Surely more than once, you have been tasked (or in the need) to make presentations in a very short time, or even to re-render outdated presentations or presentations sent to you by your colleagues, classmates or your boss, whose design is perhaps not the most appropriate or convenient, if you want to generate a real impact. In this article, I will show you some tips, so that fixing or improving presentations in a short time does not become a nightmare.
For a presentation to look professional, is not enough with good content; the design, shape and organization of the elements that compose it are also important. In college, you probably saw colleagues or professors make visual presentations that were not very professional (it happened to me), and although the content is interesting, we usually get lost in the boring and uncomfortable design, paying more attention to the form and not the background. Before starting, it is important to bear in mind that the effective design of a presentation seeks to capture the attention of the audience, through an appropriate and professional design style, making the message arrive in the way we want.
One of the first things to consider, when improving a visual presentation, are the elements that compose it: the images, the texts and the background are essential in a presentation. If you look at the example, you will see how, in the first slide, the images are placed without a specific sense, only to occupy the empty spaces, whereas in the second slide the same elements were taken -photos, texts and background- but placed in a different, much more aesthetic and harmonious way. You may also note, on the second slide the brand colors (gray and orange) were used, and not blue as in the previous one, and the texts are larger, emphasizing the most important information. In addition, you can see that the photo of the people looking sad is in gray (sign of demotivation), while the other group is kept with their original colors, to contrast the different emotions.
When talking about texts, the first thing you need to know is that your slides are not documents, but a support for your speech, content, presentation, exhibit... So overloading them with lengthy texts and paragraphs will not work. On the contrary, try to place concepts and key words, which allow your audience to orientate themselves during the presentation, not distract themselves by reading your slides. Do not forget that fonts should have an ideal size (40 for titles and 28-32 for text) and an appropriate color (colors associated with the brand, which contrast, without being too heavy), and remember that you can support with the use of bullet points (ideally no more than three per slide). This will not only make your presentation look professional, but also avoid having to read during it.
Important Note: If a slide contains more than 75 words, it becomes a document, not a presentation.
You see, it is very easy to improve your presentation with a little creativity.
Remember that to make a good slide you must:
Play with color and images, risk to do different things and if you have doubts, consult your friends, colleagues or a professional.
Placing a suitable font size, texts cannot be too large or too small. Your job is to ensure that all the audience in the room can read your slides without straining.
Using bullets points to place the information you want, remember that presentations are not documents.
The more and better information you manage, the more confident you will feel in your next presentation.
IMAGES:
PowerPoint Slides by Cavi Media
Header Image by Pickjumbo.
