posters zwickel

Putting together a Poster Show: 

Putting together a Poster Show Based on Advice on designing scientific posters by
Colin Purrington, Department of Biology, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania

Purpose: 

Purpose To inform audience Progress Results Implications Further research Practical applications

Audience: 

Audience Posters usually aimed at experts But, know your audience’s level of sophistication Decide which terms need defining Using good illustrations will make your job easier Be prepared to give oral explanations at much simpler and more complex levels

How do people decide which posters to read?: 

How do people decide which posters to read? They scan poster’s title, so you should: Use keywords in the title Make title text large and legible from 10' away Add eye-catching graphics

How do people read posters?: 

How do people read posters? People look at pictures first, then they read captions, then they read text  Top to bottom  Left to right  Biggest, boldest objects get attention first Consider a poster entirely made up of pictures and captions!

Poster-making Software: 

Poster-making Software Page layout applications: QuarkXPress Adobe InDesign LaTeX Also try: Adobe Illustrator CorelDRAW Omnigraffle PowerPoint -usable, but not as many features as the others -important to change defaults

Word count and Typefaces: 

Word count and Typefaces Text: 800 words or less Text should be readable from 6 feet Make title very large, using sans serif typeface Body text size depends on line length 18pt type  6-inch line length 24pt type  8-inch line length

White space: 

White space Makes poster more readable and less overwhelming (=less boring) Use no more than 20% of your poster for text Leave 40% for graphics Leave 40% empty space = NOTHING!

Layout should follow principles of document design: 

Layout should follow principles of document design Hierarchy Some elements are more important than others Proximity Keep related items near one another Alignment

Layout: Establish a hierarchy: 

Layout: Establish a hierarchy Organize ideas in logical order Leave plenty of white space Provide navigational aids Use subheads before each section Avoid generic subheads whenever possible Introduction Methodology Conclusions Why study Oxymorons? Giggles-per-hour test apparatus Toast is 27x more likely to land butter-side-down

Proximity: 

Proximity Keep related elements together Subhead goes next to text Illustrations go next to text Captions go right under illustrations

Alignment makes it easier for readers : 

Alignment makes it easier for readers Line up images to help readers understand process Use flush left alignment for text

Poor Alignment: 

Poor Alignment The Panama Canal is about 50 miles (80 km) long, across the Isthmus of Panama, that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Its construction, begun by the French under Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1881, was abandoned in 1889 and was completed by the U.S. between 1904 and 1914. Control of the canal remained with the U.S. until 1999, when it was ceded to Panama. Plans call for widening the canal to accommodate modern freighters. Profile Map of the Panama Canal 1997 Map of Panama, showing route of the Panama Canal

Better Alignment: 

Better Alignment The Panama Canal The Panama Canal is about 50 miles (80 km) long, across the Isthmus of Panama, and connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Construction, begun by the French under Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1881, was abandoned in 1889 and was completed by the U.S. between 1904 and 1914. Control of the canal remained with the U.S. until 1999, when it was ceded to Panama. Plans call for widening the canal to accommodate modern freighters.

Organizing a poster: 

Organizing a poster Note how lots of white space separates elements

Parts of a poster: 

Parts of a poster Title Short, simple, catchy explanation Use important keywords Follow with names of researchers Abstract Unnecessary on a poster

Parts of a poster: 

Parts of a poster Introduction/background Give bare minimum needed to understand your hypothesis/problem statement Design: Explain reasoning Why design was chosen Why design has good chance of success Experiment: Materials and methods Describe experiment Great place to use graphics Flow chart Photographs Diagrams

Parts of a poster: 

Parts of a poster Results Did experiment work? What happened? Show and discuss data collected Conclusions Was hypothesis supported? What happens next?

Parts of a poster: 

Parts of a poster Literature citations List only articles you actually used Acknowledgments List people who helped you List sources of funding Further information How can people reach you if they have questions, comments, job offers, Nobel Prizes, etc. for you

The End: 

The End