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Home ›› Courses ›› Visual Aids ›› Designing Effective Visual Aids
Presentation Visual Design GuideWhen it comes to designing the best presentation, many of us get lost or at least a sidetracked in the process. It is due to a combination of two important factors: being so close to the message and usually in a rush to get it all done. Designing the best presentation is an evolutionary process not a one shot deal. It is imperative that you run the design, graphs and images by a practice audience before an important client sees it.
1. See the Forest
Analyze your objective. Do you intend to teach, sell, motivate, enlighten, or inform your audience? Your design should perfectly reflect your objectives and the audience's expectations. If you are trying to inspire or motivate your audience, using the typical blue background, yellow title, white text formula will not enhance your delivery. All design elements, alone and in combination, should be checked against the objective. So, before you add clip art or select a design template, ask yourself if it fits the objective. Just because you have it does not mean you should use it.
2. Through the Trees
Keep It Short and Simple. Elaborate designs will destroy the impact of the message with the intensity of the design.
The 666 Rule (otherwise known as the devil made me do it!)
No more than 6 words per bullet, 6 bullets per image and 6 word slides in a row. If you have more than 6 words per bullet, then it is not a bullet point. More than 6 bullets, your audience will have difficulty reading the slide. Six word slides in a row means you've been talking for at least 10 minutes without a visual. You're may be losing the audience's attention.
The 80/20 Rule
In selling situations, your purpose is to acquire as much information as possible. That means listening rather than talking. If you're meeting with a client or prospect for an hour, your formal presentation should only take up 20% of the hour and the Q&A the remaining 80%. Your formal presentation must be short: only 12-15 minutes. Spend the remaining time engaged in a discussion on the client's needs and desires and how you might fulfill them.
3. Find the Path
Create a master style to use for the whole presentation. Use the same fonts, colors and graphic styles for continuity and flow.
Colors
Select colors that match or compliment your corporate identity. Stick with them. The background colors and design elements should be pulled from your letterhead, logo and brochures: Complimentary colors should compliment. Sounds redundant but this is the biggest mistake made. The colors for charts, accents and highlights should draw the attention not command it.
Fonts
Fonts come in families. That means that there are variations within one font. Choose two font families and carefully select standards for titles, subtitles, copy, footnotes, axis labels, legends, and call-outs.
Templates
Templates are a good starting point but should not be used without customization. If you are in a rush, use templates to jump-start the corporate presentation design process. But you must change the colors and fonts to match your corporate identity.
If you are like me, you hated statistics and barely made it though calculus. But visually representing data and statistics is the critical difference between quickly making a point and completely losing your audience.
Whether you create your own graphs in-house or use an outside design firm, it is important to understand the proper use of the common types of graphs and how to design them for quick comprehension.
There are two common mistakes people make when presenting graphs:
Using the wrong type of graph.
Using the correct graph, but making confusing design choices.
The key to graph design is the simpler the better. Keep the information, color and design elements clean. Remember the graph will support what you say. It does not have to say everything for you.
4. Bring a Map
Graphic Designers: Although software allows you to create your own presentations, it may be beneficial to hire a designer to create your corporate presentation template. Designers can provide a more sophisticated look that will truly distinguish you. Ask for the design to be supplied as a background to be inserted in the software package you use. Be sure to have graphic elements saved as PICT, TIFF or GIF files so you can import them as needed.
Testing
Once you have a design, project it on the equipment you'll be using. Test on any and all media to be used: multimedia projector, overheads, flip charts, or laptop.
Warning: You may need to adjust colors for different media.
5. Leave a Trail
If I am trying out a new visual idea or media, I ask the client for immediate feedback. If they understood it right away, they tell me. If they have trouble, they tell me and I have a chance to clarify it right away and fix it for the next client. Although this step sounds simple, it is the one most often overlooked.
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