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Poster Design I

Presentation • Critiques • Practice

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Presentation Topics

• Posters and Your Professional Image

• Considering Your Audience

• Organizing Perception with “Space Logic”

• Guiding Viewers’ Understanding

• Giving Your Talk

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Posters and Your Professional Image

• Posters define projects AND people by displaying

– Innovative quality of thinking and approach

– Collegial relationships

(who works together)

– Value of work done

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Poster Session Audiences

• Have little time

• Want to choose posters

• Need a “gist” to make decision

• Have professional interests

• Are open to excitement

• Uncertain about personal

interaction

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Considering Your Audience

• Why are they interested?• What are their

backgrounds?

• How will they benefit?

• What are their questions?

• LIST CONTENT QUESTIONS!

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Poster Criteria Link Audience and Design

• Accessible

• Usefulness

• Understandable

• Emotionally pleasing

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• Designing written documents differs from designing posters:

Must display the whole argument

at once, not piece by piece

• Choose perceptual guides

• Select sufficient detail for

understanding

• Establish feelings of rapport

Design Process for Big Posters

Music must be heard over time, not all at once.

Posters are the opposite.

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Poster’s Answers to 7 Questions Enhance Your Image1. Problem?

2. Context within the field?

3. Importance?

4. Method(s)?

5. Findings (to date or expected)?

6. Unique contribution?

7. Possible applications, value to society?

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What is YOUR News?

• Of the 7 questions, which is most important?

– Your results or conclusions?

– What sets your work apart?• New theoretical approach /

methods / interpretation of data

– What was your focus?

• What opposition is involved?

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Visualize NEWS with “Space Logic - Step 1

• Identify your main point or “news”

• Imagine the whole message

• Identify key parts

– Claims

– Evidence

• Organize space to “map” your newsHow do I create a map?

Organizing Perception

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Visualize NEWS with “Space Logic” - Step 2

• Is “The News” problem / solution?

• Is it an image?

• Is it a contrast? (old vs. new)

• Is it a demonstration?

What is “Space Logic”?

What kind of idea is your News?

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Visualize NEWS with “Space Logic” - Step 3

• Is sequence crucial to the news?

• Is a design, piece of equipment, or image central to the news?

• Does the news divide into two parts?

• Horizontal layout

• 3-column layout with wide center column

• Two-part design, subdivided

Consider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Try

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Visual Efficiency

• Make every glance count– How the whole goes together– Where to find specific content– Convey relative importance

• Think of Suitcase Packing– Everything “goes” with something else– Travel light– No more than 7 key points

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Using Only the Evidence Needed

• Over abundant info delays understanding

• What’s really critical to accepting the NEWS? • Pick out the 2 to 5 critical pieces• Find visual or pictorial equivalents

– Don’t give a paragraph if a quick pix will do

It is the claim of this investigation that the determining factor that had previously been relied on is in fact precipitouslyUnderappreciated in the general situation that has prevailed for the past thirty years in American science. This is in partdue to the lack of response from the international community that relies on a few journals over others and as a result has not be aware of the key elements prevailing in the investigation of elemental particles in this sector of the atomic table. The visualization testing that has been occurring in France in the past several years had yielded some results of note but the need for additional testing and confirmation has caused the community as a whole to overlook possible applications.

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Chunking Information

Rank the info: MUST / Good / nice

• Include the MUST

• Add some Good

• Save “nice” details for discussion or handout

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“Space Logic” Guides Perception

• Left-to-right flow in vertical columns

• Left-to-right flow in horizontal rows

• Centered image with explanations

• Two fields in contrast

Space Logic cues eye movement

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Guide Viewers’ Perception with Flow• Organize the overall layout to reflect your

visualization of the NEWS• Put the “gist” upper left or at conventional

entry point of design• Flow to lower right hand corner

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Arrange Chunks into Path for Eyes

Flows top to bottom, left to right

Title & Authors

(Paths Fit Various Layouts)

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Title & AuthorsResultsMethods

Intro

Abstract Table 1

Conclusions

Fig 2

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L-to-R Flow in Rows

Title & Authors

References

Abstract

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Centered Image & Explanations

Title & Authors

Abstract

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Two Fields in Contrast

Title & Authors

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Is Tolkien’s Middle Earth Relevant Today?Image of London

in WWII

Image of New Yorktoday

Relevancein

WWII

RelevanceToday

“Pull-out quote: Centralpoint of argument”

Student Name E-mail

Sample Humanities Poster

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Centered Image & Explanations

Title & Authors

Abstract

Same as this design but without centered title, grid contrast

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Make News Understandable with Textual Guides

• Include introductory summary or abstract

• “Tailor” the summary into parts

• Use message headings

• Write “agent / action / result” sentences

• Reduce jargon

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Key Info in Left Column

Title & Authors

One Option . . .

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Use Design Principles

• CONTRAST items to show difference

• ALIGN items meaningfully (alignment)

• PAIR related items (proximity)

• REPEAT elements for coherence (such as color)

• SUBORDINATE to show relationships

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Guide Viewers’ Perception

• Scale expresses relative importance

• Color adds emphasis or coherence

• Indenting shows subordination– As in this example

• Blank space directs gaze

Not enough blank space

Blank space frames cart

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Principles of Explanation

• Introduce figure beforehand

• Discuss figure afterward

• Tag images with explanations

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Fat Text - - to - - Lean Text

• The ideal anesthetic should quickly make the patient unconscious but allow a quick return to consciousness, have few side effects, and be safe to handle.

• Ideal anesthetics

– Quick sedation

– Quick recovery

– Few side effects

– Safe to handle

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Font Style and Size

• Title (6 – 8 words)– Sans Serif

–96 - 120

pt

• Headings (3 words)– Sans Serif

– 36 - 48 pt

• Text– Sans serif or Serif

– 30 - 36 pt.

10 to 1 rule:

10 ft. viewing distancerequires 1 inch or 72 points font height

1 inch = 6 picas = 72 points or 6 pts/pica

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Details Matter!

• Check for consistent formatting

• Check grammar & spelling

• Use a correct bibliography

• Give credit to others

(to establish your character and ethics)

• Include contact info

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Giving Your Talk

• Imagine your audience’s list of questions

• Know where each answer is on the poster

• Have a preferred starting point

• Be a tour guide

• Imagine the “trip” from viewer’s perspective

• Go from “known” to “new”

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Communicate with Confidence

• Talk to audience, not

poster

• Stand straight, arms

down, chin up

• Integrate gestures

ELEC 301 poster session

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Invite Audience Participation

• Use voice to communicate enthusiasm

• Smile to create relationships

• Encourage discussion, questions

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P-Talks Are Not “Speeches”

• Audience changes, plan several versions

– 30-second to 3 minutes

• Use welcoming body language

• Bring newcomers into the discussion without really interrupting your talk

• Practice to test your poster design: Is it “talkable”?

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Enjoy Being on Stage

World’s Best Project!

More resources are available for you

• under “Engineering Communication” at Connexions at http://cnx.org

• at the Cain Project site at http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~cainproj

• in your course Communication Folder in OWLSPACE.

Lead through Excellence in Engineering Communication