‘That hits the nail on the head’ or “You've hit the bull's eye” - these proverbs refer to the core of a matter, the quintessence, the really important thing. It should be exactly the same when creating a scientific poster: The essentials must be conveyed! In this blog post, I explain how you can do this easily and make it look good at the same time.
Such a scientific poster is often used at congresses or trade fairs. The scientific results of the research are presented there and summarised clearly on a poster. The aim is to visually support scientific research with a meaningful reduction of information. It should be possible to summarise the poster in a maximum of three minutes and present the core of the research. Of course, the research work cannot be presented in full. But that is not the purpose of such a poster.
A scientific poster is an important tool for presenting research results at conferences and trade fairs. It serves to present the essential information of a study in a clear and concise manner.
The content for such a poster is divided into three categories: must haves, good to have, nice to have!
So there is information that is absolutely necessary for the reader to understand the research approach and the results, then there is content that offers in-depth information and is ‘good to know’, and thirdly content that is ‘quite nice’ and provides a few additions, but can also be omitted if necessary.
The following key questions will help you create the content for such a poster:
The rule is always: simple is good, and the important information should be in a prominent position. The poster should also be tidy and not cluttered.
The format and size are often specified by the organiser. If not, you can orientate yourself on the presentation area and the type of presentation. Will the poster be hung on the wall or are there extra stands? Landscape or portrait format?
DIN A0 portrait format posters are common.
A professional poster has about 50 % text, 30 % images and 20 % white space. Do not overload the poster with too much text and allow the reader space between the individual elements. This makes texts and graphics easier to grasp.
Also pay attention to the alignment of the individual elements: It is best to work with a grid to which you can align everything.
An example arrangement for a poster would be as follows:
You should choose a sans serif font for the headlines, but preferably one with serifs for the body text - this is easier to read. The font and font size are also very important, as the poster should still be easy to read from a distance of two to three metres. Lay out the text so that the natural flow of reading - from top to bottom and from left to right - is guaranteed. If necessary, use arrows to make the reading direction recognisable. Even if you have a lot of space on the poster surface: Don't make the text too small in order to fit as much information as possible on the poster. In this case, less is more!
Dark lettering on a light background is the method of choice. If you choose a dark background, even a light-coloured font may not be easy to read. Basically, if it is a scientific poster of a company, you should orientate yourself on the colours of the corporate design. If there is no corporate design yet, it is advisable to specify one or two colours for highlighting.
To make tables and graphics clearer, all superfluous markings, lines and backgrounds should be removed. Labels are often not helpful either. Important values should be marked (in colour) to draw the reader's attention to them. In our article on infographics, you can read more about what is important when creating graphics.
A small note: Unlike in traditional marketing, information for a scientific poster is often exported directly from the tools used in research and not ‘recreated’ graphically. In this case, the original graphic must be used in favour of authenticity.
A scientific poster is a special case in the field of communication design, where there is a lot to consider. Stick to the 50/30/20 split and create your content with everything you need to know and a few detailed additions. If you need tips for your poster, we will be happy to look at it with you.
We have created an e-book especially for the biotech industry with lots of tips for the website that you can download free of charge. I have linked it below this article: