Latest modern science | Link roundup for March 2014 - Si Bejo Science
link roundupHood Scientist takes a look at the making of this cool wanted poster:
I�m also grateful to the link to this post on making chemistry posters. It includes this video. The advice is generally sound, though I have misgivings like it assuming you will use PowerPoint (get a real graphics editor, folks!) and advising adding institution logo (although it doesn�t use the dreaded bookend).
This blog is mainly geared towards scientists, but it uses the crafts and tools developed by graphic design. Ben Lillie makes a similar case: scientists should look outside their own fields to see what others have learned, particularly in science communication. And a poster is just a communication tool, after all:
A menu has some interesting parallels with a poster: you both have to contain a lot of information in a logical structure that people can find. This article looks at the redesign of the menu at IHOP:
Hat tip to Emily Anthes.
I am often telling people to leave more space on posters. Here�s a brilliant case of using space to make a point:
Hat tip to Amanda Bauer and Stephanie Stamm.
TED provides a list of ten quotes about design. I particularly like this one:
New Scientist has an article about typefaces that, in the magazine, was titled, �Tricksy type: how fonts can mess with your mind� (paywalled). The title in their weekly newsletter was better, though. It was, �Comic Sans is evil.�
Congratulations to reader Alex Warnecke, who took the Provost�s Award in the ecology section of San Diego State University�s recent student conference. She was nice enough to say this blog helped.
I�m also grateful to the link to this post on making chemistry posters. It includes this video. The advice is generally sound, though I have misgivings like it assuming you will use PowerPoint (get a real graphics editor, folks!) and advising adding institution logo (although it doesn�t use the dreaded bookend).
This blog is mainly geared towards scientists, but it uses the crafts and tools developed by graphic design. Ben Lillie makes a similar case: scientists should look outside their own fields to see what others have learned, particularly in science communication. And a poster is just a communication tool, after all:
(C)ommunicating science, fundamentally, isn�t very different from communicating anything else. It isn�t easy, but the answers are out there. The textbooks are already written. ...
I believe in the value of expertise. There are people who�ve dedicated their lives to learning and teaching how to connect and communicate. Why wouldn�t we avail ourselves of that?
A menu has some interesting parallels with a poster: you both have to contain a lot of information in a logical structure that people can find. This article looks at the redesign of the menu at IHOP:
The menu IHOP ended up launching ... prioritizes images over text, with large pictures of food offerings studding the menu�s pages. It also offers color-coding�a feature meant, in part, to draw the eye toward certain food offerings and categories. Perhaps the most important change from the previous menu, though, was a grouping system that categorized food items into neat culinary taxonomies: pancakes on this page, omelettes on this one, etc.
Hat tip to Emily Anthes.
I am often telling people to leave more space on posters. Here�s a brilliant case of using space to make a point:
Hat tip to Amanda Bauer and Stephanie Stamm.
TED provides a list of ten quotes about design. I particularly like this one:
�If anybody here has trouble with the concept of design humility, reflect on this: It took us 5,000 years to put wheels on our luggage.� � William McDonough
New Scientist has an article about typefaces that, in the magazine, was titled, �Tricksy type: how fonts can mess with your mind� (paywalled). The title in their weekly newsletter was better, though. It was, �Comic Sans is evil.�
Congratulations to reader Alex Warnecke, who took the Provost�s Award in the ecology section of San Diego State University�s recent student conference. She was nice enough to say this blog helped.
Post by Alex Warneke.
