These resources focus on general aspects of design that are primarily visual, i.e. considering mainly the look and feel of how the information is conveyed to the audience.

Slideshows for Presentations
Using Pictures, Diagrams, Graphs, Infographics
Designing Better Documents
Posters

Slideshows for Presentations

As always, start with a good idea of your audience and how the slides will be used. Some beginner hints and tips now follow:

Always consider accessibility: will all of your audience be able to see and read your slides? Accessibility is quite a complex subject and you may need expert advice for certain audiences.
In general, use more pictures/diagrams and less text.
It is often best to treat slides as a way to prompt your talk, but not to be all of your talk.
Bullet points are usually good!
It is usually best to have no more than 6 bullet points on each slide.
In terms of timings, most presenters find they take 2-3 minutes to speak to one slide (assuming upto 6 bullet points).
Be careful with the use of colour: take care to use good contrast. Avoid red and blue or orange and green together: these are common colour-blind combinations.
Style of text: use fonts that are clear and easy to read, and large enough too (usually size 18pt and above)
Resolution of pictures and diagrams: take care to use clear pictures.
Finally, when using an IT tool such as PowerPoint or Google Slides, make good use of templates, styles and master slide formatting features.

Note the use of the phrase "in general" and the words "often" and "usually" above. These are guidelines to be broken when you have good reason to.

For example, if you are presenting to an audience whose first language is not the language of the presentation, then you may wish to write more text on the slide to help the audience follow your talk by reading the key points in full.

More advice to follow...

Resources

An NMITE template or guide for slides will be added here.

Designing Presentations - Skills Guides | University of York - Full and comprehensive set of ideas, hints and tips

Using Pictures, Diagrams, Graphs, Infographics

Some basic rules first:

Rule #1

Make sure your photo/picture, diagram, graph, infographic can be SEEN. If the reader of your document or article or report cannot see the picture clearly, make sure that there is a very good reason why!

Rule #2

Diagrams, graphs etc must be relevant to the text. Avoid adding a diagram just because it looks good. If you cannot relate it back to the content of the document then do not add.

Rule #3

Add labels and titles/captions to your diagrams. Even if the text immediately above the diagram points to the diagram, all diagrams should be labelled in some way.

Rule #4

You can use diagrams etc that you have not created yourself, BUT if you do, you must credit the other author or document, using appropriate referencing styles (such as Harvard).

What is the difference between graphs, illustrations, block diagrams, flowcharts, etc?

All graphs, illustrations, flowcharts, block diagrams, charts, etc are diagrams: a pictorial representation of some concept or aspect.

A graph means a diagram that is mathematical: representing data and where the scale, the format is meaningful and formalised. A graph must follow the conventions for the type of graph. Labelling of axes, variables, etc is very important. There should not be any ambiguity. It must be accurate.
An illustration in general does not have to follow conventions: scale can be flexible to allow a focus on important details for example. Sketches for example need not be accurate. But they still need to be meaningful and clear.
Flowcharts, block diagrams, other charts, and other technical diagrams may follow looser conventions than mathematical graphs. However, the closer they follow expected conventions, the easier it will be for a reader to decipher the diagram.

IMPORTANT: in some subject areas, specific technical diagrams/ engineering charts are very formal. If you are requested to follow standards (whether specified documented standards, eg. BSI, ISO, etc) or good practice, then DO SO.

More to come... This is a work in progress, your input is very welcome...

Resources

A nice informal outline to types of diagrams, charts and graphs: 10+ Types of Diagrams & How to Choose the Right One - Venngage

What’s an infographic and how can it help your business? (microsoft.com) The basics of infographics from Microsoft

Flowchart - Wikipedia - includes standard symbols... Use these as much as you can.

How to reference to external diagrams that you wish to use in your report: Figure, table or diagram | Leeds Harvard referencing examples | Study and research support | Library | University of Leeds

Make your own Graphs (mathsisfun.com) - simple easy maths graphs creation.

More…

5 Engineering Infographics to Quell Your Curiosity (easel.ly)

Example ISO standards for kinematic graphical symbols: ISO 3952-4:1984(en), Kinematic diagrams — Graphical symbols — Part 4

Designing Better Documents

The following is a copy from Written Communications. More to come...please request more guidance as you need it or suggest resources that have helped you ask@nmite.ac.uk

The look and feel of any document, printed or on screen, is very much affected by the design of the document: white space, font-types, colour, layout, paper/backgrounds, etc.

Engineering businesses will of course contract experts to manage this aspect of document design, but it can be useful to be aware of these issues, if only to know what to look out for.

This is a work in progress, your input is very welcome...

Resources

Effective Document Design – Communication at Work (pressbooks.pub) – how to produce reader-friendly documents: layout, design, and organizational elements

More...

Refer to Design of Documents in Communications - Writing for different audiences

Posters

There are many types of posters, including advertising, events, and in particular academic posters. Here we will start with academic posters.

Academics, particularly in science and engineering, are often required to present research and findings as a poster: a large 1-pager which has the key points about the work/project in an attractive format. It needs to stand on its own but you may also be required to stand by it to discuss it with an audience.

1. Audience

Your starting point should be your audience:

are they technical experts in the subject of your poster?
maybe engineers and technologists that may not be familiar with your topic?
or the general public? Adults or children?

The chances are however that you will be first given the context for the display of the poster, i.e. whether a conference, exhibition space, or for general display. In the case of an NMITE assignment, this should be given in the briefing or guidance from module leads. This context may define the expected audience.

2. Content

The context may also give you some idea about how long your audience may give to the poster, and this will inform your next steps. Consider now the messages and information you are trying to convey, and the level of detail you can include. How you approach this should be guided by the subject matter. And in the case of an NMITE assignment, how you are being assessed.

3. Format

A poster gives you a chance to make good use of visually interesting diagrams and images. Use the opportunity to find ways to summarise your messages as pictures. Explore your inner artist and graphic designer to make your message as compelling as you can through using the tricks and tips from advertising posters.

The size of the poster and orientation, the colour palette, etc is usually fixed in some way. This is especially true for academic or conference posters, where you may be given strict guidelines and a template. Sometimes however you get given more leeway. Always CHECK!

Tools to create posters include Microsoft Powerpoint, Word (or course) and the equivalents in Google (Slides and Docs) and other similar free software, but also Adobe Acrobat, and Canva. You will find templates offered by Microsoft, Google, Adobe etc.

Here are some resources, but this is a work in progress, your input is very welcome...

Resources

Tips and Guidelines for Designing your Poster : Poster Presentations : ... : School of Engineering and Informatics : Schools and services : University of Sussex - this gives a good and simple introduction to the why of posters.

Produced especially for you: BSA_Poster Design: A pracical guide for scientists and engineers.pdf This was produced by Design Science for the British Science Association.

Some inspiration and a quick summary of types of posters: Types of Posters: What Makes Them Stand Out

How to create a better research poster in less time (#betterposter Generation 1) - YouTube - a bit long BUT excellent points made and an innovative design is proposed.

Don't forget to check templates offered by software intended to create visual documents, such as Adobe Types of posters for business use cases | Adobe Express , Microsoft Free poster presentation template | Microsoft Create (mostly for advertising etc).

For more thinking on good practice for posters from Design Science again, take a look at this as an example of a layout for really clear academic posters: Design Science - Research poster templates for London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and notice the detail of the fonts, spacing, etc. All of this graphic design goes towards posters that are clear and easy to follow.

If you want to see posters by other engineering students, you may want to look at Bath University's Flickr: Collection: 2020 Design Exhibition: Group Projects and Final Year Posters - Mechanical Engineering, Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.