Posters are one of the most common forms of presenting research at scholarly conferences, and they must use a combination of visual and textual elements in order to convey information in an extremely concise format to a large, diverse, and possibly uninterested audience. Posters offer an excellent opportunity to examine how writers must use different techniques to appeal to different audiences, all within the same document. Unlike a paper, a poster must be visually appealing in order to draw the attention of passers-by. Deliberate design decisions have to be made regarding color, font, images, white space, and layout in order to attract viewers without distracting them from the content. Ms. Kango’s poster hits all the right notes of using graphic elements to hook the reader and guide them to the argument and evidence.
With posters we often talk about the 2 minute, 5 minute and 15 minutes viewers. The 2 minute viewer needs to be drawn in and then be able to quickly find the research question, the argument and the conclusion. This viewer may be completely unfamiliar with the field of study of the poster. The 5 minute viewer will want to look at some of the evidence (often graphs or charts) that support the conclusion. The 15 minute viewer, who may be an expert in the field, will want to understand the full project and how this research ties in with the broader field. One exercise you could do with your classes would be to put Ms. Kango’s poster on a large screen then give your students two minutes to find the research question, the argument and the conclusion. Discuss what elements Ms. Kango used in order to make that information easy for the two minute viewer to find. Next, give the students five minutes to identify her evidence. What tools did she use to make that evidence easily digestible? Does it make the reader want to become a 15 minute viewer? Finally, what would the 15 minute viewer get out of the poster? How does Ms. Kango direct the interested reader to more information?
— REBECCA KINRAIDE
WR 150: Writing, Research, & Inquiry