Tips Untuk Poster Akademik

Sedar x sedar dah August ye? Ye la, ralit nak menyambut kedatangan Ramadhan yg mulia, tup2 terlupa today does not only mark the 1st Ramadhan, but marks the 1st of August jg. Debar2 plak sbb in a months time summer holiday would have finished and I have a BIG deadline to meet before then. Not to mention, towards September dah kena submit visa applications and what not, so akan sgt2 busy! Oh dear!

But Alhamdulillah, kami di Plymouth jg menyambut hari pertama Ramadhan pada hari ni. It feels nice, sambutan serentak it being the first day of the month, and the first day (Monday) of the week jg.

Satu lg event yg sepatutnya berlansung hari ni adalah permulaan konferens IC*MC yg aku berkobar2 nak ikut semenjak setahun yg lalu (draft buat pada end of October lepas, submission December). Tp x de rezeki aku, x dpt funding plak nak pegi, so wakilkan SV terchenta ajo lah pegi. Yg lebih menyayat hati lg, semua org lain dlm lab kecuali Christ pon pegi. Yg spt pegi tu either dpt paper published, or performance diterima for concert, so ada la funding. Yg dpt poster cam aku, x dpt la pegi. Ada jg beberapa yg lain dpt poster semata2 jg, tp walaupon x de funding, diorg gigih pecahkan tabung masing2 sbb it's a big deal this conference is to thise dlm bidang aku ni.

Itu hari this article had been submitted as a short paper, but got reduced down to a poster. Mungkin masa ni data x cukup konkrit nak buat statement apa2. And mmg IC*MC ni conference yg dasat utk bidang aku, so I'm happy enough. Cuma sedih sket sbb x de funding nak gi konferensi ni, walhal venue nya di Huddersfield (UK) aje. Niat nya nak belajar drpd otai2 masa ni, and also attend alot of the computer music concerts that are scheduled utk dptkan idea on composition, or belajar cara2 org defend keja, tp x de rezeki.

Kalo published as paper itu hari, Uni Plymouth akan sponsor. Nak push or appeal lebih2 pon, last year dah gi Barcelona, Spain, and the year before dah gi Queen Mary and University of West England, all Uni Plymouth yg taja. Nak mintak yg penaja drpd Msia, ish, hari tu dah pegi Lisbon, Portugal, so quota dah pakai. So redha aje la. Dpt publication pon dah cukup baik.

Mungkin hikmah yg aku nmpk skang ialah konferens tu jatuh pada bulan Ramadhan la. Bkn x bole pegi kalo berposa, tp kalo bwk family mencabar nak bersahur/berbuka/teraweh, isu letih, x selesa (ingat posa di musim summer ye) etc. Kalo tinggal Hubs and Aisyah and aku gi sorg2 plak lg berat, siapa nak masakkan lauk berbuka / sahur utk Hubs, and mcm mana plak aku yg kena posa sorg2 di sana. This is the best lah I suppose. To be honest, aku pon x larat dah nak isi borg Claim Expenses gi travel2 mcm ni. Susah ooo... dah la nak kena kuar modal dulu, and bertukun lama ngadap PC cari transport and accommodation serta itinerary jalan2 yg murah2 dan strategik. Lagi nak kena dokumen kan satu2 resit. Mkn masa tu. Masa yg sepatutnya guna buat research. Masa itu kan emas.

Anyways, pegi x pegi, poster tetap lah kena prepare kan. So ni nak share some interesting stuff I found whilst I designed the poster hehe.

Agak time-consuming benda ni rupanya. So nasihat utama, jgn underestimate the time it takes ye. Aku budget bole siap dlm sehari aje, but took slightly longer, sbb satu nya of coz design2 ni keja meralitkan. Nombor dua, bkn senang nak compose your ideas and present results that you took four two-columns A4 papers to cram it into one sheet, without compromising the flow of your story kan. Yg ketiga nya, well, if I'm honest, dah lupa where to start lah. Ye la, sbb dah lama I x get my hands dirty with poster2 dah, dulu2 masa MSc rajin la, time masuk pertandingan Penyelidikan & Rekacipta and also Malaysia Technological Expo ke hihi. Sejak wat PhD x de wat poster apa menda lg, so masa mula2 nak wat itu hari, hish, a good 2 hours jgk la baca2 kat Net advice and tips on designing a poster, then baca balik cara2 nak convert poster to A0 saiz pakai Powerpoint plak.

So di sini aku nak share a few good links la. Yg paling best aku rasa from here. Mmg mantop lah tips2 dia. Kelakar lg author dia. Siap bagi links utk tgk galeri and contoh2 academic posters from other PhD students. X cukup dgn itu, dia siap buat Flickr account lg, collect poster2 student PhD yg ada di Flickr la kan. And menariknya, dia galakkan kita bubuh gmbr poster kita sendiri (kalo berani la). Kalo nak submit gmbr poster kita, then mintak dia bg komen pon dia layan jgk. Ala2 pimp my poster gitu. Bagus betul dia ni. Pastu link yg sini pon not bad juga, ckp mcm mana nak deal dgn saiz on the screen to the plotter machine and all the techno side of poster making and poster-printing.

Sbb mental blocked, aku berlegar2 di dunia FB, siap war2 kat FB, yg aku dah berjaya tambah lemak di bdn sesambil tggu idea mari. X lama kemudian aku realize besar gile saiz A0 ni eh, bole aku bergolek2 atas poster tu (ukur dgn 16 kpg A4). Besar lg drpd sejadah aku.

Aku sempat borak2 ngan Emma nak mintak tips. Emma yg ingat2 lupa suh tgk poster lama2 dia, kot dpt idea. Hehe, search punya search, jumpa la. Ni dia... kasi glamer sket. Poster ni telah memenangkan beliau GBP100 tau, anugerah poster terbaik masa Uni dia buat pertandingan. Uni Plymouth ni ada buat gak, tp makk x pernah berminat nak join. Psl apa hang tanya? Psl pemenang dia sorg aje. Menang GBP15 aje plak tu. GBP150 x pe la jgk. Ade ke patut? Ade ke? Nak belanja anak dan laki kat Nawroz (restoran halal & murah kat Plymouth) pon x lps tau *sungguh mata duitan* Aku dlm hopping2 tu, ternganga jua lah tgk poster yg cantik2 kan mcm kat bawah ni. Wahhh... best giler yg buat psl fashion2 tu kan. Makk rasa makk pon x kisah kalo kena wat PhD dlm fashion2 ni. Dah la x byk ayat2 langsung. Very the visual kan poster dia, which is what posters should be. Sungguh la verangan nak tiru. These are from the London School of Economics. Tips yg agak best ialah pakai lah kaler sedondon dgn background poster kita. Seperti mamat ini. Ikut tema gitu,sbb dia buat dentistry, dia amik kaler pink sbb kaler gusi. Sila tgk tie dia baik2 ye, gmbr ubat gigi lg hehe... Tp in the end I ni penakut hapas, maka berbalik ke pangkal jalan jua. I think it's hard for students of physical sciences discipline to come up with cool and wicked posters. Biasa nya mmg agak boring la. Nak kasi nampak cool lebih sket ko tambah la itu 'tauge' secukup rasa ye. By tauge I meant equations la kan. X sah x de, mcm minum teh xde gula, mcm mkn nasi x de lauk. Bubuh byk2 sampai org naik takut nak approach dan tanya psl research ko tau, ni tips nak selamat and look smart (I'm just kidding!). Tapi sbb tgk2 xde poster design yg sensasi di bidang aku ni, takut la plak aku nak touch up lebih2, kang kontroversi. Dah la rikki2 semua org pon buat kotak2 oneee je... Tambah plak poster aku ni karang bukan aku yg kena present, but my SV. Imagine perasaan beliau (lelaki, mid 40s) kalo kena duduk menjaga poster aku yg uber-chic lg feminine with background pink and glitter2 gitu. Fengsan dia. So with that in mind, aku pon settle la dgn design yg paling crisp and clear. Minimalist gitu. Aku x buh lg la eh sbb my session is not until this Friday. Nnt x surprise la, basi gitu. Tee hee. This poster might not win me anything, but I feel like I've won millions already sbb SV aku sukeee. I believe perkataan 'neat' ngan 'well-balanced' adalah komen beliau. Terus mak di awang2an kejaps. Which was why dgn penuh rasa x bersalahnya ptg itu pergi melepak dan bergebang dkt 2 jam di rumah jiran, sesambil bwk Aisyah main dgn anak2 nya. Tp x pe, jiran aku ni student2 PhD yg dasat and always speak positively psl reserach work dia, so little2 tu ada la rub off jua to me harapnya kih kih. Ok lah nak gi masak juadah berbuka. You allz kat Msia pon ntah2 ada yg dah bersahur ni (pkl 2 pg ni kat Msia mungkin), kalo jenis suka bersahur pkl 2 pg kat kedai mamak la. Ada ke readers yg mcm tu?