Science poster presentation: 5 design tips to catch attention

5 design tips to help your science poster presentation look great, be easy to scan and include all the necessary information without overwhelming the audience.

Tip One: First impressions count – from a distance

If you want to attract people to read your poster, first impressions count, especially from a distance. Make sure the overall impression is a professional, polished presentation, with a clear easy to scan layout.

If you can, create interest with a key focal point on your poster that is relevant to your study and can be spotted from a distance.

Your key focal point could be:

• An image, illustration or graphic
• An easy and quick to read bold heading that will draw people in
• Eye catching use of colour
• A key data point that will catch attention.

Tip Two: If possible, keep your title to two lines

It is generally recommended to keep the title within two lines if possible. In presentation settings such as conferences or poster sessions, viewers are likely to scan through numerous posters, and a lengthy title can make it difficult for your poster to stand out.

Where this is not possible, design choices can make it easier on the eye for the audience.

For example, you could use a colon in your title and make the text before the colon bold, and the rest in a lighter font weight. This gives the reader a shorter section to initially focus on, without removing the context and detail.

Be mindful of using uppercase for titles. Longer titles are easier to read if they are in sentence case (initial caps with lowercase). Conferences sometimes specify that a title needs to be uppercase, so always best to check the requirements first.

Tip Three: Less is more. Make it succinct with clear sections, headings and sub-headings

Science posters are often content-rich within a set space.

You may want to show as much as possible on your poster to give as much value as possible. However, a poster that looks hard to decipher because it looks cluttered and cramped can put people off, especially at the end of a long day at a conference.

Keep your poster design clean and uncluttered by:

• Editing content down as much as possible to ensure content is succinct with no waffle
• Allow the content to ‘breathe’ with good spacing between sections and space around figures and tables
• Use headings and sub-headings to break up the content.

Tip Four: Make it easy for people to scan

People will not read every word on your poster in the first instance.

It is crucial to make your poster easy to scan in short space of time. If the poster is hard to scan, you risk people not seeing it at all.

Make your science poster presentation easy to read by:

• Choose a font that is easy to read from a distance
• Maintain a consistent font size throughout the poster, typically 24 point minimum for paragraph text
• Ensure visual elements such as graphs, charts, and tables are clearly defined with a consistent style
• Make sure text in figures and charts is easy to read. The font size may need to be smaller, but if you keep them a consistent size, that will help the reader
• Avoid placing figures and tables as images e.g. jpgs or pngs. The text is often slightly blurred and can make it difficult to read
• Visually divide your poster into distinct sections. Grouping the introduction and methods into one section can help. Visually highlighting the conclusion makes it quick to find.

Tip Five: Make it pleasing to the eye

People like looking at nice things. Make your science poster presentation look easy on the eye and more people will take notice.

A well-designed science poster presentation tells your peers a lot about you; the way you present your work shows how invested you are.

Ways to make your poster pleasing to look at:

• Use a complimentary colour scheme
• Stick to 4 or 5 colours
• Avoid pure elementary primary colours. Use blended colours that are harmonious
• Use a consistent style of shapes and icons
• Alignment and order help content to flow seamlessly and look well prepared
• A considered column layout adds well thought through structure
• If logos are included on your poster, use colours that compliment the logo style.

Mastering the art of science poster presentation…

Remember, the goal of a research poster is to succinctly and visually convey your research findings and engage your peers in discussion. By following these tips, you can create an informative and visually appealing poster that effectively communicates with your audience.

See an example poster presentation design