Poster Design Essentials for Scientists & Researchers

A practical skills session to help researchers create clear, visually effective research posters

A focused online session that teaches the essential principles of effective poster design. In this interactive training, researchers learn what makes posters work (or fail) and apply core design principles to plan and sketch research posters for conferences that communicate key messages, clearly.

Scientists, researchers, and students will learn transferable visual design skills they can apply to research posters, graphical abstracts, infographics, and other visual communications.

Approach: Interactive skill-building with analysis of effective (and ineffective) posters, design principles demonstrations, planning and sketching exercises, and peer feedback

Practical component: Participants analyse poster examples to identify design principles, map their poster’s key components using a worksheet, then sketch a rough layout to test visual flow and structure.

Delivery: 2 hours online (Zoom or your preferred platform)

Group size: up 100 participants

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SciComm Skills Session: Poster Design 101 for Researchers

What we cover in 2 hours:

What makes research posters effective: and what makes them fail (with real examples)
Essential layout principles: structure, white space, visual flow, and grouping related information
Typography for readability: font choices, sizes, and hierarchy that work from a distance
Using colour strategically: creating visual interest without overwhelming viewers
Handling figures, images, and data clearly: sizing, placement, and visual hierarchy
Planning for different viewing contexts: considerations for in-person conferences vs. virtual poster sessions

Practical work: Participants map their poster’s key components (title, introduction, methods, results, conclusions), then sketch a rough block layout to test flow before moving to digital tools.

Tools: This session is software-agnostic, but we reference examples from PowerPoint, Canva, Affinity Designer, and other common tools.

What this session does NOT cover:

This session focuses on design principles and planning, and not comprehensive poster development, software tutorials, or delivery practice. We don’t cover:

Step-by-step software tutorials or extended design time
Designing complete posters during the session
How to present and deliver at poster sessions
Writing poster content or structuring research narratives

Get more from this session: Your researchers will benefit most if they’ve already covered basic visual communication principles, consider pairing this with Visual Communication Foundations first.

Need comprehensive poster training? Our Planning, Designing & Delivering Research Posters training is a 1-2 day workshop that includes content structuring, extended design time with software guidance, a module on delivery, and a simulated poster session practice with peer and facilitator feedback.

Perfect for

PhD programmes preparing students for their first conference posters
Research groups where scientists regularly present posters but lack design confidence
Graduate schools offering focused training before conference season
Institutions building visual communication skills across research teams
Conference organisers offering professional development workshops

This session works well as focused preparation before poster deadlines or as part of a broader visual communication or presentation skills training programme.

Looking for related skills sessions or longer-format training?

Maximise learning by starting with: Visual Communication Foundations for Researchers (core design principles that apply across all visual formats – although we cover essential principles in this poster-focused session).

Strengthen poster presentation with: Using Voice and Body Language Effectively (confident delivery skills for poster sessions and Q&A).

For comprehensive poster support: Planning, Designing & Delivering Research Posters training (1-2 day workshop covering planning, design, software, and delivery practice).