© Kathryn Tosney
Chair of Biology
The University of Miami

Tosney home page
Society for Developmental Biology
ktosney@miami.edu

7. Avoid visual distraction

Group associated elements visually:

Choose your emphasis

Make each panel similar in size and shape.

Line panels up in a regular array: avoid jagged edges that catch the eye and distract people from the message

Group a heading, figure and text
to form a single unit. Use larger space between units to visually differentiate them

Use color conservatively, for emphasis.

Use color consistently: e.g., color code an item and use the same color for it throughout, in figures and graphs.

Choose a muted or neutral background color that doesn’t attract attention away from the graphics and text

1. negative 1. positive 2. negative 2. positive	7. negative 7. positive 8. negative 8. positive
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5. negative 5. positive 6. negative 6. positive	11. negative 11. positive poster home page