Academic Posters
with Canva
UVic Libraries
dscommons@uvic.ca
lib.uvic.ca/dsc
lib.uvic.ca/apc
Academic Posters
with Canva
Dani K. Johnson
UVic Libraries
dscommons@uvic.ca | @dscommons
lib.uvic.ca/dsc
lib.uvic.ca/apc
What We’re Doing Today:
Academic Posters: Traditional Format
DePoy, E., and Gilson, S. (2022). A study of evidence- based practice in health profession education: Advantages and dangers. Poster presented at the 2022 Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) conference in Washington, DC.
In a room crowded with rows of posters on display, having a poster filled with a wall of text may not draw people in, or may minimize the most important parts of your research.
Academic Posters: Minimalist & More Effective
The #BetterPoster layout developed by Mike Morrison.
The #BetterPoster project introduced a minimalistic approach to academic posters which is more effective at engaging people in conference poster session settings.
Question 1: Who is your audience?
Photo by Max Fischer
ChatGPT (2025)
Question 2: What are you trying to communicate?
DePoy, E., and Gilson, S. (2022). A study of evidence- based practice in health profession education: Advantages and dangers. Poster presented at the 2022 Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) conference in Washington, DC.
Academic Posters:
Designed using a UVic branded LaTeX template found on Overleaf. (Used by permission.)
Some poster creators choose to focus on visualizations over text.
Academic Posters:
This UVic student went for a vertical format poster with a strong graphics presence. (Used by permission.)
Some work to find a balance between graphics and text content.
Examples: If you have to make a text-heavy poster, it can still have appealing design
A pair of posters from this year’s JCURA students who worked to elevate the look of a traditional academic poster, using Canva. (Used by permission.)
In Canva there are a variety of templates available.
Inspiration: check out Designspiration.com and Pinterest for ideas
Reminder:
You don’t have to be a professional graphic designer to make a statement with design.
Excellent Resources:
What is Canva?
Canva has done most of the work for you:
Note:
Use the templates in Canva as inspiration, but feel free to change them.
Tip:
Having matching design elements is a key to a cohesive layout
Many clip art objects allow you to change their colours.
Clicking on a clip art element will bring up recommendations of similar style elements, sometimes by the same designer.
Note: Some templates or elements are paid features
Tip:
If the design choices are overwhelming there are tools to help with that
There is a font pairing tool that helps choose fonts that look great together.
Canva has a colour palette picking tool that lets you apply a new selection of colours to the entire layout.
“#1 Don’t put things on your poster that people will ignore.
#2 People will ignore most things.”
- Dr. Mike Morrison
Workshop Badges
If you’d like to earn a DSC badge, email a completed PDF from one of the projects to: dscommons@uvic.ca
Academic Posters with Canva