1

The design of presentation slides

Stephen Bostock

2

Summary

1. Purpose

2. Text, fonts and colour

3. Charts

4. Automate the style

5. Displaying slides

6. Handouts

7. Web versions

3

The purpose of slides

Slides should Augment a presentation not dominate it Be easy to see, read and understand Illustrate ideas clearly

But not Distract the audience from the speaker

or message Get in the way

4

Text on slides

Use slides to focus attention on key points one concept per slide one point per line

but don’t distort the natural information

structure

5

Reading slides

Allow time for the audience to read Unless you read all the slide,

stop talking

I’ll suck my pencilfor a bit

A AchievementB BreadthC Capability

6

Amount of text per slide

Depending on the purpose and audience, guidelines are:

• About 6 bullets/points per slide

• About 6/8 words per line

• About 20 words per slide No more than 75% of slide area Exceptions …

7

Font size

The best size depends on typeface, projector, screen, and size of room

Arial: 48pt 40pt 32pt 28pt 24pt 18pt 16pt

and this is probably too small to read on the screen or handout at 16 pt

Body text size • 24 point is the minimum (this is 24 point)

• Generally use 32 point or 28 point Maximum of three sizes per slide Should sub-bullets be smaller?

8

Legible font faces and sizes (44 point Verdana)

Some typefaces are best avoided(Beesknees face, 32 point)some font faces are best avoided!

Use a maximum of three font faces per slide (32 point Arial face)

9

Emphasis in text

Use mixed upper and lower case:

CAPITALS SHOUT AND ARE LESS READABLE

For emphasis use italics or bold or colour but not all at once, and be consistent

Underlining is old fashioned, or a link Start lines with a capital? (be consistent)

10

Colours Colours

Colour can add meaning & interest Keep the main colour scheme simple Extra colours add visual complexity No more than about 6 colours Consider the partially sighted

• Contrast is in colours and intensities

• How would it look in greys?

• Handouts?

11

Which colours?

Colours have their own meanings Warm foreground stands out from

cool background Pure primary colours (red, green, blue)

can get tiring Try shades e.g. light & dark green

12

Backgrounds

Busy backgrounds may look fun when designing but reduce readability

Do not switch between dark and light backgrounds

Experiment

13

Backgrounds

Busy backgrounds may look fun when designing but reduce readability

Do not switch between dark and light backgrounds

Experiment

But not on the audience!

14

Design clear charts

Charts are easier to understand than numbers

Bar charts are effective for tabular data Pie charts should be large with

distinguishing colours

15

Borders to focus attention

0102030405060708090

100

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

East

West

North

16

Automate the style

Use Master slides for consistency and numbering

The Design Templates – use with caution, and customise

PowerPoint 2000

• resizes body text to fit body field

• Tools, Options, Style Optionssets rules on number of fonts, case, punctuation, minimum text size, number of bullets, lines per bullet…

17

Slide presentation features

Slide transition effects

• for all or some slides

• use just one effect With sound? Slide ‘building’ effects

• elements of a slide are added in sequence by bullet, line, character

• use with caution – it chains a speaker to the sequence and irritates the audience

18

Designing handouts

Add administration and contact information in headers and footers

Choice of format, per page

• 1, 2 slides is too bulky except for detailed slides

• 3 slides, with lined writing space

• 4 horizontal slides has writing space

• 6 slides, with no writing space

19

Versions for printing

Always end with a blank slide• But don’t print it• PowerPoint 2000 does it for you

You may have to keep a different version to print and to display, without some details• Hidden slides• Remove features before printing• Custom shows

20

Web options

Put the .ppt file on the web Make an Acrobat .pdf file

• Can protect it• Printer-ready handout

Save As web pages. Options for: • different browsers• with or without animation• with or without speaker’s notes• screen sizes ……

21

Summary

Purpose Fonts and colour Charts Displaying slides Speakers Notes Handouts Web versions