Hints and Tips on Creating the Perfect Poster

Rosie Perkins, PhD

What is a poster?

• A large document to communicate your research at a scientific meeting

• Advertisement for your research

• Not a paper, not a talk

Where will it be viewed?

• Self-explanatory graphics

• Use 2-3 colours for emphasis

Attract people’s interest

• Bullet points rather than blocks of text

• A clear title

Attract people’s interest

Poster text is hard to read if you write in the same way as you would do in a manuscript. Use as few words as possible and remember that you would like the reader to ask questions. You want the reader to quickly grasp the message, so make sure that this is stated in the title. Clear graphics are much more important than lots of text.

Attention to audience

• Well-thought out structure

• Clear, concise and consistent message

• Two types of reader– browser - brief look from a distance– ingestor - reads every word

Appeal to the browsers

• Visually appealing

• Clear graphics

• Text easy to read, font size, contrast

• Well-crafted title

Appeal to the ingestors

• Attention to detail

• Scientific accuracy

• Logical structure

• Solid conclusions

How to begin

• Allow more time than you first think

• Summarize your key message in one or two sentences

• How big is the poster?

• Decide what figures and tables to use

• Plan a rough version of the whole poster

Design hints

• Choose a poster template (eg PowerPoint) and adapt it to your needs

• Provide cues to the reader to follow flow

• White space makes it easier to read

Dark text on a pale background easiest to read for posters

Fonts to use

• Use two fonts– sans serif font and colour for headings– serif font for body text

• Font sizes– 72 pt title– 36 pt name and address– 18 pt body text– 16 pt figure legends

Don’t forget the message

• Short title

• Introduction to your burning question

• Overview of your experimental approach

• Key results

• Insightful discussion

A title should summarize the key message

• No longer than 2 lines

• Not too technical

• Avoid abbreviations

• Encourages your audience to read the poster

• San serif font, 72 pt, bold, not all caps

Limit your introduction to three bullet points

1.Background

2.Gaps in the knowledge

3.Aim of your study

Introduction

Keep methods short

• Be brief, and use diagrams

• Remember, you want people to ask you questions

• Could use paragraph text, not bullets, to save space

• Include methods in figure legends

A diagram can help explain a complicated protocol

Variable rate of 20% glucose infusion

Insulin 1 mU/kg/min

Tracers

0 30 150 270 390 510

Adiels et al. Diabetologia 2007

Present your results in the most attractive way

• Use mostly figures

• Not too complex and use colours

• Brief text to guide the reader through the figures

• Use informative subheadings

• Separate figures with lots of white space

Keep text horizontal

It is

har

d to

rea

d ve

rtic

al t

ext

Or text at other

strange angles

Figure axes

Height of sunflowers (cm)

Time (days)

10

8

6

4

2

00 2 4 6 8 10

Line width 1.5 pt

Limit no. of tickmarks

Label axes and include units

Horizontal y-axis label Min. font

size 18 pt

Height of sunflowers (cm)

Time (days)

10

8

6

4

2

00 2 4 6 8 10

Water No water

Line width 1.5 pt

Different symbols and colours

Clear key

Axes don’t extend beyond range of data

Figure details

10

8

6

4

2

0

Maximum height (cm)

Water No water

Line width 1.5 pt

Consistent colour scheme

*

*P < 0.05

Explain symbol

Horizontal y-axis label

Label bars

Figure details

Characteristic Control Patients

No. of subjects 98 101

Age (years) 54.1±10.7 63.9±15.0

Body weight (kg) 72.8±7.8 85.6±10.4

Height (m) 1.60±0.08 1.83±0.12*

Table 1. Characteristics of the control and patient groups

1st

*p<0.01 versus control

Conclusions are important

• Position them in a prominent place

• Logical position, not in the middle of results

• What have you concluded from your results?

• Refer back to the aim of your study

• Ensure they state the key message

References

• Not necessary

• Don’t include more than two or three

• Choose a consistent reference style

• Use smaller font size

References

1. Nishimua S et al. Nat Med 2009; 15:914-920.

2. Bochukova EG et al. Nature 2010; 463: 666-670.

Further information

• Acknowledge source of funding

• e-mail address

• URL to download a copy of your poster

Summary

• Focus on one clear message (in title and conclusions)

• Use graphics to tell the story

• Minimum use of text

• Clear, concise and consistent

• Sensible order that the reader can follow

• Ask other people to comment BUT only after you have revised it

Useful reading

www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/

posteradvice.htm