Tri Folds will be available to buy on the Orientation day. One Tri Fold costs $3.50.
Arranging the content on Tri-Fold
1. Create a standout title. Your title should be descriptive, memorable, and legible. Sum up your experiment in bold or clear words and easy-to-read lettering. This is where pre-cut poster letters or alphabet stickers work great. Make the title large enough to be clearly visible across the room. For example, a project about creating geodes in eggshells could be titled Geode “Eggs”periment. Brainstorm a few catchy title ideas and pick the best one from your list.
2. Keep all lines straight. When cutting out content to be added to your board, you want to make sure that all of your cuts are straight. With the help of an adult, use a paper cutter or other straight edge to ensure nice, clean lines across your display board. If using scissors, draw a straight line across the back of what you’re cutting out and follow it very carefully.
3. Add pictures, charts, and graphs. Visual aids are important to your display board because they help tell your story and break up blocks of text. Add pictures of you performing your experiments, taking observations, and graphs of your data. Keep in mind, too many visual aids can be confusing without enough text to explain what was done.Avoid having more than 50% of your board in graphics. Add pictures to break up the text and make the poster more attractive to look at. Use relevant images.Don’t add pictures that have nothing to do with your experiment just because they look nice.
4. Use the right font sizes. Different elements of your board will need to be printed in varying font sizes. The title needs to be the largest and viewable from atleast halfway across a room. Headings and subheadings should be readable from a few feet away and the explanatory text underneath needs to be easily readable standing in front of the board. If you use fonts that are too small, it’s more difficult for a viewer to read and they might not bother looking through everything. Keep the font size and type consistent for headings, subheadings, and text.
5. Layout the content so that it flows well. Make sure your content is posted onto the board in a logical fashion that flows well.
Keep the hypothesis, purpose, and supporting literature on the left sidepanel,
theexperimental methods, observations, and data in the middle
theresults, analysis, and conclusion on the right side panel.
You can rearrange this format as you see fit, just make sure unrelated sections aren’t pasted next to each other. Avoid giant blocks of text, using bullet points and dashes where possible. (Check the Trifold example on wepta.org under 'science fair')
6. If possible print all the text instead of writing it by hand.
Tri- Fold Design Tips
1. Decide on a theme. This theme can help in choosing your poster’s design, color, and lettering. If your experiment addresses temperature, you could choose orange and blue or red and blue as your color theme to represent hot and cold. A tri-fold about space could be mounted on a black or blue background. These colors could be used in your lettering, borders, or poster board. Choose a color scheme with complementary, muted colors so as not to overwhelm the reader. Color is nice, but it’s easy to overdo it if you use neon colors that are difficult to read.
2. Choose a border. If your tri-fold has too much white space on the outer edges, you can add poster borders. This is another great way to keep with the theme of your project and give your poster a finished look. Keep in mind your theme when choosing border colors or designs. For example, a project about the solar system could have a border of planets or stars.
3. Mount printed information and pictures. Your important information and hard work will stand out when mounted on colored paper. You can also cut the colored paper with decorative edge scissors for an instant design. Use a straight-edge papercutter (with adult assistance) to get clean lines for the background paper. You can mount the content in the middle of the background paper or have the paper slightly offset to one side.
This is your chance to get creative. Don’t overdo it, but add simple elements that add to the overall presentation looks great!