Advanced Display Board Design and Tips

Another way to emphasize information is to use a "buddy board." This is a small, but separate board.

If you have a complex project, a prominently located layman's summary will be appreciated by many people at your event.

For advanced fairs at the high school level, judges will expect the contents of your display to resemble a scientific journal article. Number your graphs and figures, and give them each a caption. Make sure you properly cite all of your sources.

The title on this display board casts a shadow on the main information, making it hard to read.

If you use a separate title board at the top of your display, do not mount it out more than a few centimeters from the back of your board. Title boards mounted too far forward will cast a shadow on the main board, making it hard to read.

The side panels on this display are too deep and too perpendicular to the back board.

You want your display board to invite people in for a closer look at your project. If you make your display too deep and/or make the sides perpendicular to the back of the display, a person has to twist his or her neck to see your information.

Generally, people want to read at a height close to eye level. For boards standing on a typical table, we recommend that you keep your board to a height of about 48" (1.2 m), not counting the table. A little taller than that is OK if you must have the room, but if your board gets too high, people have to crane their necks, which is something you don't want them to do. Additionally, the farther they are from the text, the smaller it appears, making it hard to read.

Many fairs allow floor-standing displays. These make sense if you have a large apparatus that you want to display. However, don't put text below table height. People aren't going to sit on the floor to read it, and if they cannot read it, don't bother putting it there.