Academic and Internship Posters: Design Principles

The CRAP design principles—Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity—were introduced by Robin Williams in her book The Non-Designer’s Design Book to help non-designers create visually effective and professional-looking layouts. These principles simplify the fundamentals of good design, making them accessible for beginners by focusing on how elements relate to one another on a page. Their purpose is to improve clarity, visual interest, and communication in any design.
Contrast

• Can be achieved through variations in size, color, line thickness, and spacing
• Try to avoid elements that are weakly similar by making them strongly different

Repetition

• Repeat visual elements such as color, shapes, textures, borders, and fonts to unify your design
• Try to avoid too many differentiations that can confuse your audience

Alignment

• Place every element on the page with intention to create visual connections
• Use “negative space” to avoid cramming too much into your project

Proximity

• Placing elements close together creates a relationship between the elements
• Similarly, adding “negative space” can create a disjoint
• Make sure headings and labels are in close proximity to their relative content

Keep it clean and simple:

• Use 1–2 sans-serif fonts (e.g., Arial, Calibri, Helvetica)
• Maintain consistent font sizing and spacing
• Choose 3–5 colors max; check for sufficient contrast
• Break text into bullet points; avoid full paragraphs
• Use visual hierarchy to guide the reader’s eye (title large, body text smaller)
• Add charts, graphs, and photos with clear labels
• Align elements, don't "eyeball" it
• Include appropriate logos (university, department, etc.)
• Leave white space for visual breathing room
• Test your poster at 100% zoom or print at reduced size

Recommended font sizes (for large-format posters):

• Title: 72 pt or larger
• Headings: 36–44 pt
• Body Text: 24–32 pt
• Captions: 18–20 pt (minimum)

Image & Logo Quality

• Use images that are 300 DPI or higher
• Logos should be in PNG or SVG format (not screenshots)
• Don’t stretch small images to fill space
• Check clarity by zooming in to 100% or more

If your image looks fuzzy on screen, it will look worse when printed.