Figures in Publications, Posters, Reports and Presentations¶
In most papers and presentations, figures are an afterthought and are poorly executed; many authors just throw in a few photos, graphs, and flowcharts along with a quick caption. This is not what we do at MItHRIL. Figures require significant thought and effort to adequately convey experimental details. Some schools of thought hold that figures should be generated first, with the paper constructed around them; we won't necessarily enforce this, but it could be a good idea to structure your arguments around figures.
Figures should be informative, thoughtful, non-cluttered, and appropriately sized. Captions for figures should be written in full sentences and be as descriptive as possible.
Using Figures that are not Yours¶
Republishing figures that you did not create is generally not acceptable unless you have received the express permission of the creator and copyright holder. If you do have permission, there are usually stipulations you must follow, such as attributing the figure to the creator and noting that it is reproduced with permission in the caption (e.g., "Figure created by John Smith in [3]. Reproduced here with permission."). If you cannot obtain permission, you must create your own figure using the tools available.
Tools¶
PowerPoint: great for creating simple figures and flowcharts that can eventually be converted to PNG or other image files, and for quickly creating and prototyping simple figures.
Inkscape: a free and open-source vector graphics editor, widely used for both artistic and technical illustrations such as cartoons, clip art, logos, typography, diagramming, and flowcharting. It uses vector graphics for sharp printouts and renderings at unlimited resolution, unlike raster graphics. Inkscape uses the standardized SVG format, supported by many other applications including web browsers and LaTeX; SVGs are lossless when scaled up, unlike JPEGs, PNGs, WebP, and GIFs, and vector images are usually much smaller than bitmap-based images. SVGs work well for relatively simple images such as logos, buttons, icons, and nav bars, but are not ideal for images with a lot of detail such as photographs, for which PNG or WebP is usually best.
GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP): similar to Photoshop, except free. A freely distributed program for photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring; it can be used as a simple paint program, an expert-quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, and more. GIMP is expandable and extensible via plug-ins and an advanced scripting interface. Use GIMP for complicated figures involving photos.
Outlined Figures¶
It may be tempting to put photos without any editing into manuscripts; this is usually a mistake, particularly if the manuscript is printed in black and white or the photo is too washed out or dark. Photos can also be too cluttered with details that don't matter (e.g., the faces of participants). One method for ensuring photos only convey the details you want, shown by Chris Parker and referred to here as the outline method:
- Download GIMP photo manipulation software (or similar).
- Open the image you want to outline-ize and set it as the "background" layer.
- Add a new transparent layer on top of it, and trace the outlines of the parts you want to include with the pencil tool, set to your desired thickness (the brush has a "fade" setting; the pencil is easier for this application).
- Check progress periodically by hiding the background layer. Adding two layers on top of the background (one solid white, one transparent, with the white layer between the transparent and background layers) makes this easier: work with the white layer hidden, then make it visible to see your progress. For straight lines, click the first point, hold shift, then click the other end point.
- Once traced, use the fill tool to fill sections with different shades of grey or colour. Save a colour version and a greyscale version. Text and arrows are typically added by importing the figure into a vector graphics program such as Inkscape.
Colour Palettes¶
Colour palettes are a group of colours used throughout a document or presentation, important for creating a uniform look and feel and making figures stand out. Traditionally, most publication venues required a greyscale palette for figures, graphs, and charts for reproducibility by photocopier and black-and-white printer; in the digital age, the use of colour in publications is now widely accepted.
Tools to help choose a colour palette:
An example of using a colour palette for a thesis is Matt's doctoral thesis: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0364493
Branding and Templates¶
| Template and Lockup | Style Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Queen's FEAS | PowerPoint and Word templates featuring the new Queen's Engineering lockup are available at qeng.one/templates. Please use these for your digital documents and PowerPoint presentations going forward. If you have questions about the new university visual identity, please visit the Brand Central website or contact Matt Shepherd, Director of Marketing & Communications at Queen's Engineering. | qeng.one/templates |
| Queen's University | Queen's University has a brand identity that must be followed when using Queen's branding (logos, photos, digital branding assets). | https://www.queensu.ca/brand-central/ |
| Ingenuity Labs | Ingenuity Labs recently (as of March 24, 2023) obtained new branding logos and lockups that must be used if your project is supported through Ingenuity Labs (ask Matt if you aren't sure). If you are giving a presentation at a conference or presenting a poster, select an appropriate logo from the link provided. | Ingenuity Labs SharePoint — Graphics |
| MItHRIL | MItHRIL branding must be used on presentations, posters, videos, etc.; essentially any media that you produce as part of your work. | MItHRIL SharePoint — Branding |
Use of FEAS letterhead
Students are generally not allowed to use FEAS letterheads (the Word templates) for sending formal communications, since they cannot represent the Faculty or the University in formal communications. In fact, you may not have the ability to access these resources unless you are an employee of the University.
Migration note: this page absorbed the former standalone Presentation and Media Resources page (the Branding and Templates section above) as part of a wiki reorganization, since both pages concern preparing polished research outputs. It previously also had content overlapping with the Figures section of Writing a Journal or Conference Paper; that page's Figures section has since been trimmed to a pointer back here, with this page as the canonical source.
