Creating and designing academic posters

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Creating and designing academic
posters URSS Dr Rachel Hardy Graduate School
Skills Manager
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Session outline

• What is a poster
• Why present a poster
• Evaluating poster design
• Effective poster design
• Display and presentation

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What is a poster?

• A large document communicating research
  frequently A0 (84.1 x 118.9cm)
• A1(59.4 x 84.1cm)
• Shown in exhibition spaces conference halls
• Serves as an introduction to your research and a
  basis for questions
• Presenters are normally given strict guidelines
  (size/conventions for headings/word length)
• Presenter stands by poster to answer questions

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Why present a poster?

• To promote your work/research
• Suggestions ideas for future directions
• Criticism (hopefully constructive!)
• Collaborations
• Personal interaction with those interested in
  your research
• Reach others not in your specific field
• To promote yourself
• Professional contacts (networking,
  collaborations, fellowships, jobs)
• Gain useful experience
• Can use a poster more than once

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Considering the audience

• Specialist (e.g. University Press)
• Experts in same or very closely related field
• High knowledge level of your subject
• OK to use jargon technical terms on poster
• General discipline (e.g. Publishing)
• Specialists in related/overlapping field
• Familiar with generalities of discipline
• Be wary of specialist jargon! Avoid where
  possible
• General non-specialist (e.g. Business etc.)
• No familiarity with discipline or subject area
• Avoid use of jargon basic descriptions only!

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Considering the event

• Large event
• - Lots of delegates and lots of posters
• - Multiple time-limited poster sessions
• - Limited time for discussion
• - Can be impersonal frantic
• Small event
• - Few delegates with related interests
• - Limited posters, often displayed for whole
  meeting
• - Lots of time for discussion
• - Intimate relaxed environment

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• Creating your Poster

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Poster evaluation

• How easy are they to read?
• Do they attract attention?
• How effectively is the information presented -
  too much, too little, too crowded, too dispersed?
  
• What is eye-catching or pleasing about the visual
  design - use of text, colour, illustration?
• Consider word count, prose style, idea flow,
  figure clarity, font size, spelling, white space
• What do you like/dislike?
• Which is your favourite and why?

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How should a poster be presented?

• Readable in 10 minutes max (5?)
• Amount of text kept to a minimum
• Informative, not overwhelming (not ALL your
  data!)
• Eye-catching clear, concise and legible
• Easily interpreted
• Well structured
• Consistent, simple and legible at a distance

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What should a poster include?

• Title short, to the point, specific, catchy
• Introduction minimum background info, put in
  context, get reader interested
• Overview of methods/approach brief, avoid
  details, use figures/tables if possible
• Results briefly describe, use charts/images
• Conclusion remind of hypothesis, tie together,
  relevance to specific field and possibly to real
  world
• Your experience of the Scheme
• Acknowledgements
• Contact details

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Features of effective poster design

• Carefully chosen priorities/key points
• Familiarity with audience
• Clear structure (abstract/introduction/main
  body/conclusion)
• Clear navigation (headings/number/colour/layout)
• Overall cohesion (text linked to images)
• Limited but effective design palette (text size,
  fonts, colour)
• Professionally produced careful with the finish!

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Logos

• University of Warwick logo
• http//www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/
  corporate/guidelines/identity/downloads/templates/
  
• URSS logo ask CAPD

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Tips and hints

• Always do at least one draft (print off)
• Do not justify text harder to read
• Consider line spacing
• Use sub-headings (headings in bold)
• Limit blocks of text (no more than 10 sentences)
• Use only 2 fonts for your poster
• Suggestion serif for body text (e.g. palatino)
  sans serif for headings (e.g.helvetica)
• Use correct citation method for your discipline
• When using images, put a thin border - more
  visually appealing
• Get help from supervisors

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Tips and hints continued

• Can it be comfortably viewed from 6 feet away?
• Many viewers only look at diagrams/images add
  titles, make sure they are clear and stand out
• Dont use ALL CAPS or Title Case
• Colour blindness
• 8 of males and 0.5 of females
• To test your poster run it through the free
  Vischeck service (vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeck
  Image.php)

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Using colour

• Always choose a simple colour palette 2/3
  colours and black
• Use the colour wheel
• Analogous colours (easy on the eye) are any three
  colours which are side by side. Usually one of
  the three colours predominates.
• See www.colormatters.com

analogous
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complementary colours - opposite to each other on
the wheel - give the most contrast
complementary
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Choosing colours

• Select colours that co-ordinate rather than clash

accent 1
text
text
accent
accent 2
background
background
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Layout

• Content well structured
• Well organised
• Consistent
• Simple
• Legible

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• Use a Design Grid
• Foundation for page
• design
• Defines space
• Directs attention
• Boundaries maintain consistency

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Build up your poster using a number of separate
panels/boxes Simple (uses familiar
software) Can be effective for structuring your
presentation
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Work in progress
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Finished
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Past URSS Posters

• http//www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/cap/landt/rbl/u
  rss/projects2004_5/

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• Display and presentation

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Display and presentation

• Check mounting arrangements materials done
  for you
• Wear a name badge (may be provided)
• Have handouts with more information/small
  versions of poster
• Have a brief talk planned for interested visitors
  - do not refer to notes
• Point to specific parts where possible
• Dont start again if new viewers turn up
• Who is your audience?

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Display and presentation

• Be professional
• Use eye contact
• Study on what you should wear - results suggested
  that colour coordination (not clashing) between
  the poster and the presenters attire may
  substantially increase the popularity of a
  poster!
• Thank your viewers for visiting if they stay
  longer than 4 minutes you have succeeded!

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Design grid

• Adding grids gives a foundation for page design
• Defines space
• Directs attention
• Boundaries maintain consistency
• See handouts for details

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Start designing your poster

• Use the step by step handout for further help
• Font Size
• Title Make big 72 point
• Headings make bold about 36-44 point
• Body text (e.g., text within each section
  figure captions) about 28-32.
• To check word count (PowerPoint)
• Go to file (top menu)
• Properties
• Statistics
• Box at bottom includes word count

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Using PowerPoint

• Open PowerPoint (choose blank presentation)
• Make sure Slide Layout options appear on right of
  screen, if not go to Format and select Slide
  Layout
• From slide Layout choose the blank page
• Go to File, Page Setup
• Enter the width and height you want A0 (84.1cm x
  118.9cm) or A1(59.4 x 84.1cm)
• Choose Portrait
• or Landscape

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Need further help?

• Contact me
• R.L.Hardy_at_warwick.ac.uk
• Or see Poster advice page on Graduate School
  Skills webpage coming soon!