Design Elements

Content | Design and Layout | Graphics | Evaluation Checksheet | Examples

Graphics

Include graphic elements, such as photographs, diagrams, and charts in your poster. A poster that only includes text is dull.  Graphics can engage the attention of veiwers, which is good. But be sure that the graphic elements reinforce your content rather than distracting attention away from it.

Major types of graphic elements include

• Photographs
• Diagrams
• Charts
• Artwork

You don't need to include all of these in a single poster. Your choice of graphics depends on your purpose. For example, a poster that describes the evolution of a project is likely to include photos of participants and possibly a diagram showing the project process. A poster describing a quantitative study will probably include charts.

Photographs: To be effective, a photo needs to

• contribute to your message (be relevant to your purpose)
• be well composed (aesthetically pleasing)
• have proper exposure, focus, contrast, and resolution.

To improve your photographs, use a good camera, and be sure to take enough pictures. If you take several pictures in a photo shoot, you will have more to choose from. And your picture-taking ability will improve with practicie. For information about digital photography and reviews of digital cameras, see http://www.dpreview.com/.

To edit your images, you should be familiar with an imaging software program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. For more information, see HSL's Introduction to Photoshop online tutorial at http://www.hsl.unc.edu/Services/Tutorials/Photoshop/index.htm.

Keep in mind that images that may look good on a Website or computer screen may not have enough resolution to look good when displayed on a poster. Images display on a computer screen at about 96 pixels per inch, but in prints should be at least twice that resolution (ideally between 200 ppi and 300 ppi). If you use an image from a Web site on your poster, it may look excessively pixelated. 

Diagrams, such as flowcharts and models, can be very useful in visually representing concepts, structures, processes, and procedures. Software programs such as Visio are available for creating flowcharts and other diagrams on the computer. You can then import the diagram into PowerPoint or InDesign. Or you can create simple diagrams within PowerPoint or InDesign.

Charts: If your poster describes a quantitative study, it will probably include charts, such as bar charts and pie charts, which display data tables graphically. You can create such a chart using Excel, and then import the Excel chart into PowerPoint or InDesign. Or you can copy and paste the data from an Excel spreadsheet into a program such as Adobe Illustrator, and create the chart in that program.

Artwork: Art created on a computer (using programs such as Adobe Illustrator) is usually vector art. Vector art differs from images made up of pixels in that vector art can be resized without any loss in resolution.) Common examples of vector art include logos and cartoons. Art can also be drawn or sketched by hand and then scanned into a program such as Photoshop, and saved as an image file. Such artwork is made up of pixels (unlike vector art, it cannot resized without loss of resolution).

Diagrams, charts and artwork should be

• Clearly related to the content of the poster
• Large enough to be readable by a person standing few feet away
• Not too complex
• Aethetically pleasing: eye catching but not garish.
• Clearly labeled
• Easy for your audience to understand

Let's Practice!

Note: The following links will appear in a new browser window. Close that window to return to this tutorial.

Here's an example of a poster that needs improvement.

Using the checksheet, evaluate the poster.

Here's a better version to compare with the first version. 

Here are our comments on the first version of the poster.