Scientific posters
Software Engineering Lab 3
Goal: Capture attention at a conference
Promote
research
Goal: Capture attention at a conference
Promote Get feedback
research
Goal: Capture attention at a conference
Promote Get feedback Connect with
research companies
Goal: Capture attention at a conference
Promote Get feedback Connect with Extend network
research companies
Goal: Capture attention at a conference
Poster should be inviting
people in to learn more
Goal: Capture attention at a conference
Poster should be inviting Title should grab
people in to learn more attention and convey
the main message
Goal: Capture attention at a conference
Poster should be inviting Title should grab Prepare a short presentation,
people in to learn more attention and convey which allows immediate
the main message discussion and feedback
However, it is an informal situation
with limited audience attention
However, it is an informal situation
with limited audience attention
Time is limited
However, it is an informal situation
with limited audience attention
Time is limited Many posters to look through
However, it is an informal situation
with limited audience attention
Time is limited Many posters to look through
It might be crowded
However, it is an informal situation
with limited audience attention
Time is limited Many posters to look through
It might be crowded Might look at your poster
while you are away
Solution: limit the cognitive load
Solution: limit the cognitive load
Limit amount of text: aim for 200-500 words
Solution: limit the cognitive load
Limit amount of text: aim for 200-500 words
Show results as clearly annotated figures
Solution: limit the cognitive load
Limit amount of text: aim for 200-500 words
Show results as clearly annotated figures
Easy to read from some distance
Solution: limit the cognitive load
Limit amount of text: aim for 200-500 words
Show results as clearly annotated figures
Easy to read from some distance
Easy-to-follow structure, with enough whitespace
Content ≈ Paper abstract
• Title
• Catchy title might help to invite people to take a longer look
• Gives the main message of the research in 1 or 2 lines
Content ≈ Paper abstract
• Title
• Catchy title might help to invite people to take a longer look
• Gives the main message of the research in 1 or 2 lines
• Authors + affiliations
• Typically full names (no initials) and no titles (such as dr., professor, …)
• Can also contains some logos (e.g. in the corner or at the bottom)
Content ≈ Paper abstract
• Title
• Catchy title might help to invite people to take a longer look
• Gives the main message of the research in 1 or 2 lines
• Authors + affiliations
• Typically full names (no initials) and no titles (such as dr., professor, …)
• Can also contains some logos (e.g. in the corner or at the bottom)
• Introduction
• What is the problem? Why do we care about it?
• Typical structure: Problem – Solution – Advantage
“… and …, but … . Therefore, …, so that … .”
Content ≈ Paper abstract (part 2)
• Method
• How did we attempt to solve the problem?
Why did we take this approach?
Content ≈ Paper abstract (part 2)
• Method
• How did we attempt to solve the problem?
Why did we take this approach?
• Results
• Did it actually work?
• Mainly shown in figures
• Often the largest part of the poster
Content ≈ Paper abstract (part 2)
• Method
• How did we attempt to solve the problem?
Why did we take this approach?
• Results
• Did it actually work?
• Mainly shown in figures
• Often the largest part of the poster
• Conclusion
• What did we learn from these results? How does this impact the world?
Content ≈ Paper abstract (part 2)
• Method
• How did we attempt to solve the problem?
Why did we take this approach?
• Results
• Did it actually work?
• Mainly shown in figures
• Often the largest part of the poster
• Conclusion
• What did we learn from these results? How does this impact the world?
• References and acknowledgements
• References often limited on posters
• Do not forget to acknowledge funding agencies etc. if applicable
Example structure Title
Authors and affiliations
Title
Intro Results
Authors and affiliations
Intro Results Discussion
Method
Method Literature,
Discussion
Acknowledgements,
Further information
Literature,
Acknowledgements,
Further information
Based on https://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design/
Balance figures and text
Example from https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html
Balance figures and text
• Allow enough white space
Example from https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html
Balance figures and text
• Allow enough white space
• Put key messages in subtitles,
use bullet points to make content
easily accessible
Example from https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html
Balance figures and text
• Allow enough white space
• Put key messages in subtitles,
use bullet points to make content
easily accessible
• Align figures and text where appropriate.
Align text to the left, do not justify
Example from https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html
Balance figures and text
• Allow enough white space
• Put key messages in subtitles,
use bullet points to make content
easily accessible
• Align figures and text where appropriate.
Align text to the left, do not justify
• People typically read top-to-bottom,
left-to-right
Example from https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html
Clear language
• Use formal language
• Limit abbreviations, footnotes and jargon
• Avoid typos
Clear language
• Use formal language
• Limit abbreviations, footnotes and jargon
• Avoid typos
• Use easy-to-read sans-serif fonts
• Use bold text or color to emphasize key points
• Avoid underline, cursive or CAPITALS
• These are harder to read, and additional lines
make it harder to keep a clear structure
Limit signal-to-noise ratio in figures
Example from Jean-luc Doumont (https://www.principiae.be/book/pdfs/TM&Th-4.0-summary.pdf)
Limit signal-to-noise ratio in figures
Example from Jean-luc Doumont (https://www.principiae.be/book/pdfs/TM&Th-4.0-summary.pdf)
Limit signal-to-noise ratio in figures
Example from Jean-luc Doumont (https://www.principiae.be/book/pdfs/TM&Th-4.0-summary.pdf)
Scientific Figures
• Make sure all axes are clearly labeled
Scientific Figures
• Make sure all axes are clearly labeled
• Where possible, annotate figures in the graph,
rather than with a legend
Scientific Figures
• Make sure all axes are clearly labeled
• Where possible, annotate figures in the graph,
rather than with a legend
• Avoid 3D figures (except for real-life 3D objects)
Scientific Figures
• Make sure all axes are clearly labeled
• Where possible, annotate figures in the graph,
rather than with a legend
• Avoid 3D figures (except for real-life 3D objects)
• Avoid red-green contrasts
• Up to 8% of males have red-green color blindness
• Try how readable it is in greyscale
Scientific Figures
• Make sure all axes are clearly labeled
• Where possible, annotate figures in the graph,
rather than with a legend
• Avoid 3D figures (except for real-life 3D objects)
• Avoid red-green contrasts
• Up to 8% of males have red-green color blindness
• Try how readable it is in greyscale
• For more tips, have a look at
https://clauswilke.com/dataviz
Poster size
• Typically A0 format (118.9 cm x 84.1 cm)
• Start with A0 size in your editing tool,
scaling up afterwards is error-prone
Poster size
• Typically A0 format (118.9 cm x 84.1 cm)
• Start with A0 size in your editing tool,
scaling up afterwards is error-prone
• Portrait or landscape layout dependent on the conference
• Landscape has the advantage more information is at eye level
Poster size
• Typically A0 format (118.9 cm x 84.1 cm)
• Start with A0 size in your editing tool,
scaling up afterwards is error-prone
• Portrait or landscape layout dependent on the conference
• Landscape has the advantage more information is at eye level
• Make sure that figures stay sharp at 100% resolution
• 300 dpi recommended for printing
Poster size
• Typically A0 format (118.9 cm x 84.1 cm)
• Start with A0 size in your editing tool,
scaling up afterwards is error-prone
• Portrait or landscape layout dependent on the conference
• Landscape has the advantage more information is at eye level
• Make sure that figures stay sharp at 100% resolution
• 300 dpi recommended for printing
• Rule of thumb: Should be readable if you print it as A4
• Title at least 96pt, smallest text on poster at least 28pt
Tools
Powerpoint Inkscape Illustrator LaTeX
Tools
Powerpoint Inkscape Illustrator LaTeX
thenounproject.com colorbrewer2.org
Example from https://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design/
Why this is a terrible poster
1. Too much text (I’ve been on mission to push for 800 words). 11. Title word art distracting, hard to read, juvenile.
2. Background image is distracting (distracts from illustrations). 12. Title is in all caps, which is harder to read and obscures Latin name.
3. Text box backgrounds are dark, which makes text really hard 13. Title is italicized, which also obscures Latin name style conventions.
to read. 14. Author font and color is annoying (comic sans should be reserved for comic
4. Text box backgrounds are all different colors, for no reason books).
(distracting). 15. Author font color is too loud relative to other text.
5. Text boxes are different widths (distracting, hard to follow 16. Results are presented in sentences instead of visually with charts.
flow of poster). 17. Section headers have too much formatting (big font, bolded, italicized,
6. Some text boxes too wide (aim for 45-65 characters per line). underlined, and colored — ack!). Choose one. [Note: I forgot to number the
7. Text boxes not separated from each other by pleasing sections…that would have been even worse.]
“white” space. 18. Terrible graphic of Guinea pig on scale. Need one of the actual set up (pigs
8. Text box edges not aligned (distracting). eating while weightless, for example).
9. Text justified, which causes bad inter-word spacing. Also 19. Inclusion of an Abstract consumes space needlessly. Abstract section should
makes reading harder (brain uses jaggedness of left-justified be banned from posters. Posters ARE an abstract.
text). 20. Plus the science is terrible! (Bad science is correlated with bad graphic
10. Logos are distracting, useless, crowd title. design, by the way.)
Example from https://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design/
Examples online poster conference
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3iUqdEcQpw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyFAa6Het-k
• Find other examples at https://ugs.utexas.edu/our/poster/samples
Acknowledgements
• Reference slides provided by Carl Boel
(see also “Beter communiceren, Een praktische gids voor academische en
professionele communicatie” André Mottart, Dieter Verstraete and Carl Boel)
• https://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design/
