Without getting lost in minutia, you can make your presentations better with a few simple tips.
1. Start Blank
PowerPoint, Keynote, OpenOffice — regardless of the presentation software you use, it will come with a bunch of stock templates. Ignore them all, and open up a totally blank document.
Selecting a blank template will reduce a number of color contrast issues, and it will offer you the fewest constraints that may guide you into bad habits.
2. Grays Increase Readability.
Projected images can create all sorts of eye strain. A bright white background can be difficult on your eyes as can white text on a black background. Instead, if you want a light background, set it to a very light gray instead of white. When projected, you will still see the background as white without as much eye strain.
In contrast, light gray against dark gray or black will be more readable than white on black.
3. Prefer Quality Fonts and Images
Don’t go crazy here, but simply moving away from Cambria, Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman, and Helvetica will give your presentation a fresher look. My current g0-to fonts have been Avenir Next or Futura for sans serif and Garamond or Hoefler Text for serif.
By and large, free fonts will not serve you well. Beautiful Web Type, however, showcases some very nice typefaces available through Google Fonts.
For imagery, Clip Art is one of the best ways to make sure people won’t take your presentation seriously. Also, including low resolution images you find in a Google Image Search will make your presentation look less professional. Fortunately, the are a number of image resources for presenters on a budget.
Here are some of my favorites:
4. Go Big
Use big pictures and big text. Your text size should be a minimum of 36 points. If you can’t fit everything you want onto your slide at that size or larger, it’s time to create a new slide.
Keep your images big and clear. If you are using high resolution images, you shouldn’t notice any quality problems. Keep the aspect ratio in mind, and avoid stretching your pictures one way of the other.
5. Respect Negative Space
You don’t have to fill every inch of the slide. In fact, your presentation will be a calmer experience if you allow for blank space.
There you have it. Avoid stock templates. Use grays to your advantage for readability and reducing eye strain. Choose better quality typefaces and images. Keep things big, and allow for negative space on your slides. Keep those in mind, and you will have a good foundation for creating better slide presentations in the future.
Filed under: Design Tagged: backgrounds, color, design, font use, text, themes, visuals
