designing communications for a poster fair

7/30/2019 Designing communications for a poster fair

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Designing Communications

for a Poster FairTips for Success


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2005 The Pennsylvania State University

This publication was developed by the graphic designers o Teaching and Learning with Technology or the use othe McNair Scholars Program. Comments should be directed to . This material is available online orthe current semester at http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/users/drs18/postershow/

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. I you anticipate need-

ing any type o accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact us in advanceo your participation or visit.

The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to programs,acilities, admission, and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, perormance,or qualications as determined by University policy or by state or ederal authorities. The Pennsylvania State Uni-versity does not discriminate against any person because o age, ancestry, color, disability or handicap, nationalorigin, race, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimi-nation policy to the Armative Action Director, The Pennsylvania State Unversity, 201 Willard Building, UniversityPark, PA 16802-2801; tel. (814) 863-0471; TDD (814) 865-3175.


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Designing Communications for a Poster Fair

A poster session is a good opportunity to present your-sel and your research in a avorable light, to makecontacts, and get useul eedback. There will be con-siderable competition or the audiences time; youll

need to capture their attention and communicate yourmessage quickly and succinctly. A successul posterpresents you and your work clearly and proessionally;it encourages the audience to stop to discuss your workwith you and gives them the opportunity to take anydetailed inormation that youve prepared as a handout.

When you are accepted as a participant in a postersession, youll be given a set oGuidelines for Presenters.These guidelines provide very specic inormation.

This poster has a title in 150 point Helvetica Bold and body copy in 26 point Times. The photographs have been

adjusted so theyll print at 100 dots per inch (dpi). It was produced or this class, not a poster air.


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Although every show is dierent, the guidelines typi-cally will tell you the size o your display area, how longthe show will be, whether youll have a table or not.Some poster session organizers include tips or sugges-tions or you to consider that are based on their pastexperience. These suggestions typically include:

Know your audience so that you can communicate to

them most eectively.

Text should be large enough to be seen rom 5 eetaway.

The pieces should be organized in a way that leadsthe viewer through the display.

Make illustrations simple and bold.

The display should be sel-explanatory so that you areree to talk.

Keep displays simple and text brie; a viewer shouldget it in 30 seconds. You can provide in-depth inor-mation in a handout.

A neutral colored poster on matte board is morepleasing to the eye than one on a bright coloredbackground.

Organize your material and edit your content toeliminate distracting visual noise. When in doubt,edit out; make sure every item is necessary.

Take a note pad and pen or notes, extra thumbtacks,pins, tape or glue.

The ollowing set o design rubrics (guides) was com-piled to expand on the inormation that participants arenormally given.

Planning

How to get started: Its important to know who will view your poster andwhat you want to tell them. Dont wait until the last minute; start early. Readthe inormation rom the Poster Fair organizers. Read this pamphlet. Checksome o the listed Web sites i you can access a the internet. Gather yourmaterials so that you can see what you still may need to get while its stillearly enough to get it and do any necessary work.


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Keep it simple.

List all o the things that you want to say, and put themin the order o importance. Try selecting only the rstthree points as the ocus or your poster.

Remember that this is a poster to give a quick overviewo your research and to encourage viewers to stop to

talk with you. Plan on limited text and strong images inthe poster. Provide deeper inormation in a well-writtenhandout.

I a viewer only remembers one thing rom your display,what should it be?

Develop an inormation hierarchy.

What is your key point? What do you need to support it?

Would bulleted points be more eective than runningtext? Starting with an outline, which is an inormationhierarchy, will help you simpliy and plan.

Think visually.

Take out a pencil and sketch a small poster to scale.What size and proportions will you be working with?What will you include? What resources do you have and

what do you need to add or eliminate to create a goodposter?

Developing aLayout

How to get started: Mark o an area on the foor or on a table top the exactsize o your poster. Print your text at 24 points in a long column set between

45 and 55 characters wide. Lay your text in place and cut it apart as neededto accommodate mock-ups o your image les. Add a title sketched to size.How does it look? What do you need to change to make your message clear?Ask a riend to look at it and see i they get it.

The most important things go rst.

The title is top center, the key position. Next, viewerslook at the upper let; there you can put an introduction


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that briefy states the question youre asking and whyits important. Follow with what you did and how youdid it. Include simple supporting inormation. Your con-clusions come last. Capture the viewers attention, thenguide them visually through your inormation.

Use a grid to keep items aligned and straight.I you do the layout on a computer, aligning things iseasier. I you need to put things together manually,make sure items align, edges are straight and marginsare even.

Use a text hierarchy.

A text hierarchy means that youve established a con-vention with ont sizes and styles that lets viewers easilyrecognize the order o importance o inormation in theposter.

The most important bit o text is the title; its the largesttext on the poster and usually in a bold ont. You mightuse text 112 inches tall or the title, make it bold andperhaps use all capital letters.

Next is the names o the participants and their depart-ment aliations. I the title is 112 inches high you canuse 34 inch to 1 inch tall letters or your names and abit smaller text or departments. Use a combination oupper and lower case letters. The names could be mademore prominent by making them bold.

Next might be subheadings stating what you did, whyyou did it and what you discovered. These could be12 inch or larger, each ollowed by indented bulletedpoints or running text.

Use a column ormat.

Your title will usually go across the top o the entireposter. The content should be arranged under it in col-umns: 3, 4, or 5 depending on the width o your poster.People expect to read rom the upper let corner downeach column till they reach the lower right corner. Yourlayout should guide the viewers eye; adhering to thisstandard takes advantage o the viewers expectations.


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Try to keep 40% o the poster area empty otext and images.

White space, which is only white i your backgroundis white, is the space around images and text. It llsborders, helps to keep things separate, can keep thingstogether, and can be used to ocus the viewers attention.

Students oten make the mistake o trying to ll all oposter in their enthusiasm to include as much as pos-sible. Even your avorite teacher may nd a poster lledrom edge to edge a bit intimidating. You want people tond the inormation easily and eel that they can absorbit quickly and comortably while standing at a posterair. Open space helps give them this impression andinvites them to read.

Limit your use o boxes and lines.

I you put text and images in boxes and separate thecolumns and sections with lines, your poster will looklike its still on a grid. The lines stop the viewers eyesrom scanning smoothly, and it becomes dicult to scanthe entire poster. You can achieve an orderly poster withwhite space.

I items go together, put them close to eachother.

This seems easy enough. It means that you should keepa photograph or illustration near where its discussed inthe text.

Selecting Fontsand Using Text

How to get started: A common ont thats included with every computeroperating system is Times Roman. The problem with Times (and its sansseri partner, Helvetica) is that its so common designers think o it as boring.But its okay to use Times since you want the onts that you use to stand outbecause o the inormation they convey rather than or their novelty. Weused Palatino in this pamphlet; its very common in academic settings.

The white space inthis image is 40% othe image area.


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Use common seri onts or body text.

A ont should be readable. Make it easy or olks whodont have much time to get the inormation they need.I viewers are amiliar with a ont, reading speed andcomprehension are improved.

In print media, seri onts are easiest to read andprovide quick comprehension: the small nishingstrokes guide the eye and the variation in stroke widthaids character recognition. Convention, what peopleare most accustomed to, suggests choosing one othe common seri onts or body copy. For example,there are a number o seri onts that are consideredsae. This pamphlet is set in Palatino; others includeGaramond, Bembo, Janson, Baskerville, Goudy andTimes.

You can use sans seri onts or titles, head-lines, or labels.

Sans seri onts work well or titles and labels because othe clarity and simplicity o the letter orms. Without thedistinctive seri strokes, however, sans seri onts can bedicult and tiring to read. Sans seri onts or headlinesand titles can mix well with seri onts in the body; but

you can also use a larger, bolder version o your seriont in the title.

Not every sans seri ont works well with every seriont; i your combination o two onts doesnt look right,try a dierent sans seri ont. The sans ont Helvetica isoten paired with Times Roman. In this brochure, Ivepaired Frutiger with Palatino body copy. Penn Statepublications oten pair the sans Univers with the seriBembo.

Try to use no more than three onts in yourdocument.

I you use more than three onts your inormationhierarchy gets conusing, order is hard to maintain, andyour poster starts to look disorganized.

Sans Serif in

(ELVETICA

Serif in Times

Seris are the littlecut-o strokes onletters. Sans meanswithout, so sans serimeans without littlecut-o strokes.


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I the body copy is Times and the title is Helvetica, thatstwo onts. Adding Times Italic or photo captions makesthree. I you then use Times Italic Bold or a sub head,youre adding a ourth ont, and the orderly look o theposter gets harder to maintain. I you need the ont orclarity that cant be achieved another way, use it; clarityo communication is the goal, not a specic number oonts.

Combine uppercase and lowercase letters.

Quick and easy word recognition helps people eort-lessly read a text. I you use all capital letters, the shapeo every word ia a rectangle; reading becomes more di-cult. The ascending strokes above an h, b, or d and thedescending strokes below a g, p, or j all help to create adistinctive shape or a word. This shape makes the word

easier to recognize. The dierences in shapes also helpthe reader maintain their place as theyre reading.

Oten a poster title will be set using all capital letters.Its harder to read than upper and lower case letterscombined, but in short phrases, all capitals can addimpact.

Use large onts that can be easily read rom 5eet away.

Take two steps back rom a test print out. Can you readthe text? Do the headlines command attention? Bodycopy should be no smallerthan 14 inch thats at least18 points. Some sources recommend using body copythats 24 points. Obviously this limits the amount o textthat you can include!

Your title should be about 112 inches tall that will usu-ally be at least 120 points. The sans seri ont that Im

using, Frutiger, has to be set at 150 points to print 112inches tall.

Black text on white has high impact andexcellent readability.

Text has to stand out clearly against the backgroundto be seen and read. Black text on white has the high-

Words that vary in

shape are easier toread.


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est visibility and readability. For your poster to be readquickly and easily, you need to maintain high contrastbetween the text and background.

Using colored text or short passages can add impactas long as theres still contrast. Yellow text on white isdicult to read. Red on black, black on red, and blue onblack are dicult to read, too.

Occasionally text is set to appear white on black. Forbold titles it works, but or lots o text at small sizes, theblack background appears to ll in thin lines and serismaking reading dicult.

Choosing andUsing Color

How to get started: Are there any colors already in place that you could use?Colors that are natural to your project, such as green or botanical researchor blue or ocean studies are great starting points. Colors could be impliedby locale or culture or could be the color o a team tee shirt. Photographsthat you want to include hold lots o colors that you can sample in a graphicsapplication to use or image borders, bullets or dingbats, or muted back-grounds. Colors ound in these ways will help to pull your poster together.

Maintain a color scheme.

Two or three related colors will give your poster a cohe-sive look. The colors need to go together well enoughthat they dont confict with your message.

Colors that have something in common usually go welltogether. Blue and green go well together because theyhave blue in common. Bright red and blue have little incommon and contrast sharply. I white is added to bothred and blue so they have white in common, pink and

powder blue become bearable. Adding black or anothercolor can have the same eect.

I you use a standard twelve section color wheel, anythree neighboring colors will work well together. Forcontrast in small quantities, the color directly across thecolor wheel can add impact.

A sot blue-green background can make your displaylook attractive, clean, and proessional. Thin red-orange

2ED

/RANGE

2EDORANGE

9ELLOWORANGE

9ELLOWGREEN"LUEGREEN

"LUEPURPLE

2EDPURPLE

9ELLOW

'REEN

"LUE

0URPLE

Colors that are closetogether on a colorwheel look goodtogether.


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borders on your images can make the images stand out.A single contrasting color can be used in small amountsor impact.

Keep backgrounds subtle; grays and mutedcolors help oreground inormation standout

Pale color as a background can be uniying to yourposter. Neutral backgrounds enhance and promotematerial thats placed on top. Grays and pastels canbe uniying while remaining in the background. Yourposter can be mounted on a slightly larger piece ocolored poster board so that the poster seems to be in acolored rame.

I your images are black and white or muted, a colorulbackground or borders may help the images stand out.

Use bright, saturated colors sparingly.

Bright, saturated colors can be jarring or distracting tothe viewer. The primary colors, red, yellow, and blue,tend to look garish. These eects can detract rom yourmessage or make viewing unpleasant enough thatsomeone may choose not to bother.

Judicious use o bright color can attract attention toyour display or to a particular area o your poster, orexample a border around an image or lling an impor-tant word. Restraint is important, however; i youre notsure, leave it out.

Large amounts o red, yellow or orange canoverpower your message.

Most design sources agree that red, yellow, and orangecan overpower your message. In many Western cultures,they evoke a sense o warning, urgency, and danger. Usethem careully.

These colors arent necessarily wrong; they can addwarmth to photographs and may be important to yoursubject matter. I it has a positive eect, use it. I yourentire background is red, though, that might be alla viewer sees in the time they spend looking at yourdisplay.


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Using Images

How to get started: Do you have photos that were taken during your work?Did you create graphs and charts that could be simplied and colorized?People are drawn to photos o people; could you stage some photos to pointout key points o your message? Can you change tables into simple charts?Any images that you can provide will be a help. Outside sources are a pos-

sibility, but dont orget to get permission to use items that you didnt create.

Use meaningul, high-quality images.

Whether its an illustration, a photograph, a chart ora graph, make sure that it supports the ocus o yourposter. It needs to convey inormation. When you use animage, you tell the viewer that you think the inorma-tion in the image is important. I they cant easily see the

importance, their attention will be lost.

Be ruthless editing images or quality; make sure theresolution is adequate or your purpose, the photographis in sharp ocus, and the color and tone are as good asthey can be. The poor quality o one image will detractrom your posters overall quality. I theres any doubt,leave it out.

I a photograph that must be included is o poor quality,consider tracing it and turning the important part into a

simple, powerul line graphic.

Adjust color and contrast in images.

Sotware such as Photoshop can enable you to adjustcolor casts, brightness, contrast, and ocus. It usuallycant make a bad image good, but it can oten make anaverage shot look a bit more proessional.

Crop or edit images so the important inor-mation is obvious.

Instead o showing a whole room, or example, enlargea detail. A large photograph showing the inside o thelab you worked in or six months as well as most o yourcolleagues is a great memento. However, i you want toinclude it, think about what you want to convey with the

Web images usuallydont print well.


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image. Perhaps you want to show the method you areusing at a small table at one side. I so, crop out every-thing else and just show the section o you at the table.I you have high enough resolution, enlarge that partand make the message obvious.

Give photos short titles or captions.Even i youve managed to reduce your text to a mini-mum throughout your poster, some people still wontread it. Titles and captions on images help viewers toquickly understand what theyre looking at.

Label directly on maps, charts, and graphs.

Label data lines in graphs and sections on pie charts;

avoid using legends (keys). Legends require the viewerto work hard at understanding the meaning o an image.I directly labeled, the viewer can understand a graph inone glance.

Also keep in mind that viewers cant turn your poster toread vertical text. Keep all labels horizontal.

Simpliy charts and graphs.

Remove non-essential inormation. I you dont men-tion the specic data on the poster, remove it rom theimage. Reduce the data in your images to what youneed to make your point.

I you have very complex data, include a more compleximage in your handout. Tables are oten complex. I theycant be simplied or summarized, put these tables inthe handout, too.

Use bold lines in graphs so the data can beseen and understood rom 5 eet away.

Lines on graphs should be made heavier than usual.They have to be seen and understood quickly. Sectionsin charts and graphs should be distinct as well; use di-erent colors to clearly establish separations and rela-tionships.


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Place images so that theyre balanced visu-ally in the poster and they help to lead theviewers eye through the material.

Dont place all o your images on one side o the poster.Images should be spread evenly over the surace, pull-ing the viewers eyes to all areas.

Lead the viewer through the material. Photographso people looking to the right wll lead the viewers eyeto the right. I a photo o someone looking to the rightis used along the right side o a poster, the viewer isdirected away rom the poster. I it still makes sense andhas to be on the right side, fip the photo in a graphicsapplication.

Web Resources

I you would like to spend time learning more, there are some Web sites that canhelp you:

http://www.engr.psu.edu/ae/ecc/large_format_printing.aspWebsite or the Engineering Copy Center, University Park

http://www.waspacegrant.org/posterdesign.htmlThe Basics of Poster Design by the Washington Space Grant Consor-

tium

http://www.aspb.org/education/poster.cfmHow to Make a Great Posterby Dina F. Mandoli, Department o

Botany, University o Washington

http://www.lcsc.edu/ss150/poster.htmCreating Posters for Humanities & Social Sciences by Marilyn A.

Levine, Proessor o History, Lewis-Clark State College

http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/Poster_Presentations/PstrStart.html

Developing a Poster Presentation by Je Radel, Ph.D., University oKansas Medical Center

http://www.med.uwo.ca/physiology/courses/survivalwebv3/frame.htmSurvival Skills for Graduate Students/Posters by JTutis Vilis,

Department o Physiology, University o Western Ontario

http://writing.colostate.edu/references/speaking/poster/Writing Guides/Overview of Poster Sessions by the Writing

Center, Colorado State University

Images o someonelooking away romyour poster lead theviewer away, too.


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designing communications for a poster fair

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