Creating posters to present scientific data
Corporate design
Side note: The Duden dictionary defines corporate design as “the similar design of all products of a company[1]“. It is part of the corporate identity. In very simplified terms: It is a company’s or institution’s visual appearance. It should reflect the values and guiding principles that give the employees and representatives a sense of identity and enable third parties to quickly associate it with the company or institution. If the concept of corporate identity is implemented consistently, it gives the company or institution a sort of personality. This then has a code of appropriate conduct, communication, culture, design, philosophy, language and even a soul. So it is a very all-encompassing concept for the development of a self-image for the public, but which also defines internal company structures and processes.
The harmonised public appearance a company adopts is of huge importance for it. Just like no one would question the usefulness of identical strips for a sports team. Here it’s not just about being able to quickly visually identify which team someone belongs to in competition, it’s also about the “we” in the team, the sense of belonging within the team, the interaction and functioning of the team. Universities generally have a corporate design too.
So what does this mean when creating your poster?
If a corporate design exists, you can use it. If there are corporate design guidelines that have not been explicitly drafted for posters, you can still implement them in the poster. In most cases, there is already a logo and information on how it should be placed. Fonts and colours are also often defined.
Tip: The Corporate Design Guidelines of Justus-Liebig-Universität are available on the university's website.