WPI Visual Identity Guide

Use of the WPI logo, colors, style elements, or other identifying features is completely detailed in the University’s Visual Identity Guide. You can find the WPI Visual Identity Guide here.

The WPI Logo

There are a few quick things you should know about using the logo.
You must maintain an area of isolation around the logo equal to the height of the letter “W” in the logo.

Area of Isolation.JPG

If you use the logo on a dark or patterned background, you must use the logo that has the white letters. The ATC can assist you with this.
You cannot alter the logo in any way. This includes shadows, glows, or reflections.
You cannot make any sub-logo on your own. You must contact the WPI's Marketing Department for permission to have a sub-logo.
You must maintain the logo’s aspect ratio.
You cannot alter the color of the logo.
Note: the ATC reserves the right to correct any misusage of the logo.

You can download logos from here.

In addition to the Logo, Marketing offers spirit marks. This includes Gompei the Goat in his many expressions and activities. You will need to contact WPI's Marketing Department to gain access to the spirit marks. The ATC reserves the right to alter any logo that does not meet university standards.

Sources for Images

Creative Commons

Flickr Creative Commons: Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through content under each type of license.

Flickr, The Commons: A collective of institutions that have uploaded publicly held photography collections. Images found in Flickr Commons site have “No Known Copyright Restrictions.“

Google Advanced Image Search: You can limit your results to creative commons by selecting "labeled for reuse" under usage rights.

Wikimedia Commons: A media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content, including images, sounds and videos.

Government Sources

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs: This catalog contains photographs, fine and popular prints and illustrations, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings.

NASA image library: A collection of over a thousand images of significant historical interest scanned at high-resolution.

Science.gov Image Search: To search Science.gov for images, select Multimedia on the Advanced Search page.

U.S. Government Photos and Images: A search engine that will pull images from government sites.

Some photos may be protected by copyright license. Check disclaimers on each site.

Background Images

If you are using an image for your background, please be aware that it requires even more pixels than the images you use to illustrate your poster. The larger the poster, the larger the background image needs to be. Go for images with dimensions as big as possible: 2000 - 3000 pixels per side or above will do fine for most scientific posters.

Creating Your Own Images

You can borrow a camera or camcorder from the ATC to make your own images of your research and work to insert into your posters and presentations. Full version of Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.) are available in the Multimedia Lab in Gordon Library, The Innovation Studio and SL123. More information about Adobe Creative Cloud can be accessed here.

Scanned Images

Scanned images need enough pixels to print. Minimum scanning is 200 dpi (we recommend between 300 to 600 dpi). But more dots per square inch will give you the ability to enlarge images within your posters.

Screen Shots

Screen shots should be avoided since they are typically low resolution (about 70dpi). In many cases, it will be more effective to save the page as an Adobe PDF. You will then have to crop the part you want and save it as an image. Even using this technique, the image may not be clear for a large size illustration in your poster.

Creating, Editing or Using Images/Posters Online

Pixlr – Pixlr is a basic Photoshop alternative. It does not have the rich options of Photoshop or Corel. The editor limits output for web applications (only 72dpi - large format printing requires 200dpi as a bare minimum). If you upload an image to edit, you will keep your pixel depth. However, if you create an image in Pixlr, the file will only have 72dpi.

Piktochart – Free version has limited number of templates, but it is an easy way to create infographics to be inserted into posters. It features an extremely simple, drag & drop style graphic creation. The free version has limitation on download size, so posters may not be suitable for large scale printing (depending upon final size). The paid version has many more options and features. Students should look for educational pricing.

Pexels– Free access to a wide variety of high quality stock photography and footage provided by a multitude of creators.

Pixabay – Much like Pexels, Pixabay is also a library of copyright free images and videos that requires no additional cost.