Published
May 30, 2024
Updated
May 30, 2024

Auto-Generating Posters from Documents with AI: PostDoc

PostDoc: Generating Poster from a Long Multimodal Document Using Deep Submodular Optimization
By
Vijay Jaisankar|Sambaran Bandyopadhyay|Kalp Vyas|Varre Chaitanya|Shwetha Somasundaram

Summary

Creating a poster from a lengthy document can be a tedious task. Imagine having an AI assistant that could automatically summarize the key information and design a visually appealing poster for you. Researchers have developed a novel approach called PostDoc that does just that. PostDoc transforms long, multimodal documents (containing text and images) into concise, attractive posters. The challenge lies in selecting the most relevant content while maintaining visual appeal and a coherent narrative. PostDoc tackles this by using a "deep submodular function." This function is trained to identify the most important parts of the document, ensuring good coverage of topics, diversity of information, and alignment between text and images. Once the key content is extracted, PostDoc uses a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT to rephrase the text into a poster-friendly format. What sets PostDoc apart is its ability to generate a suitable template with design elements like fonts, colors, and layout, all based on the extracted content. The system considers factors like content length and image placement to create a balanced and aesthetically pleasing design. Experiments show that PostDoc outperforms other methods in terms of content quality and design, while also being significantly faster. Human evaluations confirm that PostDoc creates posters that are both informative and visually appealing. While PostDoc currently excels with natural images and text, future improvements will focus on handling more complex visuals like charts and tables, making it an even more powerful tool for researchers and anyone looking to create professional posters effortlessly.
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Question & Answers

How does PostDoc's deep submodular function work to select content for poster generation?
PostDoc's deep submodular function is an AI-driven selection mechanism that optimizes content extraction from documents. It works by simultaneously evaluating three key criteria: topic coverage, information diversity, and text-image alignment. The process involves: 1) Analyzing the document structure to identify main topics and themes, 2) Scoring content segments based on their importance and representativeness, 3) Ensuring selected content maintains narrative coherence while maximizing information diversity. For example, when creating a research poster, it might select the key methodology paragraph, significant results, and corresponding images while avoiding redundant information.
What are the main benefits of using AI-powered poster generation tools?
AI-powered poster generation tools offer significant time-saving and quality improvements for professionals and students. These tools automatically transform complex documents into visually appealing posters by extracting key information and applying professional design principles. The main benefits include: reduced manual effort in content summarization, consistent and professional design aesthetics, and rapid iteration capabilities. For instance, researchers can quickly generate conference posters from their papers, while marketing teams can create engaging promotional materials from lengthy reports without extensive design experience.
How is AI changing the way we create visual content for presentations?
AI is revolutionizing visual content creation by automating and enhancing the design process. Modern AI tools can understand context, select relevant information, and apply design principles automatically. This transformation makes professional-quality visual content accessible to everyone, not just designers. The technology helps in multiple ways: automatic layout optimization, smart content summarization, and consistent styling. Common applications include creating presentation slides, infographics, and posters for various purposes like academic conferences, business presentations, or marketing materials. This democratization of design helps organizations save time and resources while maintaining professional standards.

PromptLayer Features

  1. Workflow Management
  2. PostDoc's multi-step process of content extraction, summarization, and template generation aligns with workflow orchestration needs
Implementation Details
Create reusable templates for each processing stage (extraction, summarization, design), track versions of prompt chains, implement validation checks between stages
Key Benefits
• Reproducible poster generation pipeline • Easier debugging of multi-stage process • Version control for different document types
Potential Improvements
• Add branching logic for different document formats • Implement failure recovery mechanisms • Create specialized templates for academic vs business posters
Business Value
Efficiency Gains
Reduces manual coordination between processing stages by 70%
Cost Savings
Decreases development time through reusable templates
Quality Improvement
Ensures consistent output quality through standardized workflows
  1. Testing & Evaluation
  2. PostDoc's need to evaluate content selection and design quality matches testing infrastructure requirements
Implementation Details
Set up A/B testing for different summarization approaches, create evaluation metrics for design quality, implement regression testing for template generation
Key Benefits
• Quantifiable quality metrics • Systematic comparison of different approaches • Early detection of degradation in output quality
Potential Improvements
• Add automated visual quality assessment • Implement user feedback collection • Create specialized test suites for different document types
Business Value
Efficiency Gains
Reduces manual quality assessment time by 60%
Cost Savings
Minimizes rework through early error detection
Quality Improvement
Ensures consistent high-quality output through systematic testing

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