Academic Poster Design Today we learned the fundamentals of design, which covered seven separate areas; space, hierarchy,

type, images, grids, information design, and data. In theory, if the principles of these separate areas are adhered to during the process of designing a poster, it should come out well in the end. Space, or white space, is the blank areas of the page which contain no content. These resting spots serve to make the information contained on the poster easier on the eyes and to separate different functional areas. A poster that does not make proper use of space may look cluttered and messy. Grids, which will be talked about later, provide one way of creating space. Hierarchy refers to the sequence in which information is presented, so as to ensure important information is conveyed initially. Type meanwhile refers to the font or typeface employed in the design. This should be used consistently for best effect, with typefaces which are part of a family of fonts preferable. Images can be any type of graphic, be it a graph or a picture. Any images used should be relevant and compatible with the colour scheme already in place. When used properly, images can convey the message one intends to get across instantly, without the viewer having to read a word. Grids, as previously mentioned, are used to break up different functional areas of the poster and provide a sense of structural coherence. Finally, information design refers to the synergy between different functional and aesthetic aspect to the poster which come together to make it a good design, while data refers to the way in which quantitative data is presented, be it visually or written, in such a way as to convey the data in a simple and easy to understand manner.