Junichi Endo
Abstract: Since 2009, we have been teaching graduate students the design basics needed to create research presentation materials such as slides and posters. The course aims to provide students with the ability to create posters for presentations at academic conferences. We focused on research materials because the need to make research presentations at academic conferences increases as Japanese students reach the graduate level. Clarity and visibility are more important than the visual impact when designing research materials. For business presentations and advertising, there is a need for high-quality visually stimulating slides, such as large photos, flashy illustrations, and animation. However, academic materials require clear design and easy-to-read content. We proposed an additional workshop in which students could acquire poster design skills. In this workshop, students were able to get feedback on how others saw their own layouts from a “third person perspective” and learnt how to achieve the sense of balance necessary for effective poster design. It became apparent that the students needed to more thoroughly understand the concepts of design and not just learn a set of rules. The workshop had very positive effects on subsequent poster designs. The students were able to identify the incomprehensible aspects of their own poster design in the workshop. This understanding has enabled them to work independently and improve their own poster designs when preparing their own research posters.
Keywords: design, workshop, research poster, higher education