Best titles are short conclusions,

Create alignment guides and use them consistently—the eye will find even small misalignments. Large text may need to be nudged.
Balance visual weight Use vector-based logos, not
and size the logos low-resolution bitmaps. Do
equally. If acknowledg- not change logos’ aspect

not long introductions.

ing institutional support, ratio or crowd it with other
Your work is a “study” and explores place it next to the logo. elements—both are likely
a “relationship” to look for an against its branding style.
“effect”. Treat that as a given and
say what is important.
Martin Krzywinski
mkweb.bcgsc.ca/poster.design Don’t say everything you Regions of unbalanced negative space are good candidates
Don’t try to be snarky, cheeky know—make room for for annotations, credits, quotes, and other garnish that adds
bcgsc.ca or witty—most attempts do not empty space. Your most value to the poster. Don’t overdo it—most quotes rehash old
bcgsc.ca bccancer.ca
Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Center succeed. Don’t trigger the jokers, valuable resource is the tropes. If you must, find something that is passionate and
Avoid long addressess—no postal codes, no zip codes. cynics, cranks and curmudgeons. reader’s time. slightly mysterious (http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/quotes).

POSTER CHILD OF SCIENCE 1 2 3

A poster is your first opportunity to organize and Use figure titles to explain trends, not Share axes or align panels to clarify Reveal qualitative trends in small
communicate your reasearch to members outside merely to specify the axes. variables or emphasize changing scale. multiples with order, cutoffs and cues.
of your lab. It will help you to practise telling and Establish subordinate content with italics. Reserve small text for tangents and detail beyond the first explanation. Use a lead to announce an observation or insightful comment.

“drawing” your science story and its design should y Use multiply Embed text and attach y Establish continuity using Use grids
BOLD CAPS FOR Express trends without words.

be based on its concepts, themes and transitions.

blend mode to
layer dense data.
A labels to data to avoid
legends.
figures that share an axis. sparingly. Do
PANEL SUBTITLES
Thresholds that span not divide the
4
Hollow points B 4 across panels (dashed plot more finely
Reuse
forms.
Most posters are bad not because they are ugly make excellent
r 2 = 0.96 lines, not dotted) lead the than precision WHY
outliers.
(they are) but because they fail to present concise- eye naturally to help tell allows. Distribute based on points of interest.
the data story.
ly what was done and, more importantly, why it 3 3 WHAT AND
Use grey for
was done. Most posters have too much on them. C baseline,
Less is more: get to the point, then stop. control or HOW THIS
2 2 reference
Map salience to pertinence. When used in moderation, colors like orange or conditions. Draw attention to data subsets.
magenta say “look here”. You cannot look everywhere. Dark grey Axis breaks
is easier on tell a story.
1 Cue important observations 1 the eyes
ESTABLISH A USE COLOR FOR and intervals with arrows or than pure
STORY PATH and
WHY ALSO THEMES OR DATA outlines—even subtle ones black. Avoid WHO TOO
stick to it. Saliently ENCODING and not as region of will be visible if the figure is dark bar
and intuitively code garnish. The first color 0 interest organized. 0 outlines. Use Brewer palettes,
key contrasts (e.g.
WHAT AND
to appear should begin A B C D even for greys.
A B C
healthy/disease,
wildtype/mutant).
the core story. Avoid
unintentional emphasis
Axes don’t
need to join.
0 1 2 3 4 x Align similar labels or categories.
by equalizing for Don’t tell the reader what is obvious: “a linear fit Categorical variables in bar charts do not need Look for opportunities to include key observa-
The reader won’t
know what is import-
HOW THIS perceptual luminance.
to a scatter plot” is redundant. Don’t tell me what an explicit axis. Specify sample sizes and what tions ( ) and explanations in the figure—don’t
ant, so tell them.
I’m seeing—interpret the figure instead. Italicize error bars represent (e.g. standard error of leave it to the main text, where it may be far
Round corners slightly Extend beyond the frame to variables in fit diagnostics and use shaded bands mean, n = 5). Report P-values with effect sizes from the graphic. Emphasize what quantities
for eye comfort. imply a crop or continuity.
for confidence intervals. Highlight regions of or confidence intervals. A statistically significant are important—anticipate the reader’s ques-
Good explanations are ones conveniently placed. Embed simple diagrams next to
relevant text. Some graphics don’t need a legend—make room for explanations within. interests with a solid color (or grey), not outlines. observation isn’t necessarily of biological interest. tions and answer them.
Callout lines should be rectilinear or at 45° if the graphic already has such elements. Alignment of similar quantities subtly
Allow content to establish layout proportions and do not emphasize gutters with lines. suggests where to look next. Use typographical garnish sparingly—be creative, but in small
ALL SCIENCE DESERVES One or two such dividers can be effective, but too many will turn the poster into a jail.
steps. A well-placed symbol or label can connect themes or
indicate the purpose of text (e.g. triangles suggest a legend).
EXCELLENT EXPLANATIONS
Explain quickly and clearly. Motivate why the work USE SMALL MULTIPLES TABULATE A B C MAINTAIN AND CONTROL PROPORTIONS
plots and text
was done—what is the cost of not doing it? Use ink sparingly to make compact seamlessly with T0 This poster is 16” × 12” 0 1 2 3 4 5
a column or row
figures legible—dense is not (1152 × 864 pt), uses cm
The poster is your prop. In most settings, you will for explanations. 1 2
necessarily crowded. Explain an Helvetica Neue with a 5, inch
1/4 1/2 3/4
Italicize text with
be there to present it. Match its content to the story care and look for When displayed full-height on a 27” 16:9
encoding once and reuse it. Create unintended italics 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 pt scale monitor, distances are preserved within 5%.
you will tell.
a visual key for complex encodings in subscripts.
ladder and is legible on
Establish data tracks with light fills. 12 36 72 144
Colored text may help and choose graphical explanations most screens. points
ONLY YOU CAN STOP emphasize a theme but ARROWS imply
use it sparsely. over text. U1 Sans-serif is clearer
1 2 3 6 12
POSTER DUMPSTER FIRES a relationship
or change. Do
pica
A point is a unit of size used in typography.
Clip art, pie charts, bullet points, boxes around text, Avoid visual complications that are not use them to than serif at small sizes Without a physical size they lose their mean-

background fills and gradients. Only you can stop it. not relevant—for example, color guide the eye, and suitable for modest ing, but can provide a helpful scale.
V2 which can be
blending can create distracting in- achieved with amounts of copy. 5 8 13 21 34 55
Maintain good Gestalt—similar shapes and colors tersections of color. Superimpose spacing and

will form groups. Use them to encode real-world

alignment. Keep line length short 4 6 10 16 26 42
white outlines to emphasize W3 and hyphenate instead Select type sizes from one or a union of
relationships and be on the lookout for unintended shapes with an opaque fill. two modular scales built on the Golden
accidental groupings.
Align independently
of subscripts.
of fully justifying. Ratio (e.g., 55/34 ≈ ɸ = 1.618...).

EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT, BUT SOME THINGS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS. Establish a FORCE LINE BREAKS that split a sentence into noun phrases or offer a natural pause, AVOID OBVIOUS HEADINGS such as “references”. Citations can be set in a block of
visual hierarchy by emphasizing your hypothesis, conclusion and the key points that connect them. Relegate such as at a comma or a period. Balance layout by shortening sentences—there are text, with bold numbers like this 1. R. Bringhurst, Elements of Typographical Style. 4th
protocols, technical methods, and other minutiae to the bottom of the poster. Always be mindful of what the many ways to say something and some ways are easier to typeset. Do not let a template ed (2012) and 2. W. Strunk Jr., Elements of Style (1918). Unless a specific citation style is
reader needs to know to understand enough to ask insightful questions and frontload this information. bully you into using a specific column width. Change proportions to suit content. required, use a compact style that also includes the title.

mkweb.bcgsc.ca/poster.design v1.4 14 Jul 2020