Workshop coordinator.
 Finding and organising the
volunteers, making a timetable.
 Follow up with teachers, museums
etc…
 Writing a final report to the funding
body.
 Proofreading and editing of grant
proposals, posters, booklets, etc...
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Planning and working behind the scenes.
- setting up and clearing up of
exhibition, school visit, etc...
Time keepers
Getting exhibits from and back to other
Departments or Institutes e.g. Zoology
Museum, British Museum
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Design flair
- Producing visual/audio aids. Podcasts, blogs, websites.
 Forget what you already know. Academic posters for meetings
and conferences are text heavy and leaden with academic jargon. You
need to think very differently if you want to communicate with the
public.
 Think about what you want to do. Do you want to develop a
large, interactive, modular stand? Or maybe you would prefer simple,
mounted posters. Is it a travelling exhibition? If so, portable, pop up
banner stands may be appropriate. All of these decisions will have cost
and time implications.
Think poster/ exhibition not
book. If you want to tell a
linear story with lots of text –
put it in a book!
 People will engage with
exhibitions in different ways
and may read your conclusion
before your introduction. So
make sure every part of the
exhibition speaks for itself.
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www.edwardross.co.uk
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To advertise, or create momentum, for further
engagement activity.
To engage hard to reach groups who might be
unlikely to attend a public event. (Particularly if
your exhibition takes place in a generic venue
such as a supermarket, museum or roadside).
To raise awareness among wider audiences– if
you are hosting a long-term or permanent
exhibition, you will be able to reach significantly
higher numbers of people.
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I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here.
Researcher in Residence.
Famelab.
British Science Association Media Fellowships.
STEM Ambassador.
Meet the expert days at the
Science Centre
West End Festival
Jamie Hall
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Posters and exhibitions are a great way to engage the public and
will help you to think of new ways to explain your research so that
non expert audiences can understand. Posters can be used as
stand-alone methods to raise awareness or they can be used to
draw an audience in and encourage them to talk to you, or take
part in a demonstration.. Exhibitions and posters can be hosted in
a number of venues:
Your university or institution, during open days and other public
events
In public spaces such as shopping centres, libraries or cultural
venues
At festivals, conferences or other special events
In museums or science and discovery centres (usually in
partnership with the host venue)
At roadsides, bus stops or subways, or even on the buses
themselves
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Posters are a great way to catch someone’s eye and draw them in.
Make the most of the opportunity to further engage them, by
providing additional opportunities, such as:
The opportunity to talk to a real researcher (you, your colleagues,
or students)
Tangible objects and props the audience can hold and feel
Intriguing demonstrations, including hands on activities and
experiments the audience can participate in
Further literature, worksheets or table top exhibits to interrogate
Opportunities for the audience to give feedback or share opinions
and experiences i.e. a ballot box or wall chart they can add to
Handouts such as samples, flyers, small posters and other
literature that they can take away
To draw audiences in for further engagement – a striking poster or
exhibition might intrigue passers-by and encourage them to stop
and find out more.
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Discover the kind of imagery and messages that are most
likely to draw your audience in, and what might interest
them about your work. It would be an idea to consider
audience research to help you find out more about what
could work. Either mock up samples or use previous
examples of posters and test them with focus groups,
representative of your target audience.
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Do your research. Look at other posters,
flyers and exhibitions to see how other
messages have been communicated visually
to your target audience. You could learn a lot
from commercial advertising.
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Plan, plan, plan. Plan your design, plan the
message and the preferred layout, think about
the images you need and what your message is.
Think about the point of the exhibition and
create a narrative which the audience can easily
follow. Make sure you leave plenty of time to
develop your poster or exhibition. The design
process can be lengthy, especially if you want to
test and re-draft the imagery on members of
your audience. Host venues may also have
lengthy lead times to consider.
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Think about what you want to do. Do you
want to develop a large, interactive, modular
stand? Or maybe you would prefer simple,
mounted posters. Is it a travelling exhibition?
If so, portable, pop up banner stands may be
appropriate. All of these decisions will have
cost and time implications.
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A good poster should:
Be eye-catching, with images which are identifiable at
a distance
Be accurate, clear and concise
Communicate a clear message
Draw people in to interrogate further (i.e. prompting
the viewer to ask questions and to look closer)
A picture paints a thousand words.Your poster or
exhibition should be clear and highly visual. Make use
of striking imagery to draw in the crowds, but don’t be
afraid of white space. It would be a mistake to clutter
your poster.
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Get help. Not everybody has a design flair –
getting the colours, layout and message right for
audiences is not as easy as it sounds. If you want
your exhibition to look professional, it would be
advisable to seek help from a professional
designer. A designer may have ideas you would
not have thought of and can produce something
more eye catching, much more quickly than you
can (but be sure to brief them properly). Your
organisation may have its own design
department.
Graphic design department.
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Don’t swamp your poster with text
As Blaise Pascal said: “If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.”
Take disability considerations into account. The colours red and green
can be difficult for people with red/green colour blindness. Green is the
hardest colour for people with vision impairments to read. Avoid
capitalisation and underlining. People with dyslexia often recognize
words by the patterns they form.
Be aware that screen colour (RGB mode) is different to printed, mixedink mode (CMYK). If you want to print your image as you see it, switch to
CMYK mode in your image editing programme.
High quality printing requires images that are no less than 300 dpi. Large
formats may even require 600 dpi. Never include web graphics as these
are usually low in terms of dpi.
Stick to one platform PC or Mac
Make sure your poster stands alone – if you are on a tea break or talking
to someone else, does it make sense without your explanation?
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Design Fees may vary but professional designers charge
approximately £500-£650 per day. Depending on the number of
iterations, and the amount of work required, a poster design could
cost £500-£1000; while a larger exhibition design would cost
approximately £1000-£3000.
Printing costs will vary depending on the size of the poster or
exhibition. If you work with a professional designer, they may be
able to get preferential rates for printing.
£60-£200 for simple roller banners and mounted posters
£300 - £2000 for larger exhibitions, modular kits and larger pop up
displays
Host venue cost is variable. Some venues will only require a
nominal fee but others are surprisingly costly. You are competing
with commercial ventures for placement in shopping centres,
hotels and public transport, so be prepared to pay commercial
rates.