Poster Development and Using of MS-PowerPoint®

Dr. Ahmed-Refat 2005

Objective By the end of this session you will be

able to:

Design an eye-catching, technically accurate,

and interesting

poster . 2 Dr. AhmedRefat

Overview: • Poster is a visual tool ………………..…………….

• Recommended Layout ,Orientation ,Components

• Effective Poster Vs Poor Poster layout

Basic tools

• Using colors , letters , background

• Visual Grammar Reader Gravity

• 3 X 5 rule 20/40/40 rule

• Blank spaces

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Poster is

• An illustrated abstract

• …. It shows, not tells.

• A visual communications tool.

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Purpose of the poster

• To attract the attention of people and maintain their interest .

• It should therefore be eye catching, technically accurate, interesting and well laid out.

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Poster= Text + Graphs 1 : 2 ratio

• Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative.

• Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements.

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ELEMENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE POSTER

• Focused on single message

• Use of graphics—images/ graphs can help tell the story, use text in moderation

• Ordered —keep sequence ordered and obvious

• Concise, short, and straightforward . 7 Dr. AhmedRefat

Effective Poster

• Focused on a single message.

Focused

•Lets graphs tell the story

Graphic

• Keeps the sequence well-ordered .

Ordered

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Poor Poster

• Main points hard to find.

Focus…

• Poor Graphics ……. Small text

Graphs….

• Poor Organization

Order….

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How can you grab / hook your readers'

attention

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Ways to Quickly Get Your Audience’s Attention

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Your Audience

Know your audience

a. Experts

b. Various disciplines

c. General audience/laypersons

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Your Audience

• In 3 seconds, a viewer decides whether to approach your poster or leave.

• – Subject must be clearly understandable from at least 10 feet away.

• Use a statement, photograph, or diagram as a focal point to attract attention.

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Attract then Retain

• In the next 30 seconds, the viewer decides if the content is worthy of further exploration.

Text should be concise enough to be read in under 10 minutes.

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Consider … key elements

• First ..Planning

• Focus Your message

• Layout & Design

• Headings

• Graphics & Colors

Grabbing / hooking your readers

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Planning

• Know the audience

• Poster size

• Identify central message

• Organize your information

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Define Your Message

• What is the one thing you want

your audience to know ?

• This message should be reflected

in the title and supported by the

content of the poster

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• Everything on the poster should relate back to this message—

• if it doesn’t reinforce your message, leave it out

• All visuals and text should relate to your message.

•Focus on your message throughout the

poster.

Define Your Message

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ORGANIZE YOUR INFORMATION

• Title

• Authors and Affiliations

• Introduction

• Objectives/Goal/Research Question/Problem

• Methods

• Data and Results

• Conclusions/Implications

• References and

• Acknowledgements

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Poster Layout

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LAYOUT AND DESIGN • Creating a sketch

• Layout

• Background and colors

• Spacing

• Headings

• Font and text

• Graphics

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Layout • Divide the poster into 6-8 smaller areas

• These smaller areas could be items of

text, photos, tables or graphs.

• Puts these parts into a logical order and makes it easier to follow.

• Put the most important parts of the presentation, at eye level and in the

centre of the poster. 22 Dr. AhmedRefat

Landscape vs Portrait Layout

• Landscape-oriented layout • – Often best to visually divide space into 2 or

more columns (do not have to be equal width) which are read left to right.

• Portrait oriented layout • – Read top to bottom

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Sketch it out!

Think visually

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Poster Size Small …………28” X 40”………..…70-100

Typical ………36” X 48”…..91-121

Big 42” X 56 “ ..106-142 cm

54 x 58” = 137 x147

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Sketch it out!

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Layout • use a visual grammar

• use a column format

• use organization cues

• use "reader gravity“

• 3 X 5 rule

• use headings wisely

• balance the placement of text and graphics

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Visual Grammar : Layout VG is…… a graphic hierarchy that helps

readers identify the most important parts of your poster.

• Certain things need to be “in place” in order to make it readable

• Column format—arrange content in 3 or 4 columns

• Organizational cues—use bullets (or numbers when appropriate)

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Visual Grammar : Layout • VG is a graphic hierarchy that helps readers

identify the most important parts of your poster.

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“Reader Gravity”—in English, top to bottom first, then left to right

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3 to 5 rule

• 3 to 5 minutes; 3 to 5 feet away • A viewer will likely spend only 3 to 5 minutes

looking at your poster from 3 to 5 feet away

• Your poster should be logical enough for a viewer to quickly understand it

• Your text and images should be readable from 3 to 5 feet/1.5 m away

• Use short sentences or short phrases rather than long prose

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Headings • Headings - including the title, section titles, and

figure captions - should ...

• Summarize Use headings as opportunities to summarize your work in large letters.

• Organize Good headings are part of the visual grammar that helps move readers through your poster.

• Be Hierarchical The more important the point, the larger the type.

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ORGANIZATION/ORDER

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BAD

GOOD

Text • Posters are a visual medium.

• Minimize text - use images and graphs .

• Use phrases rather than full sentences.

• Use an active voice.

• Avoid jargon .

• Left-justify text; avoid centering and right-justifying text.

• K.I.S.S. - Keep it short and simple

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Color • Use a light background and dark letters .

• Avoid dark backgrounds with light letters - very tiring to read… very tiring to read.

• Stick to a theme of 2 or 3 colors - much more will overload and confuse viewers.

• Overly bright colors will attract attention - and then wear out readers' eyes.

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Color • Should

• – highlight or emphasize

• – separate and define sections

• – associate related information

• Should not

• – compete with the information

• – overwhelm the viewer 36 Dr. AhmedRefat

Lettering

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Minimum sizes: 18-24-48-72- 90

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TEST:GRAPHIC RATIO

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BAD

GOOD

Layout — Blank space:

Leave enough room so that the viewer can stay

focused on individual sections

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Blank space:

• – Leave enough room so that the viewer can stay focused on individual sections

• A good poster has about 50% blank space, !!! and lots of informative pictures and figures.

20 % text …..40 % figures…… 40 % blank space

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20-40-40 Rule

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Layout — Blank space:

Use lots of blank space around margins to define sections:

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BLANK SPACE

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BAD…

GOOD

Background may be • – A solid color

• – A gradient

• – A texture

• – A photograph

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BACKGROUND

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GOOD

BAD

How to use

MS- Power Point

in creating the poster

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Software Options

• MS PowerPoint : Easy-to-use tool, many people already know how to use it.

• Adobe Illustrator & Adobe Photoshop …. more features ..more complex and expensive.

• MS Excel Create graphics and export them for PowerPoint - but you'll need to clean them up.

• OpenOffice … Free alternatives to MS Office.

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Three Steps for Developing a Poster

by using

MS-Power Point ®

1-YOU NEDD A PLAIN SHEET

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2- DIVIDE IT ACCORDING TO THE DESIRED SCALE ( W/H)

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3- DRAW A SCHETCH

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S

A

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3- Put Your Data…Save..Print!!

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How To Develop A Poster By Using MS-PowerPoint Presentation Dr Ahmed-Refat

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•Rlrglgr w •W rgk wgkwrkgkrgg •G •G •G

Organization

how to move through poster •Implicit. Headings (Introduction, Methods, etc.) or other device implies organization and flow. Explicit numbering, column bars, row bars, etc

S

A

K

Step One: Set Up Your Poster -1

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Step One: Set Up Your Poster-2

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Step One: Set Up Your Poster-3

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Step One: Set Up Your Poster-4

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Step One: Set Up Your Poster-5

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Step Two: Put the Text & Graphics

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Step Two: Put the Text & Graphics

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Step Three: Save / Print

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Cited references

1-Guidelines for poster presentations - John Jay College available from

http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/academics/Poster_Guidelines.pdf

2-http://www.cns.cornell.edu/documents/ScientificPosters.pdf

3-Creating a poster using PowerPoint:

http://www.cmer.wsu.edu/~yonge/ce465/poster.pdf

4- "60-Second Evaluation" by Hess, G.R. at the site: Creating Effective Poster Presentations. http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters

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