Poster Templates for the Treasury Project

It has become normal for large and even medium-sized projects to use a standard poster and presentation format at AAS meetings. For example GOODS or SDSS use the same poster template so that all the posters have a common theme. Poster papers marked in this way are easily distinguished even across crowded rooms. We will do this for all HST Treasury Program posters and have provided images which can be used as a background on standard poster sizes.

Since most poster-printers will do 36" by any length, we have used 36" as either the width or height of the poster template. We are also offering a 48"x48" template since this is the maximum allowable size for posters at an AAS meeting.

PNG graphics format is a format similar to JPEG which is better adapted to vector graphics. Most applications should be able to deal with PNG format. If you would like one of these images in a different graphics format, contact John Martin (martin@aps.umn.edu). The best way to use these images is to download the appropriate size for your layout and then use them as a background for your poster. At the bottom of this page there is a description of how to do this in PowerPoint.

If you need a size not offered here, please take care in resizing the templates provided because you may inadvertently distort the logo or change the colors by re-sampling the pixels. The logo size and line widths remain constant over all the sizes so you can cut and paste from one template to one of a different size if you wish. Or if there is a size you need which is not available here contact John Martin (martin@aps.umn.edu) and he will provide you with a custom sized template.

36"x36" (72kB)
36"x40" (76kB)
40"x36" (76kB)
48"x48" (91kB)

Using the Template in PowerPoint

You can use these images as a background in PowerPoint and overlay the rest of the content of your poster. The following is a quick description of how to to this.

1. Set the size of your poster by going to the "File" menu and selecting "Page Setup."
   1. In the "Slides sized for:" pull down box, select "Custom."
   2. Enter the width and height in inches which you would like for your poster in the "Width" and "Height" input boxes.
   3. Click the "OK" button.
2. Under the "Format" menu, select "Background" to bring up the Background dialog box.
3. Click on the drop down menu box in the "Background" dialog which is above the "Omit background graphics from master" check box and select "Fill Effects..." to start the Fill Effects dialog.
4. Select the "Picture" tab at the top of the "Fill Effects..." dialog box.
5. Click on the "Select Picture" button on the "Picture" tab in the "Fill Effects..." dialog to start the file selection dialog.
6. Select the poster template *.png file you downloaded by double clicking the file or highlighting the file and then clicking the "Insert" button.
7. You should return to the "Fill Effects..." dialog box and a shrunk version of picture you selected will be displayed.
8. On the "Picture" tab in "Fill Effects..." dialog, mark the check box next to "Lock picture aspect ratio" to keep PowerPoint from distorting the background that you just set.
9. Click on the "OK" button to exit the "Fill Effects...." dialog.
10. You should now be back in the "Background" dialog box. Click on the "Apply" button to apply your changes and exit.
11. If all went well, the poster template you selected is now your background (you should be able to see it displayed in the layout) and you can build the rest of your poster on top of that. Remember to save your poster early and often.