Poster planning hints:
Leave yourself at least a week to plan your poster, trying several different arrangements until you are satisfied. A blackboard is a convenient medium, since you can erase and change what you don't like. Once you find a layout or two that you like, put it on paper so that you can carry it with you.
Decide on three or four key points and develop your poster around them. Too much information can diminish the impact of what you present. Remember that your audience will be diverse, including many with specialties in very different fields, and that each person is likely to read at least 15-20 posters in addition to yours. What you want is to make a strong, lasting, positive impression. Too much text will hobble you in all three respects. Keep it brief and avoid abbreviations, acronyms and jargon that a nonspecialist might not understand.
Experiment with several different means of presenting your data. Many points emerge better in a chart, graph or photo than through a text explanation. Color graphs often present a complex analysis more clearly than black and white, especially if your work includes several variables.
Work with rough layouts until you find an arrangement that satisfies you. Ideally, your rough layouts should be the size of the final poster. First print the headline and subtitles in the size and position you would use in a final version. Then indicate areas of text with horizontal lines and draw in rough graphs and tables. Figures and tables should usually cover a bit more than 50% of the poster.
Move the text and figures around until you find an arrangement with pleasing internal proportions, logical flow, and visual balance. The viewer's eye should be drawn smoothly through the design of the poster, usually down columns or along rows. Size attracts attention, diverting the eye from its normal path. If necessary, you can use arrows, numbers and letters to redirect the viewer's eye and help clarify the sequence of your ideas. If you use only a few illustrations, you will probably need to make them fairly large. Make sure that the enlargement process does not make images too grainy.
When you have finished a potential layout, step back, look at it, and ask yourself again whether the message and its supporting evidence are clear. In choosing a final version, consider the accuracy, clarity and simplicity of each possible presentation.
- Does the presentation make each of the important points explicit?
- Do the main ideas stand out from the supporting detail?
- Is there too much text, or is too much space devoted to the illustrations?
- Is the visual flow clear, unambiguous, and concurrent with the logical flow of ideas?
- Do the data presented (both text and images) clearly support the conclusions?
Show your attempts to colleagues and mentors and ask for their opinions. If you have coauthors, be sure to include them at this stage. When your artwork is complete, and the text and tables have all been typed (though not necessarily enlarged to full size), use the actual proportions of the text and figures to compose a final layout. Proofread your figures and headline as well as your text, and then assemble the elements according to your final layout. If you have time, show the final result to your coauthors, colleagues and mentors and ask for their reactions to the final product so that you can correct any errors or problems before you have the poster printed.