Best titles are short conclusions,
not long introductions.
Martin Krzywinski
Get the logo in EPS
format—do not
use low-resolution
bitmaps or change
the aspect ratio of the
logo. Size the logos
to give them the
same visual weight.
Your work is probably a “study” and explores a “relationship” to look for an
“effect”. Treat that as a given and say what is important. Don’t try to be snarky,
cheeky or witty—most attempts at this do not succeed. Do not trigger the
jokers, cynics, cranks and curmudgeons.
mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Avoid unnecessarily long institution address. No postal codes, no zip codes! If presenting to a local audience,
you don’t need the city. Unless you’re presenting internationally, you don’t need the country.
POSTER CHILD OF SCIENCE
A poster will likely be your first opportunity to
organize and communicate your reasearch to
members outside of your lab. Posters help you to
practise telling and “drawing” your research story.
This story shouild be the key design element.
Most posters are bad not because they are ugly
(they are) but because they fail to present what
was done and why it was done concisely. Most
posters have too much on them. Less is more:
get to the point, then stop.
The reader
will look at the
title and scan
your poster for
themes, largely
cueing on color.
EGFR
GAP
RAS
RAF
PKC
Use color early
and consistently
to establish
these themes.
Minimize the
use of color
elsewhere.
Extend beyond the frame to
imply a crop or continuity.
Some graphics do not need a legend. Embed simple diagrams next to text or
break out the legend into parts and set it within the graphic. Good explanations
are ones conveniently placed. The smallest text on the poster should be what is
tangential or delivers detail beyond the first explanation. Only warily color text.
Maintain good Gestalt: things that appear will forms groups. Group with purpose.
ALL SCIENCE DESERVES
EXCELLENT EXPLANATIONS
Explain your science quickly and clearly and
motivate why it needed to be done.
The poster is your prop. In most settings, you
will be there to present it. Match its content to
the story you will tell.
ONLY YOU CAN STOP
POSTER DUMPSTER FIRES
Clip art, pie charts, bullet points (typographical
rodent poop), boxes around text, background fills
and gradients. Only you can stop it.
1
Use figure titles to explain trends, not
merely to specify the axes.
y
A
Use a multiply
blend mode to
layer dense data.
Hollow points
make excellent
outliers.
4
y
r 2 = 0.96
4
B
3
C
2
Regions of unbalanced negative space are good candidates for annotations, credits, quotes, and other
garnish that adds value to the poster. Don’t go crazy here—most posters don’t need quotes and the quotes
that are typically selected rehash old tropes. If you must, find something that is passionate and slightly
mysterious. Find something here: http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/quotes
2
Share axes, where possible, or align
panels to emphasize variables or scale.
Where possible, attach
labels to data and avoid
legends.
Establish continuity using
figures that share an axis.
Thresholds that span across
figure panels (dashed lines,
not dotted) couple elements
and lead the eye.
Use grids sparingly.
Do not divide the
plot more finely than
precision allows.
3
2
1
region of
interest
0
x/y don’t
need to join
Embed text within
the panel to call out
important observations.
Cue data and areas with
arrows or outlines.
0
1
2
3
4
x
Don’t tell the reader what is obvious: “a linear fit
to a scatter plot” is redundant. Interpret the figure,
don’t tell me what I’m seeing. Italicize variables
in fit diagnostics and use shaded bands for
confidence intervals. Highlight regions of interests
with a solid color (or grey), not outlines.
1
0
If you are acknowledging
support from an institution
whose logo you are using,
consider placing it next
to the logo. But not too
close—check whether
branding guidelines specify
a margin.
A
B
C
D
Orange
threshold
powerfully
establishes
a theme
across all
figures.
Look for
opportunities like this
and base
your layout
on them.
Categorical variables in bar charts do not need
an explicit axis. Specify sample sizes and what
error bars represent (e.g. standard error of
mean, n = 5). Report P-values with effect sizes
or confidence intervals. A statistically significant
observation isn’t necessarily of biological interest.
3
Avoid color and arrows where the
meaning is obvious.
CHOOSE WISELY
EGFR
Use Brewer
palettes for
colors and
be mindful
of colorblind
readers.
EGFR
GAP
RAS
GAP
EGF
RAF
EGF
RAF
PKC
Make space for inline
explanations.
CREB
Align aggressively and never
underestimate
the power of a
spot of color.
RAS
PKC
Axis breaks
tell a story.
CKII
CKII
CREB
Look for opportunities to include key
observations and explanations in the
figure—don’t leave it to the main text, where
it may be far from the graphic. Anticipate the
reader’s questions and answer them. Dense is
not necessarily crowded.
Establish a layout and separate elements with space. Avoid excessive use of lines as
dividers. One or two can be effective, more than that can make the poster look like a jail.
CUE THEMES WITH COLOR
Color powerfully classifies content. It is impossible to achieve
this if everything is in color or if
the poster is agrresively colourfully branded.
A ramp of colors of the same
hue (e.g. green, blue) is useful to
communicate continuous quantity. Use a single salient color (e.g.
orange, magenta) to underscore
a key theme, observation or conclusion.
Use grey for baseline, control or reference conditions.
Dark grey is easier on the
eyes than black.
Choose colors that intuitively map to favourable (e.g.
blue, green) or unfavourable
outcomes (magenta,
orange).
Always map salience to
pertinence. Orange (or
magenta) says “look here”,
so it better be important.
Empty space tells the reader that you didn’t say
everything you know because you value their time.
EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT, BUT SOME THINGS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS. Establish a visual hierarchy
by giving emphasis to your hypothesis, conclusion and the key points that connect them. Protocols, technical methods, and
other minutiae can be safely relegated to the bottom of the poster. Always be mindful of what the reader needs to know to
understand enough to ask insightful questions.
FORCE LINE BREAKS that split a sentence into noun phrases or
offer a natural pause, such as at a comma or a period. Balance layout
and content by shorten sentences where possible to improve layout
or change the width of the text box.
MAINTAIN AND CONTROL PROPORTIONS.
This poster is 16” × 12”
0
1
2
(1152 × 864 pt), uses
cm
Helvetica Neue with a 5,
0
8, 13, 21, 34, 55 pt scale
1/4 1/2 1/4
ladder and is legible on
inch
most screens.
Sans-serif is clearer
than serif at small sizes
and suitable for modest
amounts of copy.
Keep line length short and
hyphenate instead of fully
justifying.
0
points
12 24
36
4
1
5
1/4 1/2
72
A point is a unit of size used in
typography. Units like this only
make sense for posters that are
printed—without a physical size
they lose their meaning, but can
provide a helpful scale.
AVOID OBVIOUS TITLES such as “references”. Citations can be set in a block of text,
with bold numbers 1. like this and 2. like this to help the reader find them. Unless a
specific citation style is required, use as compact a style as possible that also includes
the title of the reference.
mkweb.bcgsc.ca / v1.1 6 Jul 2020
0
