Visual Rhetoric
Visual Rhetoric Basics
Infographics
Research Posters
Presentations
Adobe Photoshop
Visual Rhetoric Basics
Guides to Visual Rhetoric Principles and Approaches
- Purdue OWL Guide to the HATS Principles (Headings, Access, Typography, Space)
- Focus on professional documents
- CRAP Principles (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity)
- Focus on visual documents
Resources
- Purdue OWL Overview of Visual Rhetoric
- Slide Deck - Intro to Visual Rhetoric
- Slide Deck - Visual Rhetoric, Part 2
- Slide Deck - Page Design Using HATS
- Clean Design
Materials
Infographics
Programs for Creating Infographics
- Piktochart
- a free online program for designing visual media including infographics. Their YouTube channel also provides helpful guides on the process of designing an infographic and how to use the Piktochart interface.
- Canva
- a free online program for designing visual media including infographics. Canva's Design School includes tutorials and video courses on various elements of design and how to use the site's tools. This page gives an overview of how to use Canva to create an infographic.
Resources for Learning about Data Visualization
- SHARC - a free online tool teaching the SHARC approach (Scale, Hierarchy, Access, Readabliity, Color) to data visualization. This site focuses on creating charts students might use within their infographic. Students may explore this site on their own, or instructors may utilitize content for lesson plans.
Research Posters
Resources
- Purdue OWL Guide to Research Posters
- Purdue Library Guide to Undergraduate Research Conference Posters
- ICaP Guide: How to Create a Research Poster Using PowerPoint
- ITaP Guide to Printing Research Posters
- Example Research Posters
Research Poster Templates
Rethinking the Research Poster (#betterposter)
In an article on Inside Higher Ed, Colleen Flaherty writes, "Hey science, your posters stink. Mike Morrison, a Ph.D. candidate in organizational psychology at Michigan State University, is way too polite to say it that way. But that's the implicit message behind his #betterposter campaign for less cluttered, more user-friendly scientific conference posters."
This video, created by Mike Morrison, is a refreshing and much-needed watch for instructors and students. For an initial look at the proposed #betterposter design, jump ahead to 12:00.
Printing Research Posters
Printing on Purdue’s Campus
You can print research posters on wide format printers in WALC and HICKS. To print research posts on these printers, you must use the PaperCut service (and must load extra money to the service through your BoilerExpress account. Your allotted print credits cannot be applied to print wide format posters.).
The WALC wide format printers cost $4 per foot (for both the 36″ and 40″ wide options). So, for example, a 36″ x 24″ poster is $8. (As of October 2017)
Printing on Your Own
You can print posters made from the above power point templates yourself and affix them to a board (like a tri-fold) and still maintain the professional presentation. The settings you use for this depend on the printer and the program you are printing from, but in general you are looking for the following options:
- Export the poster from PowerPoint as an image or PDF
- Print in a “tile” format
- Print at 100% scale
This PDF from University of South Carolina gives more detailed tips for specific programs.
Presentations
Resources
- "How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint" by David JP Phillips
- TED Talk video; helpful for teaching students how to use slides effectively
Programs for Creating Presentations
Slide Templates
Adobe Photoshop