Resource of the Week #159: A Guide on Designing Posters

Hello again. Posters can be a good way to present research, and previously I’ve noted some resources about posters. This week I’m featuring another such resource, titled “Poster Design: A Practical Guide for Scientists and Engineers”.

Published last year by the British Science Association, this guide discusses 6 aspects of poster design: text and typography, color, imagery, layout, context, and production. Not surprisingly, this guide is attractively designed. It also is easy to read.

Here are some examples of advice from this guide:

• In general, use only 1 or 2 typefaces.
• Use at most 3 sizes of type.
• Avoid using all capital letters.
• Align text only on the left.
• Ideally, have about 10 to 12 words per line of text.
• Use a simple color scheme.
• To help make a poster noticeable when displayed with others, keep it simple.

The guide mentions the possibility of using other media along with a poster. For example, sometimes one also can display images on a computer, distribute printed material, or bring objects to show.

Advice in this resource also applies to non-research posters (for example, posters announcing events or recommending action).

I encourage you to look at this resource.

Until the next post—

Barbara