One of your deliverables for your thesis will be a poster that communicates your research to others. The poster should be 3' x 4' in the portrait orientation. The goal of the poster is to communicate the central finding of your research. A viewer should be able to

• quickly figure out what the central finding/idea/result/accomplishment was
• see some evidence supporting the finding
• get a sense of why the finding matters

I've added some links to some advice about making a good poster to the advice page. There is some good stuff in there, though many of the examples are still text heavy. Some central points:

• The poster should not replicate your entire thesis. I also don't want to see large sections of your thesis just copied and pasted into the poster. Sitting down to read a thesis is very different from pausing in a hall to read a poster. Focus on brevity and simple language. Short sentences and bullet points are a better match for poster reader attention spans. Images are also great, both to attract attention and to quickly communicate ideas.

• Use big fonts. People need to be able to read the poster from a distance. Try printing your poster out on a letter sized piece of paper. If you can't read it, your fonts are probably too small. You should also pick easy to read fonts.

• You want a high contrast between the text and background. Dark text on a light background is usually best.

• In a portrait orientation poster, the bottom is hard to read. Don't put the important points down there.

• Color is great, but try to keep the color palette small. If you have color figures, start with their central colors.

• Don't be afraid of white space.

• "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away" (Antoine de Saint-Exupery). Counter-point: "Perfection is impossible; just strive to do your best." (Angela Watson). The truth is, your posters will not be perfect. However, the central point of the first quote is still a good one. When you think you are done, look for things that could be removed (sections that don't support your central point, extra explanations, side points, wordy sentences) and remove them.

Submission:

Draft submission
Final submission