PowerPoint Design Principles

What is PowerPoint? PowerPoint is a multi-media presentation tool. It helps make abstract concepts concrete. The text is an outline of the presentation The multi-media elements enhance your presentation by appealing to the senses, emotions, and thereby the intellect.

The Power in PowerPoint An effective presentation starts with good content. That content’s effectiveness is enhanced by the elegant use of design principles. Balance/Proportion Uniformity/Consistency in design Contrast Flow

Good Layout and Design Balance – text and graphics Clear relationship between text and graphics Similar/appropriate sized graphics to balance text Graphics need to be similar in style Uniformity - Place text and graphics in similar locations Graphics placed on the left helps to lead the eye to the text. Introduce graphics and text in the same order

Good Layout and Design Contrast - Choose contrasting colors for the foreground and background This is poor contrast This is good contrast Flow – A slide has directionality Left to right Top to bottom Graphics have direction and should face the center of the slide.

Place dominant elements where lines intersect.

Text Size Projected text should be large enough to be read by all viewers (even the people in the back of the room). This is 32 point, clearly legible. Anything smaller (28), becomes more (24 point), and more (20 point), and more (16 point), difficult to read. When you get down to 14 point and even 12 point, it’s very difficult to read. For playback on an individual’s computer, small font is ok, but for presentations using a projector, small fonts will be lost.

172 Text Size 32 point text is recommended. (This is font size 172) 24 point is a minimum for most situations.

Text: Upper and Lower Case Use a combination of Upper Case and Lower Case letters. This combination is easier to read THAN ALL UPPERCASE LETTERS.

Font Styles Choose “Sans serif” fonts, such as: Arial, Comic Sans MS, Microsoft Sans Serif, Tahoma, Verdana, Trebuchet MS “Serif” fonts, such as Times New Roman may be more difficult to read when projected or used on the web.

For Example . . . This is Arial, size 32. This is Times New Roman, size 32.

Bullets Do not center bullet points, It makes the text ragged And hard to read and follow with your eyes.

More on Bullets . . . Generally, left justify bullets. This keeps things neat . . . and easy to follow.

Contrast: Drop Shadow Text Use of a “drop shadow” increases the contrast for text and objects. This is without drop shadow……. This is with a drop shadow . . . . .

Contrast is Important For Paper For Projection Dark text on a light background For Projection Light text on a semi-dark background The eye is attracted to light

Backgrounds Stick with a single background The background is the stage for information. Set the stage and leave it alone.

Color The least predictable element of a presentation’s final appearance is COLOR Colors will look differently when viewed with different monitors and projectors.

Content: Pacing Avoid overloading a slide You wouldn’t eat a whole cake in one sitting. Instead, find a logical break and create a new slide.

Too Much of a Good Thing! One of the most common mistakes in creating a presentation is to place too much information on the screen. This can cause the reader to become distracted from the speaker . . . Just like you are now. Audiences are much more receptive to the spoken word.

Using Multi-Media Elements Photos Sound Graphics Animation Video Hyperlinks

Animation Animation Helps focus The reader’s Attention!

Animation But too much is Toooooooooooooo MUCH And can Be distracting!!!

Sound Like animation, sound can enhance Or detract Depending on how it’s used.

A Picture . . .

. . . is worth . . .

. . a thousand words. Images are Powerful!

Graphics Graphics can help communicate . . . . . . or entertain!

Basic Rules for Graphics Place graphics off-center More room for text Better balance More pleasing to the eye Left placement leads the eye to text.

Charts Your Audience Graphs and charts help illustrate your content. Used wisely, graphics will add power.

Video Video can be played within PowerPoint Playback requires a fairly fast playback with A/V capabilities.

Hyperlinks Hyperlinks can be used to launch a variety of files, including: Documents (Word, Excel, and others) Other PowerPoint presentations or slides in the same presentation Web Sites and E-Mail

Conclusion Focus on Content Appeal to the emotions and intellect Use sound design principles Have Fun!