PRODUCING PICTURE-PERFECT POSTERS

Scientific posters form an integral part of many radiology meetings. T hey provide the opportunity for interested parties to read the materia l at an individualized pace, to study the images in detail, and to ret urn to the exhibit numerous times. Although the content of the poster is undoubtedly its most important component, the visual presentation o f the material can enhance or detract from the clarity of the message. With the wide availability of sophisticated computer programs for des ktop publishing (DTP), one can now create the poster on a computer mon itor with full control of the form as well as the content. This proces s will result in a professional-appearing poster, yet still allow the author the opportunity to make innumerable revisions, as the poster is visualized in detail on the computer monitor before printing. Further more, this process is less expensive than the traditional method of ty pesetting individual sections separately and mounting them on cardboar d for display. The purpose of this article is to present our approach to poster production using commercially available DTP computer program s.