The Golden Guidelines of Presentation Design

2023-09-13 17:45:04

You don’t should be an expert graphic designer to grasp the ins and outs of what makes a visually engaging presentation. Whereas constructing a super-polished template from scratch may appear daunting, all you really want to know are a number of primary rules of presentation design to take your slides from messy and unprofessional to scrub, informative, and on-brand.

As of late, presentation slide templates and instruments abound – from the default choices in Powerpoint and Google Slides, to companies like SlidesCarnival, Canva, Envato and extra specializing in compiling eclectic template choices. Whereas these sources can take the guesswork out of making glossy {and professional} deck designs, it’s nonetheless as much as you to optimize every slide to speak your concepts as clearly as attainable. Moreover, simply because a presentation template seems good, doesn’t essentially imply it suits your model aesthetic and message – and seeing the identical widespread templates reused repeatedly could make yours extra forgettable.

It doesn’t matter what program you employ to construct your displays, there are a number of rules of presentation design it is best to at all times keep in mind.

The Most Vital Rule: Much less is Extra

We’ve all heard this one earlier than, but it’s nonetheless tempting to attempt to cram as a lot info as you may onto a slide. Keep in mind that the main focus ought to at all times stay on the presenter and the story they’re telling – your presentation is an accompaniment that can assist you illustrate the concepts you’re speaking, not a textbook to be studied.

Let’s break down a number of of the best methods to declutter your slides:

Use key phrases, not full sentences
What’s the principle thought for every slide? Attempt to distill it right into a single phrase or quick phrase, slightly than spelling out the entire thought as a sentence. When doubtful, use the 6×6 rule: not more than 6 bullet factors per slide, with lower than 6 phrases per line.
Make the most of white house – stability is your pal!
Afraid that you simply’re losing actual property by not filling each nook of your slide? The attention naturally wants a spot of relaxation, so don’t be afraid of white house. This additionally helps funnel and direct the viewer’s consideration the place you need it to go. Keep away from the temptation to blow your content material as much as fill all of the out there house in your slide. Even when it’s nonetheless only a couple sentences of data, this could make it look overwhelming.

Break up your concepts if wanted
Don’t be shy about spreading out info between a number of slides, and tempo your self! A “title slide” to introduce a brand new matter can present a pleasant (and crucial) breather that balances out the tempo of your presentation, stopping viewers exhaustion.
Use fewer fonts (purpose for two or perhaps 3 max)
Mixing and matching typefaces takes a reasonably well-trained eye, however there are a few helpful sources on the internet to assist: FontJoy and Typ.io will each auto-generate a pairing of fonts that go effectively collectively visually. Different guidelines of thumb: maintain physique copy typefaces easy and sans-serif (utilizing an excessive amount of of a show typeface hurts legibility), use caps lock just for emphasis and visible distinction, and perceive how typefaces may help convey model sentiments.

Select colours and fonts correctly
It’s possible you’ll be designing a presentation for work, during which case you probably have a pair established model colours to make use of all through your presentation.
For those who’re making up a colour scheme from scratch, keep in mind:
(A) Don’t use too many colours. Utilizing too many alternative colours will make the presentation look messy, busy, or incoherent – so concentrate on one or two key, recurring colours that’ll lend a way of cohesion all through all of your slides.

(B) Attempt to get one or two vibrant, saturated colours to energise your presentation with a younger vitality – muted and impartial tones run the danger of boring your viewers or trying overly company.

Create a transparent delineation between essentially the most and the least necessary info. This may be achieved in a number of methods:

Distinction
Don’t let your textual content or different components disappear in a monochromatic fog; up the distinction to make issues pop off the web page.
Background vs. Foreground photos
If you wish to overlay textual content on high of a picture, be certain that to make use of images with copy house and extra refined, uncluttered background components. Can’t discover sufficient white house within the pic to offer your textual content respiratory room? Contemplate including a photograph filter, colour block, or perhaps a mild and extra refined gradient block to place beneath your textual content.
Measurement
Use 30+ pt. textual content sizes to maintain your copy legible even from a distance – and maintain it bolder for titles, headings, and key phrases. Make certain that the dimensions you employ for headings is no less than 50% bigger than the dimensions you’re utilizing for physique textual content to higher name out your principal concepts.
Alignment
One of many single greatest threats to legibility – and your skilled credibility – is a “scattershot” slide with textual content and pictures thrown along with no rhyme or motive. As a substitute of mixing alignments (center-aligned with left-aligned headers or physique copy, for instance), follow left-alignment for fast scanning.
Your finest wager? Use a grid system as a substitute of plopping components on the web page and hoping for the very best. Align comparable components alongside vertical and horizontal strains to offer every slide a way of rhythm and repetition. Tidy groupings of comparable objects (e.g. having all of your headings, descriptions, photos and icons alongside the identical strains) bolsters scannability.

Icons are a crucial part of presentation design, as they assist your viewers digest the concepts you’re protecting faster than phrases alone. In actual fact, research have proven that audiences will keep in mind a picture paired with a verbal cue 55% higher than a verbal cue alone – a phenomenon referred to as the Picture Superiority Effect (and a crucial part of Dual Coding Theory).

Some could even argue that icons can (and will!) take the place of bullet factors.

It’s particularly crucial to usher in visible aids like icons whenever you’re protecting matters which might be extra summary or technologically complicated – think about how a lot phrases on a web page can fall flat and fail to “click on” in your viewers’s minds, vs. bringing in a fast and concise visible that can assist individuals place the important thing concepts in a transparent, real-world context.

Visible cues like this “ship the punchline” in your viewers earlier than you even must – so your concepts can’t solely soar off the web page, however keep in your viewers’s reminiscences for longer.

Nonetheless, you’ll must be sure to’re utilizing your icons as successfully as attainable.

Utilizing Noun Venture Icons in Your Displays

Search Icons
Get all of the icons you can ever want from Noun Project. Our assortment is actually hundreds of thousands of icons deep – and each could be custom-made, coloured, and downloaded as a PNG or SVG.
Use Apps & Plugins
Immediately insert icons with out leaving your workflow – Noun Venture has apps and plugins for Google Slides, Powerpoint, Adobe Products and extra. (Plus, Noun Venture apps now assist SVG icons – so you need to use and customise vectors immediately inside apps like Powerpoint).
Go Professional for Royalty-Free Downloads
Customise and insert limitless icons royalty-free with a Noun Pro account. While you go Professional, you may immediately recolor and click-and-drag icons straight from the Noun Venture window without having to fret about attributions.

Tip: Icons are important to assist an necessary level “click on” in individuals’s brains extra shortly. The Noun Venture Add-On for Powerpoint enables you to immediately search, recolor, click on and drag icons immediately all with out having to go away your window (and a Noun Pro account enables you to insert limitless icons).

Use Icons to Make Your (Bullet) Level

Condense & Summarize Your Massive Concepts with Icons
Use icons as a direct translation of your info – or an apparent metaphor that gained’t go away individuals guessing. Noun Venture provides a stunning vary of icons, from the extraordinarily literal (bar graphs, cash, medical icons and extra) to extra broad and summary ideas (gerrymandering, sanctuary metropolis defunding, you identify it)….
However with any icon you want, select one which doesn’t want an excessive amount of deciphering, or present an explanatory caption the place crucial. As with all issues design, go by the well-known maxim “Don’t Make Me Think.”

Purpose for Visible Consistency
Icons are available quite a few types: skinny line icons, thick “glyph”-style icons, sharp, rounded, pixel-perfect or hand-drawn. Decide a method that fits your model and message, then keep it up. Deciding on icons from the identical assortment, or the identical creator, will assist preserve visible consistency – whereas a mixing and matching of types will seem messier and fewer skilled.

Tip: Attempt to choose icons from the identical assortment in order that they’ve a constant visible model. (Basic Interface icon collection by Caesar Rizky Kurniawan).

Use Icons to Intensify Your Theme
Icons don’t must be used merely to bolster your statistics – they will usher individuals by means of your narrative and play off your visible theme as effectively. Take into consideration the stylistic prospects of your general presentation – e.g., bringing in a nostalgic ‘80s theme with 8-bit pixel icons or discussing holistic well being with naturalistic, ecological icon collections.

Tip: Browse the newest topical icon collections on Noun Project.

Use Pictures to Swimsuit the Temper

Icons aren’t the one must-have in packing a visible punch. Whereas we’ve already written devoted articles concerning the best ways to use stock photos in Powerpoint and even in social media campaigns, listed below are a number of fast guidelines of thumb:

Use images which might be pure, genuine, numerous, and inclusive
Ditch the overly-posed and unnatural company inventory photoshoots of bygone eras. It’s necessary to verify your images function quite a lot of ages, ethnicities, physique sorts, sexualities and extra in order that irrespective of who your viewers, they’ll really feel included (Trace: try photograph collections like Diversity in Tech and Empowered Women on Noun Venture).

Tip: Seek for numerous inventory images that don’t really feel too “stock-y.” Relaxed poses and pure lighting and textures will look extra appropriate than the overly staged company photograph shoots of yore. Discover the Diversity in Tech or Empowered Women collections on Noun Venture for inspiration.

Give attention to single background photos – not a complete album.
Normally one supporting picture is sufficient – there’s no want to incorporate a number of photos on a single slide as this muddles your message. If, maybe, you wish to present a number of images to recap an occasion or present steps in a course of, you’ll want to align your images, use a grid system, or give each even dimensions by means of considerate cropping.
Visually unify your images utilizing colour overlays
Apps like Powerpoint will usually allow you to modify brightness and hue or overlay a colour in order that a number of disparate images can seem unified – and reinforce your model.

Tip: Whereas a full-color photograph could also be eye-catching, think about using a colour overlay (at proper) together with your model or theme colours to offer a stronger air of sophistication and cohesion to disparate images. (In Powerpoint, with a picture chosen, go to Image Format > Coloration > Extra Variations to set your personal colour).

Get Began on Your Subsequent Presentation Design With Noun Venture.

Discover icon and photograph collections, and unlock limitless royalty-free icon downloads with Noun Pro.

Able to check out various kinds of presentation design apps? For those who’re searching for pleasant, web-based alternate options to the basic Powerpoint, check out free choices like Google Slides and even Canva.

Hungry for extra design ideas? View extra on our weblog at blog.thenounproject.com.