Visual presentations are great for work and school projects because they help you communicate a topic better. Although your words might be good enough to explain your points, having a medium to communicate visually is always a great idea. However, just like every other thing, there are levels to it, and what differentiates a good presentation from a bad one might just be the design.
The images you choose to add and the color schemes can help or stunt your ability to pass your message. Whether you’re using PowerPoint, Visage, Or Keynote, here are six design tips that will help your presentations look more professional.
Use Timeline Templates
Every presentation software offers you multiple templates that can help you craft your presentation easily. These timeline templates for PowerPoint are usually easy to tweak and customize, and they are also very easy to understand. Creating your own presentations without a generic template is far more authentic and professional.
Leverage the Layout Properly
One of the most important parts of creating a presentation is the layout. Hence, the reason why the layout of a PowerPoint design is really tricky. Nevertheless, there are a few tips that can help with using the layout to your advantage;
- Understand the way people read. Most of the time, Western languages read from left to right and top to bottom. Using this reading order, you can direct your audience’s eyes to any part you want to emphasize.
- Distinguish headlines from body texts using different text sizes, fonts, and colors.
- Do not use more than five colors for your chosen palette.
When you use a layout properly, your audience will require less time to organize the information visually and pay more attention to your speech.
Don’t Use Too Many Lines of Text
Another important tip for making your presentation to be more professional is the amount of text used in a specific slide. Stuffing a slide with a lot of text will undermine the slide’s purpose and message as you move along. Bear in mind that your audience has to process everything you’re saying as they view the slide. Trying to do this while reading a lot of messages as you talk makes it very difficult and sometimes impossible.
This makes it extremely difficult to communicate effectively. The best way to ensure you’re effectively communicating as you go is by limiting the lines of text on a slide to six lines. It’s easier to view and understand. Better yet, use the 6×6 rule, which means six words on a sentence and six lines of text.
Use Keywords Instead of Sentences
Presentation slides are visual note cards that should be simplified and easy to understand. Your body text is not meant to be complete thoughts delivered via long sentences. Instead, it should be mainly listed keywords or phrases that reinforce your idea. That way, your spoken message doesn’t lose its effectiveness.
Unless you’re quoting something or someone, it shouldn’t be a complete sentence. You don’t need to add bullet points, as listing your points in Sans Serif fonts work.
Opt for a Strong Contrast Between Background and Text
If you want every person in your audience to see your message during a presentation, you need the texts to pop. The best way to achieve that is by making sure the background image does not feature a lot of variation. That way, some of your text will not end up being illegible.
To achieve a high level of contrast, add a creative bar of color behind your chosen image, and it will bring back the visibility to your texts.
Use a Single Image on a Slide
Images are visually appealing and make your presentation engaging and memorable. According to research, images catalyze emotional response, which enhances your audience’s chances of making an impact. Hence, it’s only wise to use this fact to your advantage every time you have a presentation.
However, stuffing a single slide with multiple images is the worst thing you can do to your presentation. Using more than one image will cause your audience to lose focus on what you’re saying. Thus, defeating the importance of you speaking. Use only a single image on each slide of your presentation and include a simple text or none at all.
Designing the perfect presentation is not only Important for professionalism but also for passing your message across effectively. There are so many mistakes you can make that might stunt how effective your presentation is. However, with the tips mentioned above, rest assured your next presentation will be a success.
