effectiveposterdesign

=Effective Poster Design=

**Function**

 * Academic posters are utilized as a method of promotion and explanation for research
 * They are most commonly intended for use as a complement to another presentation of your research, such as...
 * an academic talk
 * a scientific paper
 * a publication
 * Of lesser importance than the material they are supplementing, hence their serving more of an introductory purpose

**Poster Sessions**

 * Juried presentation of research
 * The jury is typically comprised of persons from various research teams with an academic or professional focus
 * Poster sessions are an expected element of most scientific conferences, wherein one finds a dedicated zone for this function
 * As far as scheduling goes, one will often find that each project is presented in as short as 10 minutes, or as long as a few hours.
 * Poster session zones often look the same, regardless of the particular conference, in that they usually consist of portable walls, upon which the posters are affixed; the researcher(s) stand next to their respective posters, answering questions
 * [[image:postersession1.jpg width="287" height="166"]]
 * [|image source]

**Design**

 * Stay visual, avoid dense amounts of text
 * Use a large typeface
 * According to the [|University of North Carolina],
 * An effective poster is:
 * Focused >>> on a single message
 * Graphic >>> lets graphs and images tell the story; uses text sparingly
 * Ordered >>> keeps the sequence well-ordered and obvious
 * 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 operates on multiple levels:
 * source of information
 * conversation starter
 * advertisement of your work
 * summary of your work
 * "A penny for the thought" regarding effective posters:
 * An effective poster is not just a standard research paper stuck to a board. A poster uses a different, visual grammar. It shows, not tells.
 * Are your posters attracting large audiences, or are your posters examined only by your most avid competitors or admirers?
 * An ineffective poster is often marked by one or more of the following traits:
 * objective(s) and main point(s) hard to find
 * text too small
 * poor graphics
 * poor organization