HOW TO CREATE A RESEARCH POSTER University of Sulaimani College of Science Geology Dep. By hawber ata

WHAT IS A RESEARCH POSTER? Posters are widely used in the academic community, and most conferences include poster presentations in their program. Research posters summarize information or research concisely and attractively to help publicize it and generate discussion. The poster is usually a mixture of a brief text mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats. At a conference, the researcher stands by the poster display while other participants can come and view the presentation and interact with the author. 10/23/20172

WHAT MAKES A GOOD POSTER? Important information should be readable from about 10 feet away Title is short and draws interest Word count of about 300 to 800 words Text is clear and to the point Use of bullets, numbering, and headlines make it easy to read Effective use of graphics, color and fonts Consistent and clean layout Includes acknowledgments, your name and institutional affiliation 10/23/20173

WHERE DO I BEGIN? Answer these three questions: 1. What is the most important/interesting/astounding finding from my research project? 2. How can I visually share my research with conference attendees? Should I use charts, graphs, photos, images? 3. What kind of information can I convey during my talk that will complement my poster? 10/23/20174

WHAT SOFTWARE CAN I USE TO MAKE A POSTER? PowerPoint: A popular, easy-to-use option. Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign: Feature-rich professional software that is good for posters including lots of high-resolution images, but they are more complex and expensive. Open Source Alternatives: OpenOffice in the free alternative to MS Office (Impress is its PowerPoint alternative). Inkscape and Gimp are alternatives to Adobe products. For charts and diagrams try Gliffy or Lovely Charts.OpenOfficeInkscapeGimpGliffyLovely Charts 10/23/20175

PIXLR.COM 10/23/20176

A STEP BY STEP GUIDE 10/23/20177 PREPARATION Define Your Audience Distill Your Message Consider Your Presentation Requirements Organize Your Information DESIGN FOR IMPACT Using Backgrounds and Color Effectively Leaving Space Creating Legible Text Using Graphics for Impact POSTER CONSTRUCTION Using one of the software ASSESS YOUR POSTER Have someone from your target audience evaluate your poster

10/23/20178 PREPARATION Define Your Audience Effective communication starts with knowing who your audience is. At poster sessions there is intense competition for audience attention. In their first 3 seconds your audience will determine whether to stay and explore your content or leave. If they stay you have 30 seconds to secure their attention by conveying an overall understanding of your subject matter.

10/23/20179 PREPARATION Distill Your Message Considering the fact that your audience has only a limited time to view your poster,if there was one thing you could say on the poster,what would it be? Select a statement,photograph or diagram that is sure to attract your audience ’s attention.This is your 3 second hit.Your focus item should be enlarged so that it will occupy at least 30%of the area of the finished poster.Remember that your audience will not approach you if it is not clear what your topic or theme is from a “safe distance” of 10 feet (3 meters).

10/23/ PREPARATION Consider Your Presentation Requirements Determine the size of the space provided for you at the conference you are attending. Find out if the conference has any regulations regarding minimum font and graphics sizes.

10/23/ PREPARATION Organize Your Information Divide your information into main sections,for example: Title -concise name of poster,contributors, organization Introduction -statement giving quick overview of poster Problem -statement of the problem Method -brief description of the processes and procedures Results -outcomes,findings,data Conclusion -summary,discussion of significance of results,a few easily remembered key conclusions

10/23/ PREPARATION Organize Your Information Take each of these sections and summarize its contents into 3 categories: Heading -title the audience will see first Statement -one sentence relating to the heading, the audience will read this definition and should have and understanding of this particular section Support Material -if the definition has sparked their interest,they will move on to this section which should include documentation and illustrations

10/23/ PREPARATION Organize Your Information Take each of these sections and summarize its contents into 3 categories:

DESIGN FOR IMPACT Using Backgrounds and Color Effectively Colors and backgrounds should be subtle. Colour should highlight,separate,define and associate information, if it begins to compete with your information for attention then it is too strong. Colors may look different on your screen than they will in your print.If you are concerned about color consistency you can consult a Pantone book (found at most printers)to pick your colour. Some of your audience may be color blind so make sure contrasts are high between bars of graphs, lines on charts and backgrounds and text. The most common form of color blindness effects red and green. 10/23/201714

DESIGN FOR IMPACT 10/23/ Effective Use of Colors Title Bar Color: navy blue; forest green; olive green; burgundy;rust;plum (Your colour should be dark enough to use white or cream as your main textcolour.)

DESIGN FOR IMPACT 10/23/ Background Color: solid cream or beige;pale version of title bar colour;any of the previous fading to white; white (Background colours should always be light enough to use black for your main text.) Highlight boxes and Graph backgrounds:pale version of title bar color; white;light cream or beige Avoid:dark colors if you are laminating;a rainbow effect by using too many colors; using holiday colours;extensive use of watermarks or busy patterns as backgrounds

DESIGN FOR IMPACT 10/23/ Leaving Space effective posters are spacious and easy to follow adequate clear space will direct attention to key elements remember the eye looks for edges, so align photographs, headings, text materials and axes in groups of graphs A column of text should be between 12 inches (30.5 cm)and 16 inches (40.5 cm)wide.

DESIGN FOR IMPACT 10/23/ Creating LegibleText information should flow from left to right and from top to bottom columns allow readers who may be unfamiliar with your subject matter and method of research to easily follow the direction of your information your main title should be large, point bold and readable at a distance of 10 feet text and titles written entirely in capitals are harder to read body text should be point,sans serif fonts are recommended 30 point font size will accommodate 250 words per square foot for ease of reading nothing beats black text on a light background

DESIGN FOR IMPACT 10/23/ Using Graphics for Impact aim for 40%graphic content, try to find ways to show visually what was done no photo,graphic or chart should be smaller than 5 x 7 inches (13 x 15 cm) graphics should be attractive,clear and specific crop and enlarge photographs to eliminate unnecessary information and focus attention on significant details when scanning materials for a poster,300 dpi (dots per inch)is sufficient for 5 x 7 inch photographs, 675 dpi for slides

Setting up page size. Copy and Paste text from other programs (word, webpage, excel...) Creating a paragraph text Outlining text Creating boxed tile and sub titles Using interactive transparency Gradient fill as background Image watermark for background Importing logos 10/23/ POSTER CONSTRUCTION

Have someone from your target audience evaluate your poster. 10/23/ ASSESS YOUR POSTER

thankyou Bibliography [1]A. Torres, “Research Guides: How to Create a Research Poster: Poster Basics.” [2]“Better Posters.” [Online]. Available: [Accessed: 28-Feb-2017]. [3]“Effective Poster Design.” [Online]. Available: [Accessed: 28-Feb- 2017]. 10/23/201722