PowerPoint slide design – the basics

I am not a designer. I was awakened to the possibility of improving the design of my PowerPoint slides by the Presentation Zen blog. Since then I have observed and analyzed examples of good design, even read some design books – and of course read the Presentation Zen book.

These design tips are not for bullet-point slides. I’m assuming you’re beyond that (if not start reading Presentation Zen).

These design tips are for the Assertion-Evidence format – this is gaining ground as the brain-friendly yet easy to put together alternative to bullets. The assertion-evidence slide format was developed by Professor Michael Alley. At the top of the slide is the assertion – a simple sentence which expresses the message of the slide. The rest of the slide is the evidence to support that assertion – expressed in a visual way. Ellen Finkelstein calls it the Tell ‘n’ Show slide format. Dave Paradi is using the format for his excellent slide make-overs.

This post will cover the basics – in the next post I’ll explore how to add some elegance.

1. Use a neutral background – either dark or white. You can add interest to the background by adding a gentle gradient or other subtle effect. Gentle and subtle are the key words here. Most PowerPoint templates are too busy to work well with graphics.

2. For any text, use a sans serif font such as arial or verdana. Choose a contrasting colour to the background.

3. Make photos fill the whole of the slide.

4. Use good quality photos without clutter. I use istockphoto as my first port-of-call when I’m looking for photos as I can be sure that they will look good and it’s fast. If you search for “sparkler” on istockphoto, the first page brings up many good quality photos. The same search on the flickr creative commons page only turned up one photo that I might use – and it’s not quite as good as the one above. John Windsor has an excellent post on ensuring your images are relevant. See also this post from Presentation Revolution. Research on e-learning by Richard Mayer has shown that images which are there simply to provide some light relief actually harm learning.

In the next post, I’ll look at how you can add some elegance.

Other resources

Ellen Finkelstein’s post on 5 steps to slide design for non-designers

Related posts:

1. Here’s a quick way to make over a bullet-point slide
2. PowerPoint slide design – adding elegance
3. The Top 7 PowerPoint slide designs
4. What would you like to see in PowerPoint slide design in 2009?
5. PowerPoint Design in 2009: Six most recommended tips

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