10 Tips for Designing Presentations

8/14/2019 10 Tips for Designing Presentations

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10 Tips for DesigningPresentations That Dont Suck:

Pt.1WRITTEN BY JOSHUA JOHNSON , PUBLISHED ON 3RD SEPTEMBER 2010.FILED IN GRAPHICS .

Powerpoint has produced more bad design in its day that perhaps any other digitaltool in history with the possible exception of Microsoft paint.

In this post were going to address the epidemic of bad presentation design withten super practical tips for designer better looking and more professionalpresentations. Along the way well see a number of awesome slide designs fromNote & Point along with some custom examples built by yours truly. Lets getstarted!

Not a Designer?Most of the content on this site is targeted specifically towards professional

designers and developers, or at the very least those interested in getting started inthis field. This post however, is for everyone that has ever created apresentation. Whether youre a student, the leader of a self -help group, or acorporate executive pulling in six figures, the second you open up Powerpoint orKeynote, you become a designer whether you like it or not.

Youve chosen a visual tool to communicate and should therefore take the time tolearn a thing or two about visual communications. One of the major reasons for
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this, especially for people in the professional business world, is that yourcolleagues will subconsciously make judgements about you based on the visualappeal of your presentation.

Follow the ten tips below and see if you dont start getting comments about your

awesome presentation design skills. Just watch out, if your co-workers notice yougetting good at it theyre likely to start asking for to help with theirs!

#1 Dont Use a Built -In ThemeTo illustrate this idea I opened up Powerpoint, grabbed an actual default theme atrandom and threw some type on it. This workflow is nearly identical to that ofcountless presentation designers and the result is a typical presentation slide thatIve seen countless times throughout college and my career.

Heres a design secret, this slide sucks ; as do many of the default themes youllfind in Powerpoint. Granted, theyve definitely improved the offering in recent yearsand Keynote (Apples presentation software) has some awesome templates, butyou shouldnt view these as the go -to method but rather a last resort if you need tocreate a presentation in record time.

The point here is that something custom makes a much stronger statement. Yourcolleagues k now and use the templates in Powerpoint and theyll recognizeimmediately that you didnt put any work into the aesthetics of the slides.

I know for non-designers leaving behind templates may seem a bit radical, but youcan do it! Just be sure to read the other tips below before striking out on your own.
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Otherwise you might end up with something much worse that even the Microsoftdesigners could come up with (and thats saying something).

#2 Use Quality PhotographyPhotography is one of the single best ways to make your presentation lookawesome. Its also one of the single best ways to make it lame. The businesspeople on white background look is nice, but its overdone and tends to look a bitstock art-ish or flat out cliche.

Further, just because a pi cture is on a white background doesnt mean its a goodphoto. Stop using ugly or awkward photography just to have something to put onthe slide. Remember that no photo is better than a bad photo.

As an example, compare the slide above with the one below. See the difference?The image in the slide below is unique, attractive, and void of cliches. Dont getstuck in a pattern of using cheesy stock art when you can nab free high qualityphotos that make a much stronger visual statement.
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Finding Free Photos

Where are these amazing photos you say? For starters, check out Stock XCHNG , a free stock photography website with tons of content (good and bad). Also, did

you know you can run a Flickr Search using only creative commons licensedcontent? These photos are free to use and many only require attribution, which cancome in the form of a simple slide thrown in at the end of your presentation with alink to the photo sources.
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As an example, the photo above is from Lauren Tucker , and is a Flickr CreativeCommons item.

#3 Solid Colors RockYou dont always need a fancy photo or crazy custom background to make apresentation look professional. Using a strong palette of solid colors can make foran awesome presentation.
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The slide above is a perfect example of using very plain design and little effort tocreate something that actually l ooks really nice. Whether youre a designer or not,you could make this right?

The key here is to be very cautious about your color choice. Something too brightbright and fun will blow the audiences eyes out. Also make sure to use plenty ofcontrast in your secondary color. A crash course in color theory will go a long way.

If you need help building color palettes, check out the free tools below.

Kuler

Kuler is the quintessential online color tool. Choose from thousands of awesomepre-built color schemes or generate your own with advanced but user-friendlytools.
http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htmhttp://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htmhttp://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htmhttp://kuler.adobe.com/http://noteandpoint.com/2010/06/up-to-speed-on-html-5-and-css-3-2/http://kuler.adobe.com/http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm


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Piknik Piknik is one of the most basic color tools on the planet and definitely one of myfavorites. Simply move your mouse around to change the color, scroll to changethe luminosity and click to copy the values to your clipboard.

I use this daily when building websites to get a feel for what a color will look likewhen it covers the whole screen, which makes it perfect for presentation slides aswell.

0to255
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0to255 is another one of my favorites and is an amazing tool for finding variationsof a color. This makes it perfect for hovers and borders in web design but it canalso be great for finding an accent color for typography or other elements in apresentation.

#4 Typography Speaks VolumesNon-designers frequently stress out about finding the proper typeface for apresentation, and for good reason. The right font can me make or break your

presentation. Typography is a major art form in the design world and it can reallyset the stage for what you want to say.
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Remember that typefaces can communicate a mood, a point in time, or anynumber of other factors. Instead of browsing your font list and looking forsomething cool, instead think about the message you want to convey.

Consider the fonts below as an example of how typography can communicate justby virtue of its design. Old style serif fonts tend to fee formal and professional while

sans-serif fonts feel modern and clean.
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The biggest mistake that people make with fonts in presentations is assumingthat the first three font styles listed above are boring. This causes them to jump tosomething like the font on the bottom because it feels more unique and interesting.

If youre not a professional designer, remember that the first three styles abovearent boring, theyre safe. Theyre great looking typefaces that have been

professionally designed to make you look good and thats exactly what they do.

Never be afraid of standard-looking fonts. Using them can help ensure that yourdesign remains inside the realm of clean and professional and away from clutteredand ugly. Notice how the slide below uses relatively boring fonts but varies thesize and weight to add visual interest and create something that is ultimately quitenon-boring.


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As the image above illustrates, one great trick for using crazy fonts is to onlyimplement them in a headline while leaving the rest of the text plain. When youhave too much of a complicated font or start mixing complex styles, what you get isan impossible to read mess. Above weve left most of our messaging in a typefacethat you can actually read while still bringing plenty of awesomeness to the pagewith the headline.

#5 Watch Your ReadabilityWhile were on the subject of typography, you should always be aware of howreadable the type is in your presentations. Sometimes the amazing photography tipfrom #2 will leave you in a situation like the one below.


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Here we have a really captivating ima ge, but its wreaking havoc on the readabilityof our text. Even if we make the text bold and try different color variations, it stillcomes up short. This can be immensely frustrating to new designers.

The solution however is quite simple: use tip #3 (solid colors rock). By creating asimple color bar behind the text we increase the readability by leaps and boundsand still maintain a stylish looking slide.
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This is an extremely common tactic carried out in a number of different ways.Check out the examples below for some inspiration.

Skinny Bar

Fat Bar
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Paper Scraps
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#6 Simpler is Better

This is a major stumbling block for non-designers. The problem stems from a basicmisunderstanding of what a presentation slide should be. In most cases, the slide should not

be the ultimate source of content and information. Instead, the speaker is what makes the presentation valuable. The speaker should provide the vast majority of the content,information, insight, bad jokes, etc.

After all, if the presentation slides contain all the information begin conveyed, then whywould the audience even need a speaker? You could just provide everyone with a downloadlink and bid them a good day.

Ive seen far too many people give presentations with slides that look like the one below:

You might think Im being facetious with my design but trust me Ive seen sli des that werefar worse. Presentation slides are not to be confused with magazines. You cant cram thismuch content onto a slide without completely losing the functionality. Even if you organizeall of the information nicely and create a beautiful slide, youve still missed the mark.

Again, remember that your speech is the reason youre up in front of people. The presentation should serve as a drastically simplified visual aid that, when flipped through,would present a rough outline of your speech.


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Use your slides to grab and hold the audiences attention through attractive visuals. Peopleget bored easily listening to speeches and having something pretty to look at helps us focus.

Keeping your slide contents simple also discourages you from simply reading your speechfrom the slide. Its a cliche example but I have in fact seen multiple presenters place every

word of their speech on the slide and then simply read it off. As boring as normal speechesare, hearing someone read to you for twenty minutes is even worse!

Notice how the slide below pulls you in with an incomplete statement. The graphic nodoubt reinforces the answer but we wont know unless we actually listen to the speech tosee what the answer is! This is an excellent example of using a slide as a visual aid thatstrengthens your presentation rather than serving as a giant printout of your speech.


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#7 Avoid the Bullet Point Plague

Several presenters have become aware of the reading from your slide problem and pompously proclaim that they just cant stand it when people do such a thing, which is whythey use bullet points.

Bullet points are magical (marketing folks freaking love bullet points). They are a greatway to say everything you need to say in a convenient list form. All of the most complexideas ever composed by mankind can be placed into a bulleted list and even the dullest ofindividuals will suddenly see the light right? Not quite.

Bullet points are in fact a great tool to convey the most important parts of your speech. Itsa familiar format that clearly separates ideas and is easy to digest. So whats the problem?
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The problem is that, like any good tool, bullet points can be abused. Presenters often getcarried away and begin to repeat the mistakes of the previous tip only in bullet form.

Placing forty-two points on a single slide is exactly like using multiple paragraphs; doingso kills the usefulness of the slide. Remember that bullet points are supposed to convey theimportant information. To do that effectively you must actually make a decision on whatyou think is important vs. what should just be left to the speech.

Check out how the slide below uses three bullet points to convey factual statistics. Numbersare particularly hard to take in and remember unless you see it written down so using theseas bullet points is a great place to start.


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Keep it simple and remember that even the bullets dont have to be self -explanatory. Again,thats what youre there for.

#8 Create Clear Focal Points

No matter what youre designing, its important to consider how you want to direct theviewers attention. Dont leave it up to chance, instead structure the experience in the waythat you believe best facilitates the message.

Notice how the slide below used color to direct your attention to specific areas. The wordsin yellow stand out considerably from the rest of the content and therefore tend to drawyour attention more.
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With text you can use color, size, typeface style or boldness to create clear focal points.Keep in mind that its a good idea to have one primary focal point (like the word shareabove) followed up by one or two secondary focal points that arent quite as strong.

Note that text isnt the only way to create strong focal points. Photographs and illustrationsare also great ways to bring the viewers attention to a given area. Notice how the childseyes in the slide below really catch your attention and then gradually bring you down theheadline as you move on.
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For more information on designing with faces, check out our complete guide.

Ultimately, remember that the lack of clear focal points can cause a viewer to quickly loseinterest. When something is designed well it gives people a clear idea of where you wantthem to look, even if only on a subconscious level.

#9 Create a Captivating Cover

The cover slide is often either skipped entirely or shown for only a second in many presentations. However, a good cover design is a great way to set the tone for the entire presentation.

Until that slide is shown, the audience has no idea what to expect from your visual aid.Creating a beautiful cover and leaving it up while you introduce yourself and your speechcan really start things off on a positive note and give the audience a psychological heads upto pay attention because theyre about to see some awesome s lides.

Creating an attractive cover also provides you with the start of a visual theme that you cancarry on throughout the rest of the presentation. This helps the presentation seem cohesiveand professionally done rather than the random and scattered feel of seeing a completelydifferent design on every slide.

As an example, check out the beautiful cover design above by Fabio Sasso at Abduzeedoand then look at the sample content slide below to see how he applies this dirty grungetheme to the rest of the presentation.
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Its often a good idea to design a cover along with a few different blank content slides thatyou can use throughout the entire presentation. You can then carry out a unified design andsave yourself a lot of design work by having two to three blanks to pull from.

If youre not a designer, then it can be intimidating to try to create a beautiful cover. Inthese circumstances, refer to tips #2 and #4 from part one and let professional photographyin conjunction with simple typography handle all the work for you.

#10 Make em Laugh

Every good speaker knows that one of the single best ways to keep your audience interestedis through the use of humor. Unfortunately, not everyone can make an audience bust a gutlike Bill Cosby or Brian Regan.

Whether you suck at delivering witty one liners or are a natural born comedian, it helpsease the pressure to let your slides handle some or all of the humor. This way you can be

perceived as funny without worrying about screwing up the punch line.
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Again, notice how the example above is effective in setting a lighthearted tone to the presentation even though it is unlikely to actually make anyone actually burst into laughter.

Conclusion

To sum up, lets take a quick look at all ten tips for designing presentations that dont suckfrom both articles.

1. Dont Use a Built -In Theme 2. Use Quality Photography 3. Solid Colors Rock 4. Typography Speaks Volumes 5. Watch Your Readability 6. Simpler is Better 7. Avoid the Bullet Point Plague 8. Create Clear Focal Points 9. Create a Captivating Cover 10. Make em Laugh

I hope youve found these tips practical and easily implementable. Ultimately the goal herewas to show you that you dont necessarily have to be a professional designer to creategreat looking and effective presentations. Leave a comment below if you want to join thediscussion and share your own tips and tricks for better slide design.
http://noteandpoint.com/2010/04/ads-on-edge/

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10 Tips for Designing Presentations

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