MakinganImpactwith

yourPoster

Jan2012

Contents

1.

Introduction

2.

PlanningyourPoster

4.

Layout

6.

UsingImagesandGraphs

9.

ClearUseofText

10.

UsingColourEffectively

12.

HelpandSupport

13.

SourcesofInformation

Introduction
Agoodposterworksinmanyways.Itcanbeagoodadvertisementforyourareaofwork,aneffective
waytostartadebate,andagreatwaytoraiseawarenessofanissue.
Therearemanypiecesofsoftwarethatcanbeusedforcreatingposters.Thisdocumentisnottiedto
anyparticularpieceofsoftware.Itoutlinesthegeneralprinciplesandbestpracticeofwhatmakesa
goodposter.
Theprinciplescanbeusedwiththesoftwareofyourchoice.

PlanningyourPoster
Communicate
Aposterisnotawallmountedessay,moreacolourfulabstract.Theaimoftheposteristograbthe
attentionofyouraudiencewhichinturnwillgenerateinterestinyourareaofresearch.
Everythingwithintheposter,includingallgraphicsandtext,mustrelatetotheresearchprojectyouare
tryingtocommunicate.
Allofyourmainpointsandconclusionsmustbeclearandconcise.
Onlyuseprojectdetailswhichareabsolutelyessentialforgettingyourpointacross.
Trytoexpressyourmainpointsgraphically.

Requirements
Alwaysreadtheconferenceposterrequirementsclearly.Youwillbesurprisedathowmanypeoplefail
toreadtheseinstructionsproperly.Ifyouareunsureoftheserequirements,getintouchwith
conferenceorganisers.
Mostconferenceorganiserswillgiveyouthefollowingguidelinesforsubmissionwhicharethe
followingareas:

Wordcount,specificallyaminimumandmaximum.
Orientationandsize
Logos

Audience
WhoisyourAudience?
Effectivecommunicationbeginswithknowingwhoyouraudienceis.Yourposteristheretogetyour
messageacross,anditisofnouseifthepersonlookingattheposterdoesntunderstandwhattheyre
lookingat.
Thethreemaintypeofaudienceare:
Specialist:Audiencehasahighlevelofknowledgewithinyourdiscipline.Thereisagoodunderstanding
ofuniqueterminologyandpracticesusedwithinthefield.Youmaygointodetailregardingyouresearch
withoutfearofitbeingmisunderstood.
TheWiderField:Theaudienceareinafieldofresearchrelatedtoyourown,butmaynotbefamiliar
withthemorespecialisttermsandpracticeswithinyourarea.
General:Littleornofamiliaritywiththesubject,explanationsmustbegiveninthemostbasicterms.

EngagingtheAudience
Youraudiencewillnotapproachyourposterifitssubjectisnotclearfrom3metresaway.
Allelementsshouldbevisiblefromatleast1.5m.
Inthefirstthreesecondsoflookingatyourposter,thereaderisdecidingwhethertostayandexplore
theposterormoveon.
Makethemainheadinglargeandtothepoint,trytoavoidalongmaintitle,youhaveawholeposterto
getyourmessageacross.

Layout
Themostimportantaspectofanygoodacademicposteristhatitiseasytofollow.
Aseriesofcolumnsallowsreaderswhomaybeunfamiliarwithyoursubjectmatterandmethodof
researchtoeasilyfollowthedirectionofyourinformation.Newspapershaveusedthisformatfor
decadesasstudieshaveshownitisbyfartheeasiestwaytomaketheinformationreadable.
Anotherusefulattributeofacolumnlayoutisthatitmakesiteasierformanypeopletostandata
posterandreadatthesametime.
Readingorder
ForposterpresentationsatmostEnglishspeakingconferences,thewaypeoplewillreadtheposteris
fromtoptobottomandlefttoright.Theexamplesbelowhighlightinnumberedorder,thewaymost
postersareread.
Arrangingyourposterelementsintheordershownbelowwillmakeiteasierforacrowdtoreadthe
posterontheday.

Notcluttered
Trynottofillalloftheavailablespaceonthepaper.Havingtoomanyitemscloselypackedonthe
poster;makestheposterhardtoread.Trytousewhitespacesaspauses,thiswillmakethereading
experienceeasierfortheviewer,anditwillbeeasierforyoutodefinesections.

Balance
Fromadesignpointofview,attractivepostershaveagoodbalanceofimagesandtextacrosstheentire
areaoftheposter.Thefollowingtwoimagesareexamplesofgoodandpoorbalanceinaposterlayout.

Unbalanced

Balanced

Noticehowallthetextelementstogethermaketheposterweightedtoonesidegivingthereaderalot
oftexttodigestallatonce.
Placingillustrationsthroughouttheposterbreaksthetextupintoeasilyreadablechunksgivesabetter
flowtotheviewingexperience.

UsingImagesandGraphs
Images
Trytokeepyougraphs/imagesandfiguresabove13cmx15cm.Thisisagoodsizerelativetothesize
ofanA0sheetandwillenableyourimagesandgraphicstobeseenclearly.
Yourgraphicelementsshouldberelevanttothesubjectmatter,clear,tothepoint,andattractive.
ImageFileTypes
Therearemanytypesofdigitalimage,andeachofthemhaveattributeswhichmakethemthebest
formatforthejob.ThemostsuitableimageformatforpostercreationisahighresolutionJPEG(.jpg)
file.Theadvantageofusingthisformatisthatyougetahighqualityimagewitharelativelysmallfile
size.
Resolution
Resolution(inrelationtodigitalimagery)isthenumberofpixelspersquareinchonacomputerscreen.
Thehigherthisnumberis,thegreaterthequalityofthepicture.
Useimageswitharesolutionofatleast300dotsperinch(DPI).Thiswillgiveyougreaterflexibility
whenresizingyourimagesontheposter.
Avoidlowresolutionimagesfromwebpages.Theycanappearcleanandinfocusonthescreen,but
whenprintedlargewilllooksoftandpixellated.

300DPI

72DPI

Cropping
Itwillbesometimesnecessarytocroppicturestofocusmoreonadetailandtoremoveunnecessary
clutter,distractions,andwastedspace.Intheexamplebelow,wewanttofocusontherobinmoreand
eliminateunnecessaryspace.
Bothoftheimagesbelow,arefromthesamesourceimage.

Captions
Ingraphicswherethemeaningisntimmediatelyobvious,Itisgoodpracticetoprovideacaptionthatis
shortandtothepointunderneaththeimage.

Fig.1.UniversityofLiverpoolCampusMap

Graphs
Aposterisallaboutgettingyourmessageacrossclearly.Communicatingresultsandrelationshipsis
veryimportant.
Graphsshouldbecleanandsimpletounderstandbutmostimportantlyshowanyrelationshipsas
clearlyaspossible.
Alltextonthegraphneedstobeclearandconcise,andmustfollowthesametextstylesastherestof
theposter.
Belowaretwoexamplegraphs.Theywerebothderivedfromthesamedataset.Thegraphontheright
hasbeenformattedforaposterpresentationwherethelefthandgraphhasbeenpresentedexactlyas
itwasproducedfromthesoftware.Formattingchangeswhichhavebeenmadefortheposter
presentationversioninclude:

Clearlytitledaxesandticks
Nogridlinestodetractfromtheplottedpoints
Clearplotlines
Aclearlydefinedlegend
Ashortcleartitle

2D Graph 1

T vs A1
T vs A2

Soundwaves X and Y Modulation

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T vs A1
T vs A2

22

20

20

18

18

16

16

14

Ydata

Ydata

22

14
12

10

10

6
4

50

100

150

200

250

X Data

50

100

X Data

12

150

200

UseofText
Asmentionedpreviously,foreaseofreadability,itisrecommendedthatthetextandposterelements
arearrangedincolumns.Butlayoutplanningwillbeuseless,ifthetextisdifficulttoread.
Topresenttexteffectivelyontheposter,followthefewguidelinesbelow:

Yourmaintitleshouldbelarge,90150pointboldandreadableatadistanceof3metres.
Useadifferentsizeorboldnessoftexttodefinecolumnheadings
Textandtitles,whenwrittenentirelyincapitalsarehardertoread.

Iamasampleoftext
IAMASAMPLEOFTEXT

Trytoavoidlargeparagraphsoftext.Breakuplargeblocksoftextintoshortstatementsthat
areshortandtothepoint.Usebulletsandliststoachievethis.
Thebodytextshouldbe2632point.
Useplainstyledfontssuchas:

Calibri,Ariel, Deja-vu, Times New Roman

Avoidusingscriptstylefontsastheycanbedifficulttoread.

This is an example of a Script Typeface

Tomaketexteasiertoread,placedarktextonalightbackground.
Avoidverylongtitles.Ashortandcleartitlewillgiveyourpostersreaderaninstantideaof
whattheposterisabout.
Avoidfontsizesbelow24point,anythingsmallerthanthiswillrequirethereadertostandvery
closetotheposter,andmaybeuncomfortabletoread.

ThisisCalibriin12pt

ThisisCalibriin20pt

ThisisCalibriin26pt

Avoidusingtoomanydifferenttypefaces.Thiswillmaketheposterappeardisjointedandmay
distractthereaderfromthesubjectmatter.

UsingColourEffectively
Choosingtherightcolourschemeisaveryimportantchoice.
Backgroundsandcoloursshouldbesubtletoenhancethenatureofthesubjectasopposedto
detractingfromit.
BelowisaColourWheelthatyoucanuseforchoosingacolourschemeforyourposter.

Thethreemainpalettestolookatare:Complimentary,Monochromatic,andAnalogous.

Complimentary
Thisschemeusestwoormoreoppositecoloursinthecolourwheel.Inthiscasethecoloursareblue
andorange.

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Monochromatic
Thisschemeusesonecolourbutinavarietyofshadesandtints.

Analogous

Thisuses3adjacentcoloursinthecolourwheeltomakeupthepalette.Youcanvarytheshadesand
tints.

Ifyoulookcloselyattheexamplesincludedabove,youwillseethatonly3colours(pluswhite)have
beenused.Atitlebanner,adifferentcolourforheadingsandabackgroundcolourforsectionbodies.
Thisisjustoneexampleofhowthesethreecolourpaletteslookwhenappliedtoasinglelayout.Please
donotfeelrestrictedtopresentingyourposterlayoutsinthisway.

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HelpandInformation
Forhelpwithproducingandprintingposterswithavarietyofsoftwarepackages,visitthecomputing
serviceswebpagesat:
www.liv.ac.uk/csd/printing
Thesepagesalsoincludeinformationonpapersizesandprintingcosts.
Ifyouhaveanyissuesregardingyourposterprinting,andyouareunabletofindtheanswersonour
webpages,pleaseemailtheComputingServicesHelpdeskonhelpdesk@liv.ac.ukor
call+44(0)1517944567

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Sourcesofinformationandfurtherreading.
Websitesonacademicpostercreation
http://clt.lse.ac.uk/posterdesign/
http://gradschool.unc.edu/student/postertips.html
http://www.spfldcol.edu/homepage/dept.nsf/BC81220B343BE6788525738E005FDA74/F0BB3C96C5ED
8A898525754700505502
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/
http://saw.uwaterloo.ca/poster/
http://www.cns.cornell.edu/documents/ScientificPosters.pdf
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/disseminate/posters.aspx
http://www2.napier.ac.uk/gus/writing_presenting/academic_posters.html
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/careers/pgrd/resources/designingposter/designingposter
http://prezi.com/0e1ftr5f7zlz/designinganacademicposter/

WebsitesonColourTheory

ColorTheoryforDesigners:SmashingMagazineJan28th2010:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/28/colortheoryfordesignerspart1themeaningof
color/
Colormatters:
http://www.colormatters.com/coloranddesign/basiccolortheory
Tigercolor:
http://www.tigercolor.com/colorlab/colortheory/colortheoryintro.htm
Artyfactory:
http://www.artyfactory.com/color_theory/color_theory.htm

Images
www.gettyimages.co.uk/
http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~loft06/

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