SlideMagic Blog

I still have not found the perfect device to transfer sketches to a computer. Drawing with the mouse does not work. I do not like using drawing pads that do not allow you to see what you just drew on the same surface, and the very large touch screens are very expense and so heavy that they are impossible to carry around. And carrying around is crucial for creative sketching. Ideas always come up when you are not at your desk.

So, that is why I am excited about the Wacom Inkling that was announced today. A sensor tracks the movements of a regular pen on normal paper and stores them. Once you connect the sensor to a computer, sketches are transferred.

I see 2 benefits for presentation design:

1. Enabling me to include cartoon-type drawings in my presentations. The key here is the option to use layers. Sketch a character roughly on a piece of paper. Press a button to open a new layer, and trace a more precise drawing over the rough one. Repeat the process of necessary. The top layer can now be of decent quality, and transfered as a vector to your computer. Great.
2. An archive for sketches that can be filed and searched on a computer.

The big question: does it actually work? I took the risk and ordered one and will report back.

Financial statements are completely unsuitable to put on a PowerPoint slide: too dense, too much information. I like to use column charts to represent this information and dramatically cut the number of categories in the process. After a while, even accountants get used to it. The chart below gives an example of a balance sheet, in a real presentation I would add data labels rounded to 1 digit behind the dot.

I just returned from holiday and this interior shot of a Tuscany bathroom (taken HERE near the marble excavation sites of Carrara) is an interesting visual. The explicit instruction makes it so tempting to do the opposite. I complied, but am wondering how many times the sign is ignored.

The site Apple of Wisdom is packed with quotes by Steve Jobs. Useful to spice up your presentation. Also, the site design is an example of a minimalist style blurring the boundaries between presentation slide and web site design.

Robin Wauters of TechCrunch linked back to an old TechCrunch post summing up words that are over-used in press releases (and presentations):

1. Leading / leader
2. Best / most / fastest / largest / biggest
3. Innovative / innovation
4. Revolutionary
5. Award-winning
6. Disruptive / disruption
7. Cutting / bleeding edge
8. Next-generation
9. Strategic partnership
10. Synergy

The post then goes on to link to The Gobbledygook Manifesto by David Meerman Scott. All useful reminders for presentation designers.

If you are about to use one of these terms, think again and see whether you really need them. If so, please use them, if not, change them for something more original.

With the help of SalesCrunch, I have compiled an eBook of the 2 NYU presentations and the SalesCrunch webinar. Go here to download the eBook about presentation design. Some readers pointed out a few glitches to me, keep the feedback coming so I can improve it.

From feedback I understand that many of of the readers of this blog are in fact independent (presentation) designers as well. Some have already made the jump and started their own business, some are still pondering whether to do it. Here are some reflections on the process that I went through, and some of the things I learned.

Becoming an independent business is not easy. It takes time until you have figured out what the setup is that works best for you. What type of projects, what type of clients. Through a process of trial and error you get to where you want to be, slowly. Allow time for this process to happen, and realize that you will be constantly moving direction (I still am).

Small businesses tend to under-invest. Old software (or maybe even pirated software!), slow computers, small screens. All this is a tax deductible business expense/investment, leverage it to do better work and compete with larger firms.

Optimize your workflow. Use gmail with clever filters to make stay on top of email. Use dropbox to access your files anywhere from any device. Use freshbooks to track time and do your billing. Enjoy your freedom from the IT purchasing department and pick the right productivity tools.

Minimise businessn meetings. Social meetings with friends are fun and energizing. Business meetings are most of the time a big time sink. Drive to meeting, park, small talk, discuss business, small talk, drive. That was an entire morning wasted, and now that the day is partly gone, you probably won’t start that big creative piece of work that you still have to do.

Microsoft did not want to pay font license fees for Helvetica and designed its own Arial knock off. Arial definitely does not look as good as the original (earlier post here). Why? There are only minor differences in the characters.

I think the main reason is the availability of weights. In Helvetica, I like using the light and medium font weights. Arial installed on my machine comes in a blunt regular (somewhere in between light and medium), and has a bold that is too heavy.

What do you think?

Slides with quotes can be powerful. The standard lay out of quotes is not very interesting. I make manual adjustments to increase the size of the quotes, and make sure the first quote has a small indent. See an example below.

Update January 2018: I have added quote slides in the SlideMagic template store, below is an example:

A PowerPoint slide with a quote

Presenting to an audience is no different than having a one on one conversation with someone. You can read the signals. When are people surprised, amused, intrigued, bored, confused? Pick up the non-verbal feedback and try to adjust.

You will be in for some surprises. I have been surprised many times. Slides that I thought were funny, were not. Points I thought were clear, were in fact confusing. Stories that I thought were somewhat dull (and I was considering cutting them), got people interested.

If the lighting in the room is poor, the people in first-row will probably end up being your focus group.