid line options, including snap-to-grid (alignment)
• Layout options
• Background options (including color)

Images

To add an image to your poster, choose Insert Picture This Device, which allows you to browse your computer for image files. 

Once you've added an image, you can resize or reposition it by dragging its handles. 

You can alter and add effects to your picture in various ways, including:

Adding a border or shadow

Adjusting the color (Picture Color)

Adjusting the layout (Picture Layout)

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Charts

To add a chart, choose the Insert tab and click on the Chart icon.

Select the type of chart you wish to add to your poster.

An Excel spreadsheet will open where you can enter your data. If you need to change something in your chart, you can right click on the Chart and go to Edit Data (the Excel spreadsheet is saved with your PowerPoint file). This is the benefit to creating the chart in PowerPoint, because you can easily change data, and the chart will resize automatically. 

Note: In general it is a good to avoid 3-D chart unless you have a specific reason for doing so. 3-D charts are often more difficult to read.

Choose Chart options (chart elements, styles, and filters) by clicking on icons to the right of the chart.

Equations 

Adding Icons

PowerPoint also has a group of icons you can use for your poster.  The menu for these can be found under Insert > Icons

Making Charts in PowerPoint

Making Tables in PowerPoint