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science + communication
Complaining about ineffective graphics is easy — fixing them takes time and love. After receiving a migrane-inducing graphic, I set out on a mission to tell the story of the data — obesity patterns around the world.
Visit the Graphical Abstract Hospital to see redesigns of real-world abstracts and learn practical design guidelines for graphical abstracts and small figures.
The Nature Methods Points of View column column offers practical advice in design and data presentation for the busy scientist.

Effective poster design for science communication

Guidelines to get you started and keep you going

contents

1 · Poster hospital

The poster hospital is a place where posters get a prescription and are sent home to convalesce on their own. Here, you will find an à la carte offering of their symptoms and corresponding cures.

2 · My redesign process

Scientific communication must present the story clearly and concisely: honor content, maintain connections between themes and avoid undue focus on relationships that are less important or imply ones that do not exist. This truism is often not true of talks, posters and publications.

Each redesign focuses on illustrating effective ways to use color, typography, alignment, tables, and data visualization. The redesigns are sketches and teaching tools—most redesigns have placeholder text and use original figures or approximate the original data.

2.1 · Thank you

I am grateful to the original authors who participated in my workshops and submitted their work for redesigns. The redesigns sample across a wide range of disciplines and make absolutely no statement about the science.

3 · Case studies

3.1 · Sail effect in an ultra-low-vibration facility for STM. Day, J. et al.

CASE STUDY # 1
Dedicate ample space for experimental setups and custom-built equipment and refer to key parts with color.

The poster is about an experimental apparatus and, specifically, the inertia block and pneumatic isolators. The redesign has both of these items as very first thing (top left) the readers sees—get to the point as fast as possible.

A

A color theme is quickly established: the block is green and the isolators are magenta—notice how the block is also green in the spring diagram. These are the only colors on the poster (except the rainbow encoding of acoustic waves, which I've tucked away at the bottom).

B

Diagrams are labeled intuitively (e.g. B = block, F = foundation) and called out in the body of the text. Avoid cramming labels in a diagram where routing callout lines is complex. Yellow is excellent for labels like this—the color stands out and does not interfere with the green/magenta scheme.

C

Graphs are aligned in a single column and axes are not shown in favour of emphasis on the data. Arrangement of text around the plots establishes a grid layout, so further containing the plots is not necessary—negative space and groupings implied by alignment are doing this job.

There is no heading for conclusion or observations. Instead, right far right of the poster serves to present these in a slightly larger text.

D

The main conclusion is treated as a heading and separated from individual conclusions with a double line.

E

Text dividers do not need to span the full length of a line.

F

Avoid bullet points or numbering of sentences—these are almost always superfluous and merely add clutter.

Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Sail effect in an ultra-low-vibration facility for STM. Day, J. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.2 · Homeostatic synaptic plasticity deregulation in the ALS cortex. Franquin, M. et al.

CASE STUDY # 2
Limit superfluous color in diagrams and bar charts. Treat everything as data and use color as data encodings.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Homeostatic synaptic plasticity deregulation in the ALS cortex. Franquin, M. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
A closer look.

3.3 · Titanium nanopillars: a platform for stem cell differentiation for cell therapies. Das Ghosh, L. et al.

CASE STUDY # 3
Arrange images on a grid within their own section and standardize the format of labels across images.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Titanium nanopillars: a platform for stem cell differentiation for cell therapies. Das Ghosh, L. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.4 · A resource of healthy iPSC cell lines derived from the Personal Genome Project. Hildebrandt, M. et al.

CASE STUDY # 4
Size text consistently and avoid backgrounds with color, patterns or images.

Background color is distracting and reduces the salience of colors used to cue themes or highlights.

A

Background images are nearly always a bad idea—they're a giant distraction (literally) and rarely available at sufficiently high resolution at the size of a full poster.

B

Background colors can shift the perception of color palettes used for data. This is the Chubb effect.

C

Background colors disrupt flow between plots and images with a white background. Notice how in the original poster plots that are next to each other in a section, and therefore related, are forced apart by strips of background color between them.

This poster uses text boxes with auto-size text, which breaks any attempts at creating an information hierarchy. Almost every title is a different size.

D

Use a modular sizing scale for type, such as one based on the Golden Ratio (5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 pt).

E

Avoid boxes around text and headings—these rarely add to the organization and often merely add clutter.

Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
A resource of healthy iPSC cell lines derived from the Personal Genome Project. Hildebrandt, M. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.5 · ATAC-Seq reveals differential chromatin landscape in dystrophin-deficient muscle stem cells. Saber, J. & Rudnicki, M.

CASE STUDY # 5
Avoid redundancy in pathway diagrams and choose the most minimal and effective data encodings.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
ATAC-Seq reveals differential chromatin landscape in dystrophin-deficient muscle stem cells. Saber, J. & Rudnicki, M.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.6 · Molecular regulation of satellite cell fate switching. Feige, P. et al.

CASE STUDY # 6
Avoid dense and ink-heavy layouts—space not only helps the reader catch a breath but powerfully establishes the boundaries between stories.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Molecular regulation of satellite cell fate switching. Feige, P. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.7 · Advanced age impairs self-renewal and biases fate choice of hair follicle dermal stem cells. Shin, W. et al.

CASE STUDY # 7
No pie charts.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Advanced age impairs self-renewal and biases fate choice of hair follicle dermal stem cells. Shin, W. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.8 · The role of mitochondrial OPA1 in satellite stem cell function and skeletal muscle regeneration. Baker, N. et al.

CASE STUDY # 8
No colored boxes.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
The role of mitochondrial OPA1 in satellite stem cell function and skeletal muscle regeneration. Baker, N. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.9 · In vitro matured ESC-derived cardiomycytes electrically couple and form improved intra-cardiac grafts in injured guinea pig hearts. Dhahri, W. et al.

CASE STUDY # 9
Pad text with sufficient space between and within columns.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
In vitro matured ESC-derived cardiomycytes electrically couple and form improved intra-cardiac grafts in injured guinea pig hearts. Dhahri, W. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.10 · The use of liquid epoxy as a corrosion-resistant pipeline field joint coating for three-layer polyolefin mainline coating. Azimi, Y. et al.

CASE STUDY # 10
Combine figures that share an axis into a single panel.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
The use of liquid epoxy as a corrosion-resistant pipeline field joint coating for three-layer polyolefin mainline coating. Azimi, Y. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.11 · Wireless respiratory effort and body position monitoring system. Ezequiel, J. et al.

CASE STUDY # 11
Use the full extent of the canvas for detailed data plots.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Wireless respiratory effort and body position monitoring system. Ezequiel, J. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.12 · Role of saltbush on free range layer farms. de Koning, C. & Singh, M.

CASE STUDY # 12
Use titles that are explanations.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Role of saltbush on free range layer farms. de Koning, C. & Singh, M.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.13 · Feed refusal of laying hens — a case report. Ruhnke, I. et al.

CASE STUDY # 13
Turn tables into graphics.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Feed refusal of laying hens — a case report. Ruhnke, I. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.14 · Ascaridia galli infection lowers egg production and mass but not quality. Sharma, N. et al.

CASE STUDY # 14
Illustrate experimental design.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Ascaridia galli infection lowers egg production and mass but not quality. Sharma, N. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.15 · Are poultry exhibitors at risk of Avian influenza introduction? Hernandez-Jover, M. et al.

CASE STUDY # 15
Give attention to the layout of complex experimental or computational protocols.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Are poultry exhibitors at risk of Avian influenza introduction? Hernandez-Jover, M. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.16 · Temperature distribution in Lake Kilpisjärvi, Finland. Graves, K.

CASE STUDY # 16
Tell the story in a series of episodes.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Temperature distribution in Lake Kilpisjärvi, Finland. Graves, K.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.17 · TET2/3-dependence of vitamin C-induced epigenomic alterations in acute myeloid leukemia. Wong, J. et al.

CASE STUDY # 17
Relieve density.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
TET2/3-dependence of vitamin C-induced epigenomic alterations in acute myeloid leukemia. Wong, J. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.18 · Childcare provider characteristics and structural support are key drivers in implementing active play standards in child care. Buckler, E.J. et al.

CASE STUDY # 18
You don't need figures to communicate effectively.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Childcare provider characteristics and structural support are key drivers in implementing active play standards in child care. Buckler, E.J. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.19 · Examining school hour diet quality among Canadian children. Tugault-Lafleur, C.N. et al.

CASE STUDY # 19
Seek contrast.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Examining school hour diet quality among Canadian children. Tugault-Lafleur, C.N. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.20 · Qualitative and quantitative Cdk control of the budding yeast cell cycle. Ercan, D.P. & Uhlmann, F.

CASE STUDY # 20
Establish themes.

Published in Sci Adv (2021) Jun 4;7(23).

Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Qualitative and quantitative Cdk control of the budding yeast cell cycle. Ercan, D.P. & Uhlmann, F.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
A closer look.

3.21 · Engineering a specific antibody for Usutu virus. Schoenenwald, A.K. & Skern, T.

CASE STUDY # 21
Place paragraphs on a grid.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Engineering a specific antibody for Usutu virus. Schoenenwald, A.K. & Skern, T.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
A closer look.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
A closer look.

3.22 · Structural studies of the putative ergosterol transporter NCR1. Winkler, M.B.L. et al.

CASE STUDY # 22
Make visual stories large and structure layout around them.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Structural studies of the putative ergosterol transporter NCR1. Winkler, M.B.L. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.23 · Phenylalanine hydroxylase regulation in health and disease. Flydal. M.I. et al.

CASE STUDY # 23
Leave room for figures.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Phenylalanine hydroxylase regulation in health and disease. Flydal. M.I. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.24 · Microstructural analysis of the protein-DNA interactions at the emergence of the spontaneous point mutations in DNA. Brovarets' O.O. & Hovorun D.M.

CASE STUDY # 24
Align all related structures and distinguish foreground and background in figures with distinct elements.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Microstructural analysis of the protein-DNA interactions at the emergence of the spontaneous point mutations in DNA. Brovarets' O.O. & Hovorun D.M.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
A closer look.

3.25 · Sequence determinants of secondary nucleation. Kalyani, S. et al.

CASE STUDY # 25
Do not be bullied by text, axes or boxes. Layout diagrams and plots first before placing text.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Sequence determinants of secondary nucleation. Kalyani, S. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.26 · Real-time imaging of live cell membrane using laser trapping, reflectance confocal microscopy, and multiphoton fluorescence microscopy. Tian, Y. et al.

CASE STUDY # 26
Do not set type too losely.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Real-time imaging of live cell membrane using laser trapping, reflectance confocal microscopy, and multiphoton fluorescence microscopy. Tian, Y. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.27 · Characterization of alternative 3'UTR mRNA polyadenylation site-selection in human cancer. Tortora, D. et al.

CASE STUDY # 27
Guidelines.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Characterization of alternative 3'UTR mRNA polyadenylation site-selection in human cancer. Tortora, D. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.28 · Phenotype-driven analysis of human phosphoproteomes. Needham, E.J. et al.

CASE STUDY # 28
Identify the main theme and assign it to a color.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Phenotype-driven analysis of human phosphoproteomes. Needham, E.J. et al.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

3.29 · Are butterfly communities becoming more generalist? Lewthwaite, J. & Moores, A.Ø.

CASE STUDY # 29
White background.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Are butterfly communities becoming more generalist? Lewthwaite, J. & Moores, A.Ø.
Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Redesign.

news + thoughts

Beyond Belief Campaign BRCA Art

Wed 11-06-2025

Fuelled by philanthropy, findings into the workings of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have led to groundbreaking research and lifesaving innovations to care for families facing cancer.

This set of 100 one-of-a-kind prints explore the structure of these genes. Each artwork is unique — if you put them all together, you get the full sequence of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 proteins.

Propensity score weighting

Mon 17-03-2025

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. —Mr. Spock (Star Trek II)

This month, we explore a related and powerful technique to address bias: propensity score weighting (PSW), which applies weights to each subject instead of matching (or discarding) them.

Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Nature Methods Points of Significance column: Propensity score weighting. (read)

Kurz, C.F., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2025) Points of significance: Propensity score weighting. Nat. Methods 22:1–3.

Happy 2025 π Day—
TTCAGT: a sequence of digits

Thu 13-03-2025

Celebrate π Day (March 14th) and sequence digits like its 1999. Let's call some peaks.

Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
2025 π DAY | TTCAGT: a sequence of digits. The digits of π are encoded into DNA sequence and visualized with Sanger sequencing. (details)

Crafting 10 Years of Statistics Explanations: Points of Significance

Sun 09-03-2025

I don’t have good luck in the match points. —Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player

Points of Significance is an ongoing series of short articles about statistics in Nature Methods that started in 2013. Its aim is to provide clear explanations of essential concepts in statistics for a nonspecialist audience. The articles favor heuristic explanations and make extensive use of simulated examples and graphical explanations, while maintaining mathematical rigor.

Topics range from basic, but often misunderstood, such as uncertainty and P-values, to relatively advanced, but often neglected, such as the error-in-variables problem and the curse of dimensionality. More recent articles have focused on timely topics such as modeling of epidemics, machine learning, and neural networks.

In this article, we discuss the evolution of topics and details behind some of the story arcs, our approach to crafting statistical explanations and narratives, and our use of figures and numerical simulations as props for building understanding.

Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Crafting 10 Years of Statistics Explanations: Points of Significance. (read)

Altman, N. & Krzywinski, M. (2025) Crafting 10 Years of Statistics Explanations: Points of Significance. Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application 12:69–87.

Propensity score matching

Mon 16-09-2024

I don’t have good luck in the match points. —Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player

In many experimental designs, we need to keep in mind the possibility of confounding variables, which may give rise to bias in the estimate of the treatment effect.

Martin Krzywinski @MKrzywinski mkweb.bcgsc.ca
Nature Methods Points of Significance column: Propensity score matching. (read)

If the control and experimental groups aren't matched (or, roughly, similar enough), this bias can arise.

Sometimes this can be dealt with by randomizing, which on average can balance this effect out. When randomization is not possible, propensity score matching is an excellent strategy to match control and experimental groups.

Kurz, C.F., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2024) Points of significance: Propensity score matching. Nat. Methods 21:1770–1772.

Martin Krzywinski | contact | Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences CentrePHSA
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