Mad Andrew (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} madandrew) wrote,@ 2004-03-24 08:34:00 |
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Graphic Design
I'm no expert, but I'd like to share some of the horrors that I just witnessed. Crimes against humanity: perpetuated by BAD graphic arts.
FermiVMS, as promised, had my posters printed out and laminated for me first thing this morning. So I pick them up (D0 picked up the tab for the printing), and run up to the 15th floor to put them up in my display area. Since I'm of a fairly competitive bent, I took a few minutes to look around and see what other presenters had chosen to do.
The Horror:
I don't want to name names (*cough* CDF *cough*), but some posters were outright RIOTOUS displays of text and plots. For your benefit, I snip part of our instructions out:
Please note the following points when designing your poster:
- DO use large, easy-to-read letters.
- DO NOT paste-up typed pages from a paper.
- DO NOT clutter the poster with details.
- DO include clear figures and tables.
- Posters should be understandable - even in the absence of the author(s).
So. I went for simplicity, especially since I didn't have a lot of results to show, and tried to turn that into a virtue. I had no more than three simple, large easily readable text boxes on each poster, with the plots to go with it. I tried to make a simple straightforward path on what was done, and what the result was. When I looked at some of the other posters I was aghast. There was TEXT EVERYWHERE. Period. Around the plots. In the plots. Under the plots. Not a square inch of the posters were bare. ARG! I'm progressing pretty fast in this field, and I don't know if I would understand all of this stuff if the author weren't there. Especially considering that our reviewers are not all particle physicists, some are engineers, and they aren't necessarily all from labs like this one. So I guess we'll see what wins out tonight.
Next up: Dinner with the DOE Part 1: This Guy's Got a PLAN.
I'm no expert, but I'd like to share some of the horrors that I just witnessed. Crimes against humanity: perpetuated by BAD graphic arts.
FermiVMS, as promised, had my posters printed out and laminated for me first thing this morning. So I pick them up (D0 picked up the tab for the printing), and run up to the 15th floor to put them up in my display area. Since I'm of a fairly competitive bent, I took a few minutes to look around and see what other presenters had chosen to do.
The Horror:
I don't want to name names (*cough* CDF *cough*), but some posters were outright RIOTOUS displays of text and plots. For your benefit, I snip part of our instructions out:
Please note the following points when designing your poster:
- DO use large, easy-to-read letters.
- DO NOT paste-up typed pages from a paper.
- DO NOT clutter the poster with details.
- DO include clear figures and tables.
- Posters should be understandable - even in the absence of the author(s).
So. I went for simplicity, especially since I didn't have a lot of results to show, and tried to turn that into a virtue. I had no more than three simple, large easily readable text boxes on each poster, with the plots to go with it. I tried to make a simple straightforward path on what was done, and what the result was. When I looked at some of the other posters I was aghast. There was TEXT EVERYWHERE. Period. Around the plots. In the plots. Under the plots. Not a square inch of the posters were bare. ARG! I'm progressing pretty fast in this field, and I don't know if I would understand all of this stuff if the author weren't there. Especially considering that our reviewers are not all particle physicists, some are engineers, and they aren't necessarily all from labs like this one. So I guess we'll see what wins out tonight.
Next up: Dinner with the DOE Part 1: This Guy's Got a PLAN.
