Digital Design: How to disseminate ideas, research and good practice in a visually stimulating way. Dawne Bell December 2015

Transcription

1 Digital Design: How to disseminate ideas, research and good practice in a visually stimulating way. Dawne Bell December 2015

2 This workshop has been devised as a direct result of feedback by colleagues and conference delegates in relation to Poster Presentations. Session aims: Opportunity to critique Poster Presentations Discuss how you might use outcomes from this workshop yourself or with your students, to share and communicate research, concepts and ideas. What we will cover today: This is an introductory practical session. We will cover the basic principles of design presentation; colour theory, layout, shape, image manipulation and typography. This is aimed to give you confidence to undertake this type of work for yourself and with your students.

3 Is this a poster?

4 What is a poster? Memorable design How you might you use posters yourself, or with your students, to share and communicate research, concepts and ideas?.

5 Attractive design Clear message Quality content Legible

6 Similar in content Which work better as a poster? Infographic posters style can be effective A good poster is a balance between design and content

7 Posters need to be visually striking. They need to grab attention, and entice us to look at what the poster has to say. Before you start: 1. Know the purpose Know why you are designing the poster. This is really important. Before you start you need to be clear in your own understanding around the key data, information or messages you are going to convey. This will affect the way the poster is to be designed. 2. Know the target audience Knowing your audience is important. How old are they? Who are they? How does (or could) the poster align with their interests? This will affect the poster design! 3. Location of the poster Is the poster is going to be displayed in a corridor? classroom? hall? foyer? This is important because it will determine how long someone is able to stand in order to view your work. 4. Size and format Always know the size and format of the poster that you are going to produce. It is easier to size the page before you begin to design, it helps to size the graphic elements and photographs. Typically for conference presentation A1 or A0 is specified. For students, to save on printing costs you may want to specify A2 or A3, or opt for an electronic submission. Format (portrait or landscape) is important because you want to make sure so it will fit comfortably within the display space.

8

9 To create a great poster you need to be an astute, creative, and have a strong understanding of design, (but if you don t possess all of those attributes don t worry technology can help!)

10 Layout Information flow Information in a poster should flow in a consistent manner be it by column or row. To make the flow consistent you could use tables for proper sections and also use numbering and point system. Before you begin decide which format you are going to use. Blank space Don t be afraid of space!!! White or negative space always matters. Quite often it is unused elements that help make the best designs. Just as a class will tend to listen intently when you speak quietly, space can be a very powerful way to draw your audience into your work. Think outside of the box! Creativity knows no bounds, so try something different.

11 Visual aesthetics Posters are used to communicate a message in a visual way. Whilst text is important, using too much defeats the purpose of presenting your ideas as a poster. Try to keep text to a minimum. Think about graphs, charts and tables and other ways of presenting information. A picture is worth 1,000 words. Readability and typography, text and fonts Don t use too many different fonts on one poster, it will look a mess! Type fonts needs to be simple, clear and easy to read, like a car number plate. So stick to san-serif styles like Arial, Helvetica or Calibri. Try to chunk the text and don t locate it all over the place. Headings are especially important and need to be legible from a reasonable distance.

12 Colour Theory Colour is important. What you chose will be influenced by the topic and you intended audience. Just as you would when choosing clothes to wear, or decorating your home, be careful not to use too many different colours! To help you as you design most software packages aid colour choice by offering pre-set pallets.

13 Colour psychology Please note: For international work please consider the meaning assigned to colours in other countries and cultures

14 Which software package? Already installed on most PCs Easy to use, scales up well Publisher Already installed on your PC Power Point Already installed on most PCs Easy to use Scales up really well Word Restrictive Difficult to manoeuvre images and text around the page Perfect!!! If you already have it installed and you can use it. Photoshop You need may need to purchase and install the software Learning how to o use this progamme well takes time Free downloads 10 free downloads..

15 Templates Colour pallets

16

17 Check, ask for feedback Just as you would with a paper, before it goes to print, ask a friend or colleague to proof read your work, and critique the design. Also if you can print a draft (half or quarter size) which will give you an idea of the final piece. Printing Ask the printer for their opinion on how your work will scale up. Send the file as a PDF or Jpeg image. Specify the size (A0, A1, A2) Specify the material (paper quality and finish ie: matt or gloss finish). Any questions? Dawne Bell belld@edgehill.ac.uk