How to Make a Good Research Poster in Adobe Illustrator

The video tutorial begins by guiding viewers through the initial steps of creating a research poster in Adobe Illustrator. It emphasizes the importance of downloading free templates and making a copy to avoid altering the original. Viewers are instructed to save their new file in a logical folder with a clear name, maintaining the standard settings for the Illustrator file. The focus then shifts to customizing the poster dimensions, fonts, and color schemes according to specific conference requirements or personal preferences.

This paragraph explains how to customize the poster's dimensions to match various conference specifications, such as adjusting to an A0 size for European conferences. It details the process of creating a new Artboard, changing measurement units, and unlocking layer groups to facilitate the movement of template elements to the new poster size. The tutorial also covers how to use the Layers panel and the importance of having all elements unlocked for easy editing and rearrangement.

The speaker discusses the selection of fonts, recommending the use of two distinct sans-serif fonts, such as Arial and Myriad Pro, for the poster's internal text and titles. It also addresses how to change all instances of a font using the 'Select Same Font Family' feature, with a caveat about potential loss of bold formatting. The paragraph then explores adjusting the color scheme to align with university or conference branding, including tips on using the Eyedropper Tool to match colors from a logo or website.

The tutorial continues with the process of adjusting and rearranging the poster's elements to fit the new dimensions. It demonstrates how to use selection tools to move and resize background sections, text areas, and other design elements. The speaker also advises on keeping background elements visible for reference while working and emphasizes the importance of locking elements once they are correctly positioned to prevent accidental changes.

In this section, the tutorial focuses on adding and formatting text for the poster. It explains how to edit text boxes, adjust font sizes, and use superscript formatting. The speaker also points out the importance of keeping text within the poster's borders for printing purposes and provides tips on using paragraph and character properties for additional text features, such as justification and hyphens.

The speaker demonstrates how to insert and embed images, such as logos, into the poster. They emphasize the importance of having the appropriate copyright permissions and using the Quick Actions panel to embed images to ensure they are permanently linked to the Illustrator file. The tutorial also covers cropping images to remove unwanted white space and resizing them without distortion.

This part of the tutorial discusses the best practices for adding data and results to the poster. It suggests having a separate Adobe Illustrator file containing all potential figures for a paper or poster and copying the desired figures into the poster design. The speaker also touches on the importance of not formatting figures for the first time on the poster due to size constraints and recommends formatting figures with publication requirements in mind.

The final paragraph of the tutorial covers the steps for finalizing the poster design and preparing it for printing. It includes ensuring all layers are unlocked for final adjustments, grouping elements for alignment, and checking that all text boxes fit within the design box. The speaker also advises on saving the final file as an Adobe Illustrator file and exporting it as a PDF or EPS according to the printer's requirements.