Show Advanced KnowledgeHide Advanced KnowledgeWhat can I learn from other posters?
You can learn a lot from analysing other posters and developing a feel for what works and what doesn't work on a poster. Try the following practical exercise.
Practical exercise: Armed with a pad and pencil, take a tour (even a virtual one) of other scientific posters that have already been created. They can be from your subject or from other disciplines. Take your time to look at how other authors have designed their posters. Ask yourself the following questions and write down at least three keywords for each question:
- What do I like?
- What do I not like?
- What compromises can I find?
- How consistently was the chosen layout implemented?
| On each poster I bet you’ll find something that you think is successful and something that you do not like or that you think could be improved.
You’ll probably also notice that you always have to compromise. This is because it can be difficult to translate the content into a layout. Mostly because the chosen layout doesn’t completely match the demands that the content places on the layout.
The last question is designed to make you think about how a layout was developed in the first place. Often people use someone else’s template and only slightly change it. Equally, they often use other people’s figures, which then have captions in a font that is not otherwise used on the poster or that follows a different system than that of all the other figures. It is not uncommon to see figures with German captions on foreign language posters and vice versa. |
There is nothing wrong with copying a good concept. But you should always check whether the structure is suitable for presenting your own data and arguments.
The consistency with which the layout was implemented is crucial to the overall impression the poster makes. The more consistent the implementation, the tidier, better structured and thought-out the poster will appear. Conversely, if you disregard layout rules, this will quickly create an impression of haste and carelessness.
