1 the design of presentation slides stephen bostock
TRANSCRIPT
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The design of presentation slides
Stephen Bostock
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Summary
1. Purpose
2. Text, fonts and colour
3. Charts
4. Automate the style
5. Displaying slides
6. Handouts
7. Web versions
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The purpose of slides
Slides should Augment a presentation not dominate it Be easy to see, read and understand Illustrate ideas clearly
But not Distract the audience from the speaker
or message Get in the way
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Text on slides
Use slides to focus attention on key points one concept per slide one point per line
but don’t distort the natural information
structure
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Reading slides
Allow time for the audience to read Unless you read all the slide,
stop talking
I’ll suck my pencilfor a bit
A AchievementB BreadthC Capability
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Amount of text per slide
Depending on the purpose and audience, guidelines are:
• About 6 bullets/points per slide
• About 6/8 words per line
• About 20 words per slide No more than 75% of slide area Exceptions …
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Font size
The best size depends on typeface, projector, screen, and size of room
Arial: 48pt 40pt 32pt 28pt 24pt 18pt 16pt
and this is probably too small to read on the screen or handout at 16 pt
Body text size • 24 point is the minimum (this is 24 point)
• Generally use 32 point or 28 point Maximum of three sizes per slide Should sub-bullets be smaller?
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Legible font faces and sizes (44 point Verdana)
Some typefaces are best avoided(Beesknees face, 32 point)some font faces are best avoided!
Use a maximum of three font faces per slide (32 point Arial face)
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Emphasis in text
Use mixed upper and lower case:
CAPITALS SHOUT AND ARE LESS READABLE
For emphasis use italics or bold or colour but not all at once, and be consistent
Underlining is old fashioned, or a link Start lines with a capital? (be consistent)
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Colours Colours
Colour can add meaning & interest Keep the main colour scheme simple Extra colours add visual complexity No more than about 6 colours Consider the partially sighted
• Contrast is in colours and intensities
• How would it look in greys?
• Handouts?
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Which colours?
Colours have their own meanings Warm foreground stands out from
cool background Pure primary colours (red, green, blue)
can get tiring Try shades e.g. light & dark green
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Backgrounds
Busy backgrounds may look fun when designing but reduce readability
Do not switch between dark and light backgrounds
Experiment
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Backgrounds
Busy backgrounds may look fun when designing but reduce readability
Do not switch between dark and light backgrounds
Experiment
But not on the audience!
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Design clear charts
Charts are easier to understand than numbers
Bar charts are effective for tabular data Pie charts should be large with
distinguishing colours
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Borders to focus attention
0102030405060708090
100
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
East
West
North
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Automate the style
Use Master slides for consistency and numbering
The Design Templates – use with caution, and customise
PowerPoint 2000
• resizes body text to fit body field
• Tools, Options, Style Optionssets rules on number of fonts, case, punctuation, minimum text size, number of bullets, lines per bullet…
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Slide presentation features
Slide transition effects
• for all or some slides
• use just one effect With sound? Slide ‘building’ effects
• elements of a slide are added in sequence by bullet, line, character
• use with caution – it chains a speaker to the sequence and irritates the audience
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Designing handouts
Add administration and contact information in headers and footers
Choice of format, per page
• 1, 2 slides is too bulky except for detailed slides
• 3 slides, with lined writing space
• 4 horizontal slides has writing space
• 6 slides, with no writing space
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Versions for printing
Always end with a blank slide• But don’t print it• PowerPoint 2000 does it for you
You may have to keep a different version to print and to display, without some details• Hidden slides• Remove features before printing• Custom shows
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Web options
Put the .ppt file on the web Make an Acrobat .pdf file
• Can protect it• Printer-ready handout
Save As web pages. Options for: • different browsers• with or without animation• with or without speaker’s notes• screen sizes ……
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Summary
Purpose Fonts and colour Charts Displaying slides Speakers Notes Handouts Web versions