Poster Design Guidelines
HPG posters are intended to initiate discussion and exchange ideas, not to reproduce a full academic work. A good poster communicates a clear idea, attracts attention, and encourages attendees to start a conversation. Given the familiar environment at HPG, the goal of the poster is to assist you during the poster session, not to provide complete coverage of your work (i.e., like a paper). When preparing your poster, focus on clarity, visuals, and the key message you would like people to take away.
Focus on the Key Message
Your poster should communicate one main idea or problem. Rather than trying to summarize an entire paper, aim to:
- clearly state the problem or motivation
- briefly present your approach or key insight
- show representative results or examples
Think of your poster as a conversation starter, not a compressed paper.
Prefer Visuals Over Text
deally, posters should encourage people to stay at the poster while following your explanation through clear schematics and visuals. We strongly encourage the use of:
- diagrams explaning the core idea or pipeline
- visual examples or clear schematics
- visual comparisons to compare different approaches
- graphs showing key results
Avoid long paragraphs. Prefer short statements or bullet points instead. If a section looks like a large paragraph from a paper, it is probably too dense for a poster.
Keep the Structure Simple
A clear and simple structure helps readers quickly understand your work. Typical posters include the following sections:
- Title and authors
- Problem / Motivation
- Approach or Key Idea
- Results or Examples
- Future Work / Collaboration
Not every poster needs to include all of these sections, but make sure that the problem statement, key results, and potential future directions are clearly communicated.
Design for Interaction
Poster sessions are meant to be interactive. Your poster should invite discussion. Consider highlighting:
- open questions
- future directions
- possible applications
- opportunities for collaboration
It is perfectly fine if the poster does not explain every detail — hose details can emerge during discussion.
Provide a Way to Learn More
Less text can mean that some details are not included on the poster itself, especially for attendees who do not have the chance to talk with the authors during the session. To make it easy for people to follow up afterwards, or when viewing the poster online, we encourage you to include the following:
- QR codes in sections linking to a paper, detailed technical blog, project page, or repository
- Useful contact information (email or website)