Posters & Wall Murals

Posters and wall murals are opportunities to speak to your audiences with greater emphasis. Posters can inform, inspire, and ask audiences to think critically while wall murals are the perfect opportunities to use more focused institutional messages and imagery that inspire the spirit of the campus, school or program.

Poster Templates

For poster and banner set up and printing, please use one of WVU’s print services. They will utilize the proper logos, backgrounds and fonts.

Several poster templates are available for download.

School of Dentistry

School of Medicine

School of Nursing

School of Pharmacy

School of Public Health

Below are some helpful hints in editing or creating your own PowerPoint poster:

  • Pages: In PowerPoint you will need to set the page size. Go to FILE → PAGE SETUP → CUSTOM and type in your poster dimensions. (If you use one of the templates, the page size is already set.) PowerPoint has a size limit of 56" x 56". If you would like your poster larger than the limit, scale it down by half and the printer can scale it up. (For example, for a 4' x 6' poster, type in 24"x 36" and the printer will double the size. This will not affect the quality.)

  • Fonts: For Greek characters, we recommend the SYMBOL font and NOT the insert function. The insert function will not print correctly. Many Microsoft fonts are installed as screen fonts and will not print properly. They can cause kerning problems even though they appear correct on screen - resulting in bunched up letters. This is not apparent until after the poster is printing. Please talk to the printer about your fonts.

  • Inserting Images: You may cut and paste text into your PPT document, but do not cut and paste charts, graphs or photographs into your PPT files. These items should be inserted into the file to be printed correctly. You do this by INSERT → PICTURE → FROM FILE select your image. This is also true for logos also.

  • Graphs made in SigmaPlot must be inserted as a jpeg, tif or bmp file.

Wall Murals

Murals at Health Sciences serve multiple simultaneous functions, including wayfinding, place-making and inspiration to faculty, staff, visitors and students. The longevity of murals should be considered as these installations are typically left in place for 5 - 10+ years.

In order to best serve these roles, please consider the following guidelines:
Murals may depict regional landscapes, graphical elements (for example words, patterns, art/illustrations) or action scenes relevant to nearby laboratories, classrooms, services or clinical spaces.

Please ensure that your photograph or image has sufficient resolution to look good at the final printed size. When possible, avoid using JPG images for murals. A higher resolution image is necessary for quality when enlarged. Additional guidance for using photography can be found on WVU’s brand guide. 

Landscapes

Please depict landscapes within the state of West Virginia. These landscapes may be photography – full color or mono/duo toned – or illustrated. If you cannot confirm the image is of a West Virginia place or landmark, please select another image.

Graphical elements

  • Quote/text murals: These murals may be cut-out lettering placed over a contrasting paint color, or words printed onto vinyl which covers the entire wall. Please consider the authenticity of the quotes, the personal reputation of the source and the relevance of the text to the space. Please use a current official WVU font or type. 

  • Patterns: When using patterns, please adhere to the most recent brand guidelines, including official graphic elements and current color palette.

  • Art: All hand-painted murals should go through an official review process, including a portfolio review demonstrating the ability to execute the painting at the appropriate size and a scaled drawing showing what the final piece will look like. Final murals should match the approved proposal. Due to the difficulty of maintaining exact proportions, please refrain from including WVU logos in hand-painted art.

  • Content sensitivity: While we do work in an academic medical center, where we are accustomed to graphic images and slides as part of the learning process, please be advised that these types of images may be triggering to Health Sciences visitors. Our visitors include patients, youths, and potential donors, among many other groups. 

Action scenes

  • Action scenes should depict people engaged in professional, university-based or recreational activities. University-approved photography or illustration may be used.

  • Photo releases should be obtained for all subjects, and any patient-identifying information should be removed from the images. Please remove names from clothing and nametags to minimize any risk for stalking or harassment.

  • People should be the subject of the photograph, as they are a timeless element of our mission. Any technology shown should serve only a supportive role in the visual narrative depicted. If a choice must be made between focusing on a tool or focusing on a person, choose the person.

  • The eyes of all human photography subjects must be in focus. When possible, please have the subject facing the camera.

  • Please limit the appearance of logos or brands in images. Any words or graphics depicted on clothing should be WVU-based. For example, a WVU shirt may be acceptable, while the clothing of another university or brand would not be.

  • All personal protective equipment and attire considered "best practices" to undertake the depicted activity should be shown in the photograph regardless of whether the activity is "staged." This includes gloves, eye protection, hearing protection, garments (ex. lab coats, "bunny suits", scrubs, smocks, splash protective clothing, etc.), footwear, safe hair styles and respiratory protection. If a face mask is worn, it must cover the nose and mouth entirely, according to manufacturer’s guidelines.

  • Please refrain from showing identifiable animal subjects such as blood, fake blood, needles or tools directly penetrating the body, or easily recognized organs. When photographing human, cadaver or animal surgeries for publicity/marketing use, please frame these elements out of the image, focusing instead on the person performing the task.

  • Please be aware of the background of photographs. Remove or blur-out clutter, trashcans, food and drink containers, and other distractions.

  • Remember that murals are public-facing and will be seen by all passersby.