By the end of this session you will be able to: Design an eye-catching, technically accurate, and interesting poster.

1. Poster Development
and Using of MS-PowerPoint®
Dr. Ahmed-Refat
2005

2. Objective
By the end of this session you will be
able to:
Design an eye-catching,
technically accurate,
and interesting
poster .
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3. Overview:
• Poster is a visual tool ………………..…………….
• Recommended Layout ,Orientation ,Components
• Effective Poster Vs Poor Poster layout
Basic tools
• Using colors , letters , background
• Visual Grammar Reader Gravity
• 3 X 5 rule 20/40/40 rule
• Blank spaces
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4. Poster is
• An illustrated abstract
• …. It shows, not tells.
• A visual communications
tool.
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5. Purpose of the poster
• To attract the attention of people
and maintain their interest .
• It should therefore be eye catching,
technically accurate, interesting and
well laid out.
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6. Poster= Text + Graphs
1 : 2 ratio
• Posters are designed to be both
eye-catching and informative.
• Typically posters include both
textual and graphic elements.
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7. ELEMENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE POSTER
• Focused on single message
• Use of graphics—images/ graphs
can help tell the story, use text in
moderation
• Ordered —keep sequence ordered
and obvious
• Concise, short, and straightforward .
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8. Effective Poster
• Focused on a single message.
Focused
•Lets graphs tell the story
Graphic
• Keeps the sequence well-ordered .
Ordered
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9. Poor Poster
• Main points hard to find.
Focus…
• Poor Graphics ……. Small text
Graphs….
• Poor Organization
Order….
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10. How can you grab / hook your readers'
attention
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11. Ways to Quickly Get Your Audience’s
Attention
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12. Your Audience
Know your audience
a. Experts
b. Various disciplines
c. General audience/laypersons
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13. Your Audience
• In 3 seconds, a viewer decides whether to
approach your poster or leave.
• – Subject must be clearly understandable
from at least 10 feet away.
• Use a statement, photograph, or
diagram as a focal point to attract
attention.
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14. Attract then Retain
• In the next 30 seconds, the viewer decides
if the content is worthy of further
exploration.
Text should be concise enough to
be read in under 10 minutes.
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15. Consider … key elements
• First ..Planning
• Focus Your message
• Layout & Design
• Headings
• Graphics & Colors
Grabbing / hooking your readers
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16. Planning
• Know the audience
• Poster size
• Identify central message
• Organize your information
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17. Define Your Message
• What is the one thing you want
your audience to know ?
• This message should be reflected
in the title and supported by the
content of the poster
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18. • Everything on the poster should
relate back to this message—
• if it doesn’t reinforce your message,
leave it out
• All visuals and text should relate to
your message.
•Focus on your message throughout the
poster.
Define Your Message
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19. ORGANIZE YOUR INFORMATION
• Title
• Authors and Affiliations
• Introduction
• Objectives/Goal/Research Question/Problem
• Methods
• Data and Results
• Conclusions/Implications
• References and
• Acknowledgements
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20. Poster Layout
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21. LAYOUT AND DESIGN
• Creating a sketch
• Layout
• Background and colors
• Spacing
• Headings
• Font and text
• Graphics
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22. Layout
• Divide the poster into 6-8 smaller areas
• These smaller areas could be items of
text, photos, tables or graphs.
• Puts these parts into a logical order
and makes it easier to follow.
• Put the most important parts of the
presentation, at eye level and in the
centre of the poster.
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23. Landscape vs Portrait Layout
• Landscape-oriented layout
• – Often best to visually divide space into 2 or
more columns (do not have to be equal
width) which are read left to right.
• Portrait oriented layout
• – Read top to bottom
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24. Sketch it out!
Think visually
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25. Poster Size
Small …………28” X 40”………..…70-100
Typical ………36” X 48”…..91-121
Big 42” X 56 “ ..106-142 cm
54 x 58” = 137 x147
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26. Sketch it out!
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27. Layout
• use a visual grammar
• use a column format
• use organization cues
• use "reader gravity“
• 3 X 5 rule
• use headings wisely
• balance the placement of text and
graphics
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28. Visual Grammar:Layout
VG is…… a graphic hierarchy that helps
readers identify the most important
parts of your poster.
• Certain things need to be “in place” in order
to make it readable
• Column format—arrange content in 3 or 4
columns
• Organizational cues—use bullets (or numbers
when appropriate)
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29. Visual Grammar:Layout
• VG is a graphic hierarchy that helps readers
identify the most important parts of your poster.
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30. “Reader Gravity”—in English, top to
bottom first, then left to right
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31. 3 to 5 rule
• 3 to 5 minutes; 3 to 5 feet away
• A viewer will likely spend only 3 to 5 minutes
looking at your poster from 3 to 5 feet away
• Your poster should be logical enough for a viewer
to quickly understand it
• Your text and images should be readable from 3
to 5 feet/1.5 m away
• Use short sentences or short phrases rather than
long prose
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32. Headings
• Headings - including the title, section titles, and
figure captions - should ...
• Summarize Use headings as opportunities
to summarize your work in large letters.
• Organize Good headings are part of the visual
grammar that helps move readers through your
poster.
• Be Hierarchical The more important the
point, the larger the type.
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33. ORGANIZATION/ORDER
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BAD
GOOD

34. Text
• Posters are a visual medium.
• Minimize text - use images and graphs .
• Use phrases rather than full sentences.
• Use an active voice.
• Avoid jargon .
• Left-justify text; avoid centering and
right-justifying text.
• K.I.S.S. - Keep it short and simple
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35. Color
• Use a light background and dark letters .
• Avoid dark backgrounds with light letters -
very tiring to read… very tiring to read.
• Stick to a theme of 2 or 3 colors - much
more will overload and confuse viewers.
• Overly bright colors will attract attention -
and then wear out readers' eyes.
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36. Color
• Should
• – highlight or emphasize
• – separate and define sections
• – associate related information
• Should not
• – compete with the information
• – overwhelm the viewer36 Dr. AhmedRefat

37. Lettering
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38. Minimum sizes: 18-24-48-72- 90
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39. TEST:GRAPHIC RATIO
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BAD
GOOD

40. Layout — Blank space:
Leave enough room so
that the viewer can stay
focused on individual
sections
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41. Blank space:
• – Leave enough room so that the viewer can
stay focused on individual sections
• A good poster has about 50% blank space, !!!
and lots of informative pictures and figures.
20 % text …..40 % figures…… 40 % blank space
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42. 20-40-40 Rule
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43. Layout — Blank space:
Use lots of blank space around
margins to define sections:
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44. BLANK SPACE
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BAD…
GOOD

45. Background may be
• – A solid color
• – A gradient
• – A texture
• – A photograph
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47. BACKGROUND
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GOOD
BAD

48. How to use
MS- Power Point
in creating the poster
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49. Software Options
• MS PowerPoint : Easy-to-use tool, many people
already know how to use it.
• Adobe Illustrator & Adobe Photoshop ….
more features ..more complex and expensive.
• MS Excel Create graphics and export them for
PowerPoint - but you'll need to clean them up.
• OpenOffice … Free alternatives to MS Office.
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50. Dr. AhmedRefat50
Three Steps for
Developing a Poster
by using
MS-Power Point ®

51. 1-YOU NEDD A PLAIN SHEET
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52. 2- DIVIDE IT ACCORDING TO THE
DESIRED SCALE ( W/H)
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53. 3- DRAW A SCHETCH
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54. 3- Put Your Data…Save..Print!!
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How To Develop A Poster By Using MS-PowerPoint Presentation
Dr Ahmed-Refat
Introduction
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Organization
how to move
through poster
•Implicit. Headings
(Introduction,
Methods, etc.) or
other device
implies
organization and
flow.
Explicit numbering,
column bars, row
bars, etc
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55. Step One: Set Up Your Poster -1
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56. Step One: Set Up Your Poster-2
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57. Step One: Set Up Your Poster-3
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58. Step One: Set Up Your Poster-4
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59. Step One: Set Up Your Poster-5
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60. Step Two: Put the Text & Graphics
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61. Step Two: Put the Text & Graphics
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62. Step Three: Save / Print
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63. Cited references
1-Guidelines for poster presentations - John Jay
College available from
http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/academics/Poster_Guidelines.pdf
2-http://www.cns.cornell.edu/documents/ScientificPosters.pdf
3-Creating a poster using PowerPoint:
http://www.cmer.wsu.edu/~yonge/ce465/poster.pdf
4- "60-Second Evaluation" by Hess, G.R. at the site:
Creating Effective Poster Presentations.
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters
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