Layout, Information to Include, Software, and Logistics Making a Poster Layout, Information to Include, Software, and Logistics SGE UO 4/18/2019

What makes a good poster? Important info should be readable at 10 feet away Big, short, concise title, draws interest Bullets, numbering, and headlines make it easy to read. Clean layout, consistent use of fonts and color. Use only high resolution photos. https://guides.nyu.edu/posters

Tools Available – Microsoft and Adobe Microsoft Powerpoint Adobe Illustrator Takes less time More people are used to it Less capable / inflexible Colors on screen are not necessarily what are printed Don’t Use Photoshop More difficult to learn More control over location of objects Colors remain true when printed Both can be set to whatever size specs are necessary

Layout - one method of many Use Grids to keep material aligned Column format Try to keep ~ 40 % of your poster empty of text and images Limit use of boxes and lines Group similar topics together Font Size: >36 for sub headings, >24 for main body, >50-125 Title (depending on font) Background: For professional poster sessions, one color or gradients – Photo backgrounds become distracting 1 2 3 4

Title Boldfaced, not all caps Only essential words, or a catchy title. Make it accessible to others not in your sub-field. Font size > 50 Unless going presenting at EXTREMELY niche conference, don’t do this 

What to Include? Headings – Bold, grab the readers attention. Possible to have darker boxes surrounding them, make them distinctive Introductions Short background of the topic to set the context and state the main objectives of your work. Could include background, research questions, scientific objectives, …

What to Include?- Continued Methods (space permiting) Basic parameters – target sample, setting, duration of study, techniques, equipment used. Illustrator Figures tend to help the audience understand Results Data, figures, centered if possible Make this the highlight of the poster, the largest section of it. Use the figures to get the message you want across. Use colors to help Don’t include raw data Use figure legends, scale bars, consistent axes

What to Include? - Continued Future Work Whatever work was not done, or will be done, highlight in the F.E. section. What questions were not answered that you hoped would be answered? References Cite all references that helped with the research, and cite according to the sty

Rules about Figures Use meaningful, high quality images Adjust the color and contrast to make it “pop” Crop or edit images to highlight what is relevant Caption all figure Label directly on figures to clarify, but don’t overdo it. Use bold lines, to be seen from > 5 ft Balance images so they are not all on one side

Color Scheme www.colorschemer.com/online.html Use websites like the one above to pick colors that work well together. Blue on Red = Bad Yellow on White = Bad Red on Blue = Bad Look into colors that are visible for people with color-blindness Don’t do this http://hsp.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ScientificPosters.pdf

Other stuff Always acknowledge funding sources Always give credit to collaborators Have photos be at least 150 dpi, but not more than 300 dpi Save photos as jpg or png Images and graphs say more than words Make text left aligned Print out a letter sized draft to test it. Serif Font’s are easiest to read Ask yourself: Can you read the type, is it too busy, are the colors good? Include captions on all figures.

How To Print? At the UO: Geology Department has one if your professor is willing to pay. Printing services offered at Lawrence Hall Print At Least the day before travel begins. Better to print up to a week out, there tends to be a rush for printing before a conference. For UROP Undergrad Prez’s, 3-4 days in advance should suffice https://blogs.uoregon.edu/designtech/eugene-output-room/poster-printing/

Examples – Early work, what not to do

https://www. liverpool. ac https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/computingservices/printing/making-an-impact-with-your-poster.pdf

Sources of information and further reading. Websites on academic poster creation http://clt.lse.ac.uk/poster-design/ 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/designing-poster/designing-poster http://prezi.com/0e1ftr5f7zlz/designing-an-academic-poster/ Websites on Colour Theory Color Theory for Designers : Smashing Magazine Jan 28th 2010 : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/28/color-theory-for-designers-part-1-the-meaning-ofcolor/ Colormatters : http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory Tiger color: http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm Artyfactory : http://www.artyfactory.com/color_theory/color_theory.htm