How to make a Good Poster Board

An effective poster is a visual communications tool. An effective poster will help you engage colleagues in conversation.... get your main point(s) across to as many people as possible. An effective poster is... Focused Focused on a single message. Graphic Lets graphs and images tell the story; uses text sparingly. Ordered Keeps the sequence well- ordered and obvious.

Do this... Supply cues to help viewers follow your presentation.... not this Let viewers guess the sequence.  Organize visually (revisit the V ISUAL G RAMMAR discussion) and in columns (revisit the U SE C OLUMNS discussion). V ISUAL G RAMMARU SE C OLUMNS  Organize your poster in a "unique" manner that defies reader gravity and gives the readers no idea of your organizational flow.  You can also use numbers, letters, or arrows to help guide viewers through your poster.  Avoid helping viewers figure out where to start or where to go next. Use organizational cues: consider the alternatives

Do this... Use a graphic hierarchy that visually reflects the relative importance of elements.... not this Use a text-heavy, publication-style format.  If it's important, make it BIG. Use type size proportional to importance.  Use 12-point font for just about everything. Actually, you could just staple up your manuscript - why not?  Show, don't tell. No need to write down every detail.  Include every detail as you would for a journal article  Use simple figures and graphs, which should dominate the poster visually.  Use complex, difficult to understand graphics, which are only a small portion of the poster.  Make all graphic elements large enough to be visible easily from one meter away.  Make sure your figures are all small enough to fit on a small portion of a journal page. Use visual grammar: consider the alternatives

Do this... Edit ruthlessly! Simplify. Supply details in person, and only as needed.... not this Emphasize methods rather than the main message.  Remove all but the most essential information about your methods.  Identify every detail of your methods, just in case you're not in front of your poster when someone comes by.  State your results with headings, and focus on results and conclusions.  Even in the results and conclusions, be sure to emphasize your methods over your findings.  Convince viewers (potential employers) that you are a thoughtful, results-oriented researcher.  Convince viewers (potential employers) that you are a task- and methods-oriented technician. Focus: consider the alternatives

Do this... Make text simple, direct, and large enough to read so that your message comes through loud and clear!... not this Make text convoluted, impenetrable, and small enough that viewers will go away.  Title and major headings should be readable from 2m away. Headings carry your main message and can attract viewers to your poster.  Headings are to be small, so you can fit everything in.  Supporting material should be visible from 1m away.  Only text that lacks intrinsic content - like "Results" - should be readable from 1m away.  Details should be kept to a minimum, and still visible from 1m away.  Make text tiny, as in a published paper, so you can squeeze in all the detail.  Avoid long lines of text.  Make lines of text so long that the readers lose their place when trying to find the next line.  Keep text blocks compact - single spaced and 50 words or fewer - and separate with white space.  Create long text blocks and word hard to fill all available space.  Use straightfowrard left-justified text, with ragged right margins, for clean word spacing and ease of reading.  Center-, right-, or full-justify large blocks of text, to increase the difficulty of reading even further. Text: consider the alternatives

Use color to attract attention, organize, and emphasize - but don't overdo it.  Use a light color background and dark color letters for contrast.  Avoid dark backgrounds with light letters - very tiring to read.  Stick to a theme of 2 or 3 colors - much more will overload and confuse viewers.  If you use multiple colors, use them in a consistent pattern - otherwise viewers will spend their time wondering what the pattern is rather than reading your poster.  Overly bright colors will attract attention - and then war out readers' eyes.  Consider people who have problems differentiating colors, especially when designing graphics - one of the most common is an inability to tell green from red.

Use of Color Mount poster materials on colored art, mat, or bristol board: 1.Mat board is available in a large range of colors. 2.Mat board is heavier, making it more difficult to crease the poster while traveling. 3.Mat board has a more durable surface than other art papers. 4.Mat boards is, however, heavier and more difficult to attach to display boards in the poster session. Use a colored background to unify your poster: 1.Muted colors, or shades of gray, are best for the background. Use more intense colors as borders or for emphasis, but be conservative - overuse of color is distracting. 2.Two to three related background colors (Methods, Data, Interpretation) will unify the poster. 3.If necessary for emphasis, add a single additional color by mounting the figure on thinner poster board, or outlining the figure in colored tape. Color can enhance the hues or contrast of photographs: 1.Use a light background with darker photo; a dark background with lighter photos. 2.Use a neutral background (gray) to emphasize color in photos; a white background to reduce the impact of colored photos. 3.Most poster sessions are held in halls lit with harsh fluorescent light. If exact colors are important to the data, balance those colors for use with fluorescent lighting. Also, all colors will be intensified; bright (saturated) colors may become unpleasent to view.

Illustrations The success of a poster directly relates to the clarity of the illustrations and tables. Self-explanatory graphics should dominate the poster. A minimal amount of text materials should supplement the graphic materials. Use regions of empty space between poster elements to differentiate and accentuate these elements. Graphic materials should be visible easily from a minimum distance of 6 feet. Restrained use of colors for emphasis is valuable; overuse is not.

If it doesn't provide critical support for your main message, ELIMINATE IT! Edit! Edit! Edit ruthlessly! to reduce text.  Edit all text to simplify verbiage, to reduce sentence complexity, and to delete details.  If it's not relevant to your message, remove it!  Have colleagues comment on drafts. Print a small version and circulate for comment, or hang a full-size draft with pens and invite them to critique.small version  Evaluate your wok - try the 60 second evaluation.Evaluate60 second evaluation  Are your objective and main message obvious?  Will readers be able to contact you?