08 January 2015

Critique: Plague

Alison Atkin has an interesting and award-winning poster here. Click to enlarge!


The first thing that stands out about this poster is that it is hand drawn. Wow. I’ve only had, I think, one other completely hand-made poster on the blog before. That was done by someone with fine art training, but this is different. It’s lo fi, and personal.

What I love even more about this poster is how it invites you in to come and play...



For more examples of “interactive” (that is, pop-up) panels, make sure to read the full blog post.

It’s a little difficult to judge the poster in its entirety here, because Alison notes the image was is a composite. Assuming that this is reasonably true to the original, the only thing I would have liked to have seen would be stronger visual cues to read across in rows, not down in columns. This could be done by making the horizontal gaps a bit wider than the vertical ones, or by placing the test very consistently at the top. The critical first two panels put the text at the top, which set the pace for the rest of the poster.

I love this poster. Something like this would stand out at any conference for the amount of work it represents, its uniqueness, and its charm.

Hat tip to, er, Alison Atkin and Wellcome Trust for this Storify on accessible scientific writing.

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