Frequent updates about all things presentations since 2008. Subscribe to never miss a post.
I stumbled on an interesting street art project (more about creator "Elay"and more images here).
I have posted a number of PowerPoint how to posts over the past half year, but they disappear quickly to page 2. Here are some of them brought back to the front page:
I rediscovered an old bookmark of an excellent post on copyblogger today: “12 tips for Psychological Selling”. The key idea here is that any purchase is an emotional decision, facts and logic come in second.
The blog post is written with an online copy writer in mind, but some of these 12 tips can provide useful guidelines for PowerPoint presentation design as well. Especially for sales presentations, or even VC pitches for funding a startup. Maybe not every presentation is about selling something (a product, a company), in the end all presentations are about selling an idea.
Weekend reading/viewing. I got to this video by Harvard Law scholar Elizabeth Warren via Twitter:
There are many “doom” videos and presentations out there at the moment, reinforcing the state of mind of the current economical crisis. This one stands out, and I sat through the entire 57 minutes (skipping the first introduction bits).
Elizabeth managed to make an exact like-for-like / inflation-adjusted comparison between the financial situation of families in the 1970s and the early 2000s. Her main conclusion: Americans haven’t taken out all that credit to finance blind purchases of consumption goods such as cars, gadgets, holidays, etc. Some of the messages:
This blog is not about economics. But from a presentation perspective, this video is worth watching. The slides are strictly statistical, poorly formated, almost resembling a 1990s overhead sheet, the speaker does not move, still the story is truly captivating. Captivating because many, many people (me included) are looking for the answer to the issue Elizabeth is raising. We just want to stay until the end to find out.
Crossing things out in an immaculate PowerPoint slide with a rough, red paint brush can make a point strongly: “with our technology you can skip buying that new server”
I use a simple PowerPoint 2007 “glow” to get a graffiti-style effect. In the image below, I selected the “Boopee” font (standard in PowerPoint 2007) to which I applied a red glow and a gradient text fill (bright red, with a darker red). The background image was purchased on iStockPhoto. Let me know in the comments if you need more detailed instructions.
The French are just so good in inventing words: “taggeur” for graffiti artist (or vandal). Brilliant.
Be sure to avoid setting yourself up for disaster when using non-standard fonts in a PowerPoint presentation.
Inspired by a post on slide:ology today linking to a set of newly released PowerPoint templates with examples of what graphical effects PowerPoint can produce, I decided to start posting some of my own favorites.
Many logos of Web 2.0 companies are examples of how not to use these graphics capabilities: add a “bevel”, “reflection” and “drop shadow” and the result must look good. In graphics design, most of the time, less means more.
But sometimes these effects can help. In my case a client needing to explain software functionality. We decided to go for the metal “HiFi component” look with buttons that can easily activate functions. (Click image for a larger picture)
Let me know in the comments if you are interested in the detailed instructions.
A “bleed”, or “bleeding edge” is a page with a graphic extending over the edge of the page. I like to use them a lot in PowerPoint presentations.
Take the following example. When the elephant is positioned in the middle of the slide, the composition is not really interesting. Have him walk off the page and insert a bit more white space makes it a lot more interesting (our friend just stands there, ignoring all things around him).
Pushing things a bit further, you can use the same technique for words/typography as well. The brain does not always need clean typography to be able to read. You probably remember this text (I do not know who wrote it, or whether the research actually happened):
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
An example of letting words “bleed” off the page (I used to highlight problems with current solutions in the market for a client in the technology sector):
On today’s SlideShare front page is a nice presentation by Martin Pure:
Following on yesterday’s post on 3D objects, you can see that “something is wrong” with the alignment of the objects. The use of a reflection (a “Web 2.0” effect that I only use very rarely) implies a 3D setting.
You can apply the same guide lines thought to correct things. In addition, you can change the size of the font to emphasize the feel of a 3D environment.
My comments were all about positioning of text. Do not misunderstand me, I like this presentation.
Today, SlideShare launched a ribbon for PowerPoint, integrating its functionality more tightly with the desktop office application.
I am not a big fan of heavy 3D graphics in PowerPoint. Similar to animations, or 3D bar/column charts: the fact that PowerPoint enables you to do it, does not mean you have to use it.
If you do want to use a 3D composition, use guide lines and an imaginative vanishing point to make sure your objects are aligned properly.
UPDATE: more on positioning text (with reflection) in 3D in PowerPoint in a folow up post to this one.