Innovative poster designs: A shift toward visual representation of data

Extract

Poster presentations are a valued component of the professional life of a pharmacist, allowing presenters to share their research findings and innovative ideas with colleagues. However, flaws in the traditional poster design often limit the value of these poster sessions for both presenters and audience members. Presenters are challenged to present information in a way that balances attracting attendees to the poster and clearly conveying research findings.¹ Oftentimes, presenters are eager to share their research findings in detail, leading to complex, dense posters.¹ Audience members attend poster presentations with the intent of coming away with new ideas and information to incorporate into practice but often feel overwhelmed by the rows of text-saturated displays. These verbose posters, in addition to lengthy “elevator speeches,” limit the total number of posters audience members can consume during a session.

Due to the barriers identified, recent attention has focused on revamping the traditional poster format.^2,3 Several alternatives to the traditional poster, such as the Better Poster, Butter Poster, and “L” Poster, have been developed and are gaining popularity in an effort to make posters more engaging for the audience. These new designs introduce negative space, utilize a more concise presentation of ideas, and incorporate graphic design principles. Emphasizing typography and utilization of bright colors, with a summary of key points as text or an infographic, presents findings in a meaningful way. The purpose of this article is to outline and compare the differing poster formats and provide a resource to create more impactful posters.