How to design a research posterOctober 23, 2014

The purpose of a research poster

The components of an effective poster

Common judging criteria for posters

How to design an effective research poster:

Content

Design/layout

Technical considerations

Where to go for more help

What you will learn in this session

• What is the purpose of a research poster?

• Who is the audience for a research poster?

• Grab the audience’s attention and encourage them learn

more about your work.

• Communicate the key findings of a study in a clear,

concise, and visually-appealing way.

• Complement – NOT replace – your presentation.

An effective poster should…

Common criteria:

• Content/composition

• Quality of the research

• Organization/design of

the poster, visual appeal

• Presentation/delivery

How are posters judged?

• Use the poster evaluation rubric

to judge the sample posters

you’ve been given

• what are the effective elements

of the poster?

• what elements are less effective?

• what feedback would you give as

a judge?

You be the judge

• Not all templates are examples of “good” posters!

• Most online templates and examples focus on quantitative

data (e.g. graphs, charts, tables).

• AICT has several PowerPoint templates you can use as a

starting point:

https://lfp.srv.ualberta.ca/login.php

A note about templates

• Size & orientation (usually 3’ x 4’ in portrait or landscape)

• Legibility from a distance

• “Viewer friendliness” – is the poster overwhelming?

• Think visually – how can you minimize the use of text?

• How can you best highlight your key messages?

Design considerations

• Use high-resolution images (at least 150 dpi when printed

at full size)

• Avoid distortion of images (stretching, pixilation)

• Avoid busy patterns/background images.

• Be careful with colour (more is not always better!)

Making effective use of visuals

• Avoid using colour gradients and transparencies

• Colours do not translate exactly in print

• Always preview the full-size version before printing.

• Save as a PDF file if possible.

• Trim any excess white space from the edges after

printing.

Technical considerations

• http://www.flickr.com/groups/postersessions/pool/

Examples of effective posters:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28391267@N06/5451179867/in/p

ool-postersessions

• Notes: excellent use of a dominant visual component, not so

reliant on text.

Poster examples

http://www.flickr.com/photos/imdreaminggreen/4776755245/in/pool-

postersessions

•Notes: Good example of how deviating from the generic 3-column

design can make a poster stand out. One thing to avoid is the use of

dark text on a dark background (e.g. black on green) – this can be hard

to read from a distance.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anns_portfolio/358420678/in/pool-

postersessions/

•Notes: Lots of visuals, nicely broken up in boxes – not too much text.

(may need to increase font size for legibility at a distance)

Examples of effective posters

Less effective posters:

http://www.uoguelph.ca/gecg/images/userimages/ArcticNet%20Pos

ter%202008_Laura%20Fleming.pdf

•Notes: Has many of the elements of an effective poster (good use

of visuals, consistent colour scheme, text boxes) but too much text,

especially in the first column.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrismartin76/5369229954/in/pool-

pimpmyposter

Notes: Second link: example of the classic “wall of text” posters.

These are the kinds of posters that easily overwhelm an audience.

If you can’t avoid a text-heavy poster, help make it less intimidating

by creating some contrast. Use text boxes or colour to help break

things up visually.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/punto_c/1460413098/in/pool-

postersessions/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54869479@N00/1045572561/i

n/pool-postersessions/

Less effective posters

• Handout: resources for poster-making

• Academic Information & Communication Technologies

(AICT)

• U of A Library: Undergraduate Research LibGuide

• URI

• Student Success Centre

• Centre for Writers

Where to go for more help

4th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium

November 13, 2014 in CCIS

Crystal Snyder

Undergraduate Research Coordinator, URI

cs2@ualberta.ca

780-492-4183

2-701 SUB

www.uri.ualberta.ca

For more information