Design the Slides
Now that you’ve got your presentation organized, your text is crisp and crystal clear, you’ve got an idea of relevant graphics and backgrounds you’d like to use, you understand where you might want to use animation appropriately, and you’ve figured out the plot of your presentation story, you’re ready to actually design it.
This section reiterates the four basic design principles I first codified in The Non-Designer’s Design Book and shows you how they apply to presentation design.
The four principles of design that I first codified and explained in The Non-Designer’s Design Book apply equally well to presentation slides. It’s quite amazing how these four little concepts can so easily transform an amateur look to a professional one. Each one is explained more fully in the following pages. Then we’ll work with applying all of these principles to a presentation.
If two items are not exactly the same, make them different. Really different. Contrast intrigues us because it creates an interest, often it creates a focal point. Contrast is drama, but it’s also a tool for organizing the information on your slides.
Repeat some aspect of the design throughout the entire piece. Repeating elements throughout a slideshow is what unifies your entire presentation. This doesn’t mean everything has to look the same—you just need graphic elements that tie everything together.
Nothing should be placed on the slide arbitrarily. Every item should have at least one edge connected to something else on the page.
Group related items together; physical closeness implies a relationship. Information groups help clarify what’s on the screen.
Keep in mind that the point of designing your presentation (as opposed to putting things on the slides without thinking about its visual presentation) is not just to make it pretty—the point is to communicate more clearly. These design principles not only make it look better, but along the way the information will be presented more coherently, simply, and straightforwardly.
And it is just a fact that if your presentation is visually pleasing, people are more likely to look at your slides instead of their text messages.