The secret to great presentation design is...

The bar has been put higher and higher over the past years:

Everyone is now able to put text and charts in PowerPoint and project them on a screen
(Almost) everyone has discovered where to get beautiful page-filling images
Many people have figured out how to clean up a messy data chart
More and more people are learning to apply professional typography (PowerPoint gets a bit closer to Illustrator with every release) and coherent color schemes

What is left that is hard to do is the “art part”. It can never be automated. Sequencing the right story, knowing what to cut, what to keep in, picking the right analogies, selecting the right images, picking the exact right data visualization option…

3 comments

RABotha2010-10-04 17:02:33

While I agree on the art part that can never be automated, where I frequent the four bullets you state are definitely not true (yet). Fair enough, more people get it... but most, sadly not even close...

Brent Dykes2010-10-05 05:26:41

At least the information is out there for people to build better slides. Those seeking knowledge can be enlightened. Although some people are paying attention, I agree with RABotha most are not (yet). I don't know if even automation will be the "cure all". E.g., SmartArt can cause more problems than it solves.

Jan Schultink2010-10-04 18:40:24

Agree: they might not get it yet, but inevitably, they will get it later (either by themselves, or using an automated tool). The art-part will never get automated.