This section of Creating Research Posters will cover creating a poster in Adobe Illustrator, including creating a new file, adding images and text, and exporting the final version in a print-ready format. These instructions were developed using Illustrator CC 2018, and notes are included where there are differences between this version of Illustrator and older versions.
NOTE: This section of the course assumes that you're familiar with recent versions of Adobe Illustrator. If you haven't worked with Illustrator before, it's recommended that you view the video Adobe Creative Cloud: Interface Basics before starting your poster, as it provides an overview of Illustrator's interface and where to find the various tools and panels used. You may also want to review the content in the course Illustrator: The Basics before building your poster.
Things to note about creating a poster in Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a graphics editing program that is commonly used for creating posters. Since the program's focus is more on creating images instead of text layouts, putting together a poster can be a little tricky for someone not used to working with Illustrator. Following are some things you should be aware of when creating a poster in Illustrator:
Illustrator is not quite as focused on working with text, so its text styling and editing options are not quite as robust as programs specifically designed for page layout.
While text can be imported directly into Illustrator, placing it can be a little tricky, as you need to manually create or resize each frame where text resides.
To ensure none of the poster content accidentally gets cut off, page margins will need to be manually set using guides to make sure there's space between the poster's content and the edge of the page. (A 1/2 inch margin is recommended.)
Setting up the poster file
The first step in the poster creation process is to create the poster file, and ensure that the artboard is the correct size for your poster.
Step 1. Open Illustrator.
Step 2. To create a new file, in the Menu bar,
Click File, Click New...
Step 3. To indicate you want to create a print document, at the top of the New Document dialog box,
Click Print
Step 4. To change the unit of measurement used in the new document, in the dropdown next to the Width field,
Click, Click Inches
Step 5. To set the width and height of your poster, in the Width and Height fields,
type in the desired width and height for your poster
Step 6. Under the Advanced Options heading, make sure that the color mode is set to CMYK.
NOTE: In Illustrator CC 2017 and older, the color mode dropdown is visible in the New Document dialog box by default, and is not part of the Advanced Options group.
Step 7. To finish creating the new file,
Click Create
The last two steps involve setting up the workspace to make it easier for you to align items on the page — this involves turning on the document grid and turning on the rulers as well.
Step 8. To turn on the grid, in the menu bar,
Click View, Point to Grids and Guides, Click Show Document Grid
NOTE: In Illustrator CC 2017 and older, Click View, Click Show Grid
Step 9.To display the rulers, if necessary,
Click View, Click Show Rulers
NOTE: In Illustrator CC 2017 and older, Click View, Point to Rulers, Click Show Rulers
Using guides to help with content layout
Guides can be used to help accomplish a number of tasks in Illustrator. They can be used to indicate the poster's margin, or to help align text boxes in order to create the appearance of text columns. The following steps will walk through the process of adding and positioning guides on an artboard.
Step1. To add a guide to the artboard,
Point to either the horizontal or vertical ruler, then Press & Drag until guide is in desired location
Adding content to the poster
Adding the content for the poster will be split into two sections - adding text and adding images.
Adding text
There are two ways you can add text to a poster in Illustrator — you can create text frames and copy and paste the text into them, or you can import the text directly into Illustrator and create text frames as you add the text to the poster.
The following videos demonstrate the two different methods of adding text to a poster in Illustrator, and the processes demonstrated in the videos are outlined in steps following the video.
This video will walk you through the process of adding text to a poster in Illustrator using the copy and paste method.
Description of the video:
In this video, we’ll be walking through the process of adding text to a research poster in Adobe Illustrator. I’ll be starting with an Illustrator file that’s already set to the correct size for printing, with some guides set up to emulate columns and margins. I’ll also be working with some demonstration text that’s saved in a Word file.
As a heads-up, this demonstration was made using Illustrator CC 2018, but the steps should be similar in older versions of Illustrator.
There are two ways that text can be added to a poster in Illustrator – we can either create a couple of text frames and paste the text into them, or we can import the text directly into Illustrator and make new text frames as we add the text to the poster. I’ll be demonstrating the first process in this video, which involves creating the text frames, then pasting the text into them.
To start the process, we’ll activate the Type tool, which is located in the Tools panel.
Next, we’ll start by making a text frame that’s the size of the first column by pressing and dragging to create the frame.
You might notice my frame automatically filled with placeholder text – this will happen in newer versions of Illustrator CC, starting with the 2017 version. We’ll select and remove this text later. If you’re using an older version of Illustrator, you might want to type a little text into the frame you just created, so you can more easily select it later.
We’ll make two more text frames for the other two columns of text in the poster, using the same steps we used to create the first frame.
Now that we have three text frames, we can link them together – this way, text can flow between the frames as we make adjustments to the text. To link these frames, we’ll need to use the Selection tool, which is also in the Tools panel.
Click on the Selection tool to activate it, then click on the first frame to select it. To connect this frame to the next, we’ll first click on the small square at the bottom right corner of the first frame – this is called the out port. To connect the first frame to the second one, we'll click on the upper left corner of the second column. Illustrator will show a line between the two frames, showing they're connected.
We’ll repeat this process to connect the second frame to the third.
Now I'm ready to add my text to the poster. I’m going to jump over to Microsoft Word, where my poster’s text is located, click anywhere inside the text, and use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-A to select all the text, and Ctrl-C to copy it.
Next, I’ll switch back to Illustrator. If you’re using one of the newer versions of Illustrator, or using an older version and added text to the frames, you’ll want to get rid of the placeholder text before you paste in the new text. To do that, first we'll need to switch back to the Type tool. Next, we’ll just click inside the frame to select it, select all the text using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-A, and finally use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-V to paste the text into the frames.
Now the poster has text on it, and if we need to, we can use the Character and Paragraph panels to style the text. We can find these panels in the Window menu – click Window, point to Type, and then click either Character or Paragraph. Depending on how your version of Illustrator is set up, these panels might already be visible.
With the panels open, we can select text using the Type tool and make changes to its appearance using the Character and Paragraph panels.
Now you know how to add text to a poster in Illustrator by copying and pasting it from another document.
This video will walk you through the process of adding text to a poster in Illustrator using the Place command.
Description of the video:
In this video, we’ll be walking through the process of adding text to a research poster in Adobe Illustrator. I’ll be starting with an Illustrator file that’s already set to the correct size for printing, with some guides set up to emulate columns and margins. I’ll also be working with demonstration text that’s saved in a Word file.
As a heads-up, this demonstration was made using Illustrator CC 2018, but the steps should be similar in older versions of Illustrator.
There are two ways that text can be added to a poster in Illustrator – we can either create a couple of text frames and paste the text into them, or we can import the text directly into Illustrator and make new text frames as we add the text to the poster. I’ll be demonstrating the second process in this video, which involves using the Place command to place text from an existing file into Illustrator.
To start, we’ll go up to the Menu bar, then click File, and then Place.
In the Place dialog box, navigate to the text file we want to import into the poster. I have a Word document I’ll be using for this. Once we find the file, double-click on it to import it.
A dialog box will appear – to accept the default settings for importing text, click OK.
The cursor will have a thumbnail next to it, indicating that it’s ready to place the text. I’ll press and drag to create a text frame in my first column, and Illustrator will fill it with my text.
Once the text is on the poster, we can style it using the Character and Paragraph panels. We can find these panels in the Window menu – to open the panels, up in the Menu bar, click Window, point to Type, and then click either Character or Paragraph. Depending on how your version of Illustrator is set up, these panels might already be visible.
With the panels open, we can select text using the Type tool and make changes to its appearance using the Character and Paragraph panels.
Once we start styling the text, it's very likely that there will end up being too much text to display in the frame. When that happens, Illustrator will show a red plus sign at the bottom right corner of the text frame – this red plus is showing up in the frame’s out port, and it indicates we’ve got overset text – or, in other words, there’s too much text to show in the frame.
To create a new frame for the remainder of the text, we'll want to activate the Selection tool and click on the text frame to select it. Once the frame is selected, we’ll click the out port. The cursor will show the thumbnail of text again, and we can press and drag to create another text frame. We’ll repeat this until we run out of columns to make text for.
Now you know how to add text to a poster in Illustrator using the Place method.
Text frames are created using the Type tool — you can create text frames of any size you need, and you can also connect text frames together to allow for text shifting when text is wrapped around an image or text frames are resized. Let's make a text frame, and then fill it with the poster's text.
Step 1. To activate the Type tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
Step 2. To add a text frame to the document, with the Type tool active,
Press & Drag to create a frame
NOTE: In Illustrator CC 2017 and later, the frame you draw may fill with placeholder text. This can be selected and removed before adding the text for your poster. If your version of Illustrator does not add placeholder text to the frame you just created, you may want to type some text into any frames you add to help make it easier to select them.
Step 3. Repeat step 2 to create as many text frames as needed.
To link the text frames together, you'll need to switch to the Selection tool.
Step 4. To activate the Selection tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
Step 5. To start connecting the first text frame to the second frame, at the bottom right corner of the first frame,
Click
Step 6. To connect the first text frame to the second, at the top left corner of the second text frame,
Click the text frame, Click
Step 7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to connect any other text frames you've added to your poster.
Step 8. Copy the text you want to insert into your poster.
Step 9. Activate the Type tool.
NOTE: If your version of Illustrator did not add placeholder text to your text frames, skip the following steps.
Step 10. With the Type tool active, click inside the frame you want to insert text into.
Step 11. To select the placeholder text, on the keyboard, press:
Ctrl+A
Step 12. To paste the text you want to insert into your poster, on the keyboard, press:
Ctrl+V
Step 1. To start the process of adding text to the poster, in the Menu bar,
Click File, Click Place
Step 2. To select the file you want to add to your poster, in the Place dialog box,
navigate to the file you want to place, then Double-click the file to open it
Step 3. In the dialog box that appears, to accept the default settings,
Click OK
The cursor will have a thumbnail next to it indicating that it is ready to place text.
Step 4. To add the text to your document,
Press & Drag to create a frame
The text frame may have a red plus icon at the bottom right side of the frame. If this appears, it means there is more text to add to the poster. You'll need to make sure the Selection tool is active before placing the rest of the text.
Step 5. To activate the Selection tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
Step 6. To continue adding text to the poster,
Click , Press & Drag to create another frame
Step 7. Repeat step 6 until there is no more text to be placed on the poster.
To make changes to the appearance of text, you'll want to use the Character and Paragraph panels.
The Character panel will let you change the font used, the size of the text, and other aspects of how your text looks. The Paragraph panel will let you change the spacing between paragraphs of text and specify the indent size for the first line of text in your paragraphs. Both of these panels are accessible from the Window menu, under the Type group.
Adding Images
Adding images to a poster in Illustrator is also done using the Place command. Remember, when adding images to your poster, don't enlarge them after they've been placed into your poster — if they appear too small once added to your poster, you may want to check and make sure that they're an appropriate size and resolution for your poster. For more information, read Changing your Image's Resolution in the Gathering High Quality Images section of this course.
The following video demonstrates how to add images to a poster in Illustrator, and the process demonstrated in the video is outlined in steps following the video.
In this video, learn how to import an image into a research poster created in Illustrator, and how to wrap text around imported images.
Description of the video:
In this video, we’ll be walking through the process of adding text to a research poster in Adobe Illustrator. I’ll be starting with an Illustrator file that’s already set to the correct size for printing, with some guides set up to emulate columns and margins. I’ll also be working with demonstration text that’s saved in a Word file.
As a heads-up, this demonstration was made using Illustrator CC 2018, but the steps should be similar in older versions of Illustrator.
There are two ways that text can be added to a poster in Illustrator – we can either create a couple of text frames and paste the text into them, or we can import the text directly into Illustrator and make new text frames as we add the text to the poster. I’ll be demonstrating the second process in this video, which involves using the Place command to place text from an existing file into Illustrator.
To start, we’ll go up to the Menu bar, then click File, and then Place.
In the Place dialog box, navigate to the text file we want to import into the poster. I have a Word document I’ll be using for this. Once we find the file, double-click on it to import it.
A dialog box will appear – to accept the default settings for importing text, click OK.
The cursor will have a thumbnail next to it, indicating that it’s ready to place the text. I’ll press and drag to create a text frame in my first column, and Illustrator will fill it with my text.
Once the text is on the poster, we can style it using the Character and Paragraph panels. We can find these panels in the Window menu – to open the panels, up in the Menu bar, click Window, point to Type, and then click either Character or Paragraph. Depending on how your version of Illustrator is set up, these panels might already be visible.
With the panels open, we can select text using the Type tool and make changes to its appearance using the Character and Paragraph panels.
Once we start styling the text, it's very likely that there will end up being too much text to display in the frame. When that happens, Illustrator will show a red plus sign at the bottom right corner of the text frame – this red plus is showing up in the frame’s out port, and it indicates we’ve got overset text – or, in other words, there’s too much text to show in the frame.
To create a new frame for the remainder of the text, we'll want to activate the Selection tool and click on the text frame to select it. Once the frame is selected, we’ll click the out port. The cursor will show the thumbnail of text again, and we can press and drag to create another text frame. We’ll repeat this until we run out of columns to make text for.
Now you know how to add text to a poster in Illustrator using the Place method.
Step 1. To begin the process of adding an image to the poster, in the Menu bar,
Click File, Click Place...
Step 2. To select the image file you want to add to your poster, in the Place dialog box,
navigate to the file you want to place, then Double-click the file to open it
At this point, Illustrator will display a thumbnail of the image next to your cursor.
Step 3. To place the image into the poster,
Click to place the image
Wrapping text around an image
At times, you may want to wrap text around an image that you've included in your poster. The following steps walk you through the process of wrapping text around an image. Before you can wrap text around an image, you'll want to make sure that image is at the top of the object stacking order for your poster. Once you've done that, you can wrap text around an image.
Step 1. To start the process of wrapping text around the image, in the Tools panel,
Click
Step 2. To select the image to wrap text around,
Click the image
Step 3. To bring the image to the front of the object stacking order,
Right-click the image, Point to Arrange, Click Bring to Front
Step 4. To wrap text around the image, in the Menu bar,
Click Object, Point to Text Wrap, Click Make
The text will wrap around the selected image.
NOTE: To adjust the spacing between the text and the image, if necessary, in the Menu bar, Click Object, Point to Text Wrap, Click Text Wrap Options.
Preparing your poster for printing
Once you've completed your poster, you'll want to make sure that it's saved as a PDF. This ensures that your poster will look exactly the way you want it to when it's printed, and will package all of your images, fonts, and text into one file that can be printed on any computer.
Step 1. To start the process of saving the poster as a PDF, in the Menu bar,
Click File, Click Save As...
Step 2. In the File Name field, if necessary, type in the name for the file.
Step 3. To save the poster as a PDF, in the Save As Type dropdown,
Click the file type dropdown, Click Adobe PDF (*.PDF)
Step 4. To continue the process of saving the poster,
Click
The Save As dialog box will close, and the Save Adobe PDF Options dialog box will appear.
Step 5. To indicate we wish to save the file for printing, in the Preset dropdown of the Save Adobe PDF Options window,
Click the Adobe PDF Preset dropdown, Click High Quality Print
Step 5. To finish saving the file,
Click Save PDF
Your poster will be saved as a PDF, and depending on your settings for InDesign, may open automatically in the default PDF viewer for your computer.
, Click Inches
