Not really.
Background watermarks such as these are often used in PowerPoint templates to lighten up a slide that is loaded with bullets. They are supposed to look sophisticated and fancy. They might work for a restaurant menu card or a birthday party invitation, but not for a professional presentation.
- They make text hard to read (including bullet points)
- They clash with any type of graphical element that is not a bullet point
There are other ways to make a slide look sophisticated with a completely blank background:
- A nice image
- Big text in a nice font
- Minimalist / simple elements (boxes with a few words in them will do) in colors that match your corporate identity
Take off the logos, take off the watermarks, take off the page numbers, remove the date, get rid off the file path, convince your lawyer to write just one page that all pages in your presentation are highly confidential rather than repeating it on every page.
8 comments
1) The Old School that doesn't realize that black backgrounds were used because projectors weren't strong enough to push a full white page
2) The slightly educated about design - they know it looks sparkly and fancy and want to impress others with their slickness. Mostly trying to link to some print or web entity.
However, I'm finding in some industries, it's expected or proper. For example, events companies that put on the REALLY big conferences see the presentation background as part of the set - presentation backgrounds are expected to jive with whatever curtains, signage, etc are up for the conference. If it's one of those presentations that is really just words (common in advertising), it can look really nice. (Assuming the background isn't too textured)
Good topic!
But personally, I agree with you,
1) The Old School that doesn't realize that black backgrounds were used because projectors weren't strong enough to push a full white page
2) The slightly educated about design - they know it looks sparkly and fancy and want to impress others with their slickness. Mostly trying to link to some print or web entity.
However, I'm finding in some industries, it's expected or proper. For example, events companies that put on the REALLY big conferences see the presentation background as part of the set - presentation backgrounds are expected to jive with whatever curtains, signage, etc are up for the conference. If it's one of those presentations that is really just words (common in advertising), it can look really nice. (Assuming the background isn't too textured)
Good topic!
But personally, I agree with you, white or light backgrounds are easier to work with!
As far as the m62 debate on logos.
The style of the presentation itself will reinforce the branding image.
In most presentations the logos are tiny blips in a corner. They are really more of a nuisance and a distraction.
I tried to argue my case...
Either way, yeh, we know to keep it to the basics and make it look beautiful and harmonius.