INANE Conference: Tuesday AM 8/5/25
Speaker: Mike Morrison, PhD
Abstract: Scientists are taught that scientific articles must look like two columns of tiny font, written in a formal tone, with cluttered, static graphs. And that scientific posters must be 4-foot walls of text that mirror the article. And that our presentations must all use the school’s branded template to look professional. And yet, scientifically, none of those common practices are the best practice. Dr. Morrison speaks about the science of how science should be communicated for maximum engagement and learning, including tips for those who still need to follow the traditional rules, and for those who are ready to break them.
Summary:
Dr. Morrison joined us via Zoom from Hong Kong!
- Dr. Morrison obtained his PhD in organizational psychology from Michigan State University
- His passion is focusing his hybrid skillset (work psychology, tech, and design) on improving the workflows of scientists and scientific organizations.
- Dr. Morrison founded ScienceUX journal to publish research on applying UX design to science to improve scientists’ tools and efficiency. He has 8 thousand subscribers on his YouTube page.
“You only have 4-6 seconds to punch something into someone’s brain.” ~Dr. Morrison Morrison
- The goal today is to give us some design skills to help us convince others that our research is worth learning about when we present it visually, for example, in a poster presentation
- He uses a software called EyeQuant to determine the eye tracking on different visuals, which allows you to tell what is good design and what is bad design.
- Design is not just making things look pretty; there is a science to it. You can actually use science to determine where people are going to look when looking at your poster.
1. Pop Out Effect
People look at things that are different than things that are the same. Use that to your advantage.
- You can use this in data visualization to help tell your “main story” of your graphic
- Use color, size, position (move things to the center), human faces, and contrast (with background color or blurring) to make things “pop out” in your poster. These things direct our attention.
Bottom line: make your posters look DIFFERENT than anyone else’s. That takes bravery!
2. Visual Hierarchy
- This is a bit more advanced than the pop-out effect.
- You can use the science of “visual hierarchy” to literally direct people’s eyeballs through your poster in the “right” order that you want
- You want people to read the important things in the proper order and get out of it what you want them to.
- Everything on a “visual hierarchy” competes with each other (like color, contrast, size, etc) so you have keep that in mind when you design
- Consider even adding your own face to your poster, like a movie poster!
- Consider “speaking in headlines”. A “headline” title like: “Text Analysis can predict social conflict in teams” instead of a more traditional title.
3. The Future of the Scientific Article
- The structure of the scientific article (eg, two columns of text with small, low-resolution figures) hasn’t changed in hundreds of years!
- The future of the scientific article needs to be interactive! Consider using interactive multimedia figures online. Use videos of your experiments!
- Don’t hide your multimedia videos or interactive graphics in the “Supplements” section!
The picture below is actually a video attached to an article in a nature journal. It is such an interesting visual, but it was hidden in “Supplement 3!”
“A lot of you are making gold. And gold should glitter!” ~Dr. Mike Morrison
Question & Answer
Q1: Can you talk about article titles? Should they be engaging questions?
Answer:
- Investigative titles (this is most titles, saying what you are working on
- Question titles (this is like clickbait, avoid this)
- Declarative titles (this is a complete title that states a fact).
- Dr. Morrison prefers declarative titles; he feels they are effective but not abrasive.
Q2: Can you give any advice for podium presentations?
Answer: There are videos on his YouTube page about this topic! He suggests not putting text on slides, only pictures, so that people are not reading your slides while you are talking. Use visual cues on your slides to remind you of what to say, instead of just reading your slides verbatim. Consider doing your entire presentation to just one striking visual.
Q3: Where can we find your “Better Poster” content?
Answer: On his YouTube page!
Q4: Do you have tips for people with colorblindness?
Answer: This is an important concern. Dr. Morrison studied how people with different disabilities navigate things like poster presentations. The conference poster design that was found to be the most accessible for people with different disabilities is actually his “Better Poster” design (big takeaway in the middle of the poster). However, some people’s needs are opposite to others, so we are still working on this topic. Maybe the answer is in size and not so much color or contrast. But more work needs to be done in this area.
Q5: Related to podium or PowerPoint presentations, I have heard that every slide should have just one message. How do you overcome the challenge of delivering the key content without stuffing every slide with lots of information.
Answer: We usually think about “communicating” science in text, like writing reports. We spend 2 weeks writing reports and then we slap a stock photo on it. We need to spend 2 weeks on the visual! Try to invest in your visuals at least as much as your text. That might be controversial but he stands by it. Also, ignore people who tell you you can only use X number of slides. They are thinking of the old way where people read each slide. They are basically just telling you not to take to long. But if your slides are all pictures, you can have more than that!
Q6: How do we, as editors, help our authors change their printed content to facilitate helping people with color blindness, besides just using the color wheel.
Answer: The top requested disability accommodation requested at conferences is to take the media home with them. So they can blow it up, look at it on their own device, replay with closed captions, etc. As far as colorblindness, don’t just rely on color. Instead of making a graphic where red is bad and green is good…make the “bad” not only red, but also “jaggedy” and the good as green and “smooth”. You also need to consider if your content can be read by a “machine” so that accommodations that require technology can be used to “read” your content.
Q7: How can we, as a people that create posters and conference guidelines and templates for those conferences, as well as patient education, incorporate this into our entire profession?
Answer: This is too complex a question to answer briefly. But “be the change you want to see in the world” and engage your leaders. Tenured professors have to be the ones to buck the trends that aren’t working!
Check out this video of Dr. Morrison on YouTube:
Your INANE 2025 reporter is Melissa Anne DuBois, BSN, RNC-OB, PhD Student.
Content for this post was obtained from the INANE 2025 website, the conference guidebook, internet searches, speaker submitted bios, and live reporting from each session. Any errors in content are purely accidental and not intended to offend. If you notice an error you would like corrected, please contact Melissa Anne at melissadubois2 at gmail dot com and she will be happy to make corrections.