When I
share my ideas on presentation design, many people tell me “Yes, you’re right!
However, when it comes to making a technical presentation, your approach
doesn’t work”. By “your approach” they mean designing simple and highly visual
slides.
I believe this
is not correct. As a general rule, any presentation should be as simple and as visual
as possible, especially technical presentations. This is because when you make
a technical presentation you run the risk of boring the audience even more than
usual. Technical presentations usually include loads of data and details. Therefore,
if you do not design them with the audience in mind, (1) people will get bored
(2) they will not understand what you are talking about.
When I was
at university I attended a course called Country Analysis. Part of the
evaluation was based on studying a country’s economy and presenting the results
to other students. It was a technical presentation indeed. Nonetheless, we
tried to design our presentation with our audience in mind and below you see the
result. I know many of the slides will not tell you much. However, slides are
not meant to be self-explanatory. Slides need you! You are the presentation and
your slides are only there to amplify your message.
5 tips on how to make any presentation visually captivating
The
following tips can be applied to any kind of presentation. There is no reason
why a technical presentation shouldn’t be pleasing to our eyes.
(1) Make data
simple
This point
is particularly relevant to technical presentations. Make sure your charts and
tables only include the essential elements. If something does not add value to
your message, leave it out. This strategy will help you achieve the most
important of all objectives: letting your audience understand and remember what
you are saying.
Also,
instead of using generic titles, why not write a short statement summarising
your key point? (More on data visualisation here).
 |
| The usual grid behind the data you find in may graphs have been removed. The slide background does not disappear behind the graphs. Only the essential elements are shown helping the audience focus on what is important. |
(2) Combine images
and text
One of the
most powerful techniques in visual design and communication is bringing images
and text together. When people see something written, they will have troubles
remembering it. If you add a picture though, the probability of your audience
remembering your point will increase exponentially. However, make sure you choose
high-quality images. Instead of searching for them on Google Images (as most
people do) why don’t you use your own photos or higher-quality sources like
Flickr, for example?
As a side
note, notice how text is sometimes placed at an angle. This creates a more
dynamic feeling.
 |
| If you want to say that a country's economy is mainly based on tourism, you don't need to show loads of data and text. Just show a beautiful image with one statement. It will then be up to you to inform the audience about the facts. |
(3) Choose one
typeface
When it
comes to typefaces, the two mistakes I see most frequently are (1) the use of
non-professional fonts (2) the use of too many fonts. Choose one typeface only
and stick to it throughout your presentation. Two could be okay too, as long as
you have a reason for that. In the presentation above I used Gill Sans, a
professional yet young typeface which also fit together with the blackboard
background. Gill Sans, like other typefaces, is nice because it comes with a
whole type family. This means that you can choose among different
weights of the same typeface and that allows you to stress certain words or sentences while keeping
a sense of unity.
 |
| In this slide I used three different weights of the same typeface (bold, normal and light). The aim is to use hierarchy to guide the viewer's eyes. The big statement will be noticed first, then you will look at the data and finally you will notice the source. |
(4) Use colour wisely
The
thoughtful use of colour is essential in any good design and has implications
to the effectiveness of your message too. Colour can be used to highlight
certain points, such as the key word of a sentence, or the key bar of a chart.
Notice, for example, how I used colour to highlight the subject country of our
study—the Bahamas—in the bar charts. As soon as you show those slides,
peoples’ eyes will first point at that particular bar. It’s a matter of
contrast. People are naturally attracted by contrast (in colour, in size, in
shape, etc.).
However, be careful with your colour choices. Knowing what the colour wheel is and how to use some colour rules is of great importance.
(5) Achieve unity
Finally,
what you should be aiming at is to achieve unity. The whole presentation should
be greater than the sum of the individual slides. There are many ways to accomplish
that and some of them have been pointed out in this article. Using the same
typeface, visualising data in a certain way, designing slides in a consistent
manner, using colour wisely are all elements which convey a sense of unity. You may think of them as small details, but it all adds up.
Your
audience will not consciously understand the design principles behind your
slides, but they will understand that there is something different in your
presentation. Those design principles will help you convey a sense of unity and
harmony, which is the best gift you can give to your
audience.
