SlideMagic Blog

If a message is important there is a temptation to use a “screaming” typography: bold, italic, underline, big fonts in bright red. Resist it. Underlining should always be avoided. Italics almost always. And I am not a big fan of heavy bold characters either. Experiment with a lighter font, such as this Futura Light font that comes with PowerPoint 2007. (Don’t forget to save it with your presentation to prevent catastrophes when presenting on another computer).

Colors in data charts. This 2003-2007 compatibility issue drives me crazy. Many of my clients still use Office 2003. Does anyone have a solution?

• PPT 2003 uses Microsoft Graph for data charts, PPT 2007 Excel
• I create a chart in 2007
• I save the 2007 PPTX in 2003 PPT format
• I (or my client) opens the 2003 PPT file and
• right-clicks the chart to open it: all the colors are off…

I have to change every color manually using RGB codes to set them permanently to the correct value in 2003.

There must be a better way to do this! Let me know if you know.

The only up side of economic turmoil is probably that there is plenty of data available for interesting visualizations. The New York Times posted this chart: (click for a larger picture)

I like it because the designer gave some thought about what metric to put in. He/she could have shown a times series of GDP growth, absolute unemployment, or unemployment rate to name just a few. That’s why I do not like these automated PowerPoint chart wizards, it makes you skip the step of actually thinking about what metric really makes your point. (And more importantly, what are the 15 metrics you can get rid of without changing anything to the message of your slide).

Via Junk Charts, an excellent source of data visualization discussions. For more frequent updates about the financial crisis (including many data visualizations) follow Paul Kedrosky.

It is easy to create your own composite images in PowerPoint:

1. Select a stock image isolated on a white background
2. Make the white background transparent
3. Select image, go in format, picture effects, shadows, interior shadow to make the edges smoother
4. Paste this image on another image with the background of your choice

See his recent blog post, great presenters should have:

1. Respect (from the audience)
2. Love (to the audience) The only thing I want to add is that I think a speaker can get respect during a presentation, he/she does not necessarily have to have it beforehand (although it helps).

Here is how you make 3D balls used in these images, or these images. Click on the chart for a larger picture.

You should experiment with the “top height” and “top width” to find a value that best fits the size of the object you are working on.

Stock image sites are trying to convince you to buy higher resolution (and higher price) versions of the same image, I usually don’t buy it.

• In case you need to print it on a street sign (not required for me)
• Because you want the very best looking PPT slide (no real difference + big file size)

There is a reason however that might make me change my mind. The same argument holds when buying digital cameras with ever increasing mega pixel capabilities: your ability to zoom.

Try to experiment with zooming into stock images (don’t be afraid to create a “bleed”). The result might not look good on your computer monitor, but from a distance it can look refreshing. (Do the slide sorter view test).

In the example above, both approaches work. A tiny image on a big white background, or an extreme zoom. The middle ground (as usual) is boring.

I am learning a lot from print advertising. I am learning a lot from the adgoodness blog.

Especially in fund raising presentations I design for startups that are going to pitch to potential investors, I am spending a lot of time/effort in finding that one image or visual concept that really nails down the idea in one big bang. Almost to the extent that the following slides are not required anymore.

Consumer marketing is all about focus on one single and clear consumer benefit. Here is a(nother) great example. Food for thought when designing your next presentation.

I am not a big fan of conceptual stock images. Compositions you can do yourself. There are exceptions. See the example below.

Stretching part of a picture cannot only be used to create white space, you can also let things disappear pretty much like David Copperfield does:

I used this concept to show how a new technology solution of one of my clients can save a lot of server costs. The zapped servers live on in the reflection in their opposite neighbours though…