10 tips for making beautiful slideshow presentation

The Problems with Stock Templates• They lead to infinite bullet point syndrome IBPS • They discourage graphics • Every slide ends up looking the same • The designs are usually hideous •

SLIDESHOW BEAUTIFUL

Credit: Jessica Castro, unwrittenmemories.com

Tip #1

KNOW YOUR

Be clear about the goal of your presentation

before your begin composing it.

GOAL

Presentations, like cats, fall into two categories:

Presentations, like cats,

fall into two categories:

Credit: Pete Hunt, Flickr

Presentations, like cats,

fall into two categories:

Credit: Pete Hunt, Flickr

Just Kidding.

Presentations fall into two main categories:

make people see something (like your brand) a certain way

Most presentations will combine

elements of both

Be focused, but not too dull or repetitive

Don’t bore them!

It’s hard to communicate when people are busy playing on their phones

trust me

Tip #2

PLAN IT OUT

Create an outline or storyboard of the major

topics you want to address.

Sketch the basics

each slide

2

your slides effectively

Make sure your presentation follows a logical or chronological sequence.

Show restraint

Resist the urge to cram everything you know about your topic into your show

If you try and

tell them

everything,

they won’t remember anything.

Tip #3

AVOID STOCK

Run away! Run away!

TEMPLATES

Pop quiz, hotshot:

Which slide is more memorable?

(in a good way)

Trick question.

And both templates.

The Problems with Stock Templates

• They lead to infinite bullet point syndrome (IBPS)

• They discourage graphics

• Every slide ends up looking the same

• The designs are usually hideous

• The presentation looks like every slideshow

presentation you’ve ever seen

• Your audience will lose interest and focus after slide number one zero

• It reminds people of the 90s (that’s bad)

Build your own theme instead.

theme instead.

But h-h-how?

Tip #4

CHOOSE A COLOR SCHEME

Choose 5 colors that look good together and

match the tone of your presentation.

Pick 5 colors and alternate them in your slides

Choose one accent color that

stands out from the rest.

Choose colors that reflect the tone of

your presentation

ColourLovers.com

Mellow and modern

Choose colors that reflect the tone of

your presentation

ColourLovers.com

Mellow and modern

Choose colors that reflect the tone of

your presentation

ColourLovers.com

Passionate and

aggressive

Mellow and modern

Choose colors that reflect the tone of

http://www.colourlovers.com User-generated color palettes and more

Websites to help you pick color schemes

(for free)

http://www.colorschemedesigner.com/

http://www.colorhunter.com/

http://kuler.adobe.com/

Computer-generated color palettes

Upload a picture and it pulls out the main colors Similar to the above

Tip #5

CHOOSE A FONT SCHEME

Don’t get too crazy with fonts

Pick 3 and stick to them.

Choose one font

One font for body copy.

One font for body copy.

for titles.

One font for body copy.

One font for body copy.

And one font for

accents.

Fonts on this page: Frutiger LT 95 UltraBlack (Title), Frutiger CE 45 Light (Body, Footnote), Airport (Accents)

Like color, your fonts should also match

the tone of your presentation

Good topicFont name

Tip #6

CHOOSE A

LAYOUT SCHEME

Develop a few layouts and repeat them

throughout the presentation for

cohesion and clarity.

Use the same layouts for slides that have the same purpose.

transition

The layout tells your audience where

the slide fits into the big picture.

content

You can sometimes get away with just one layout, but in general, you’ll need a

few basic layouts:

Transitional slides

Image only slides

Text only slides

Mixed slides

Text Text Text Big Text

Text Text Text Text

A few samples

Big Text

Impact Quote Transition

In addition to repeating layouts, you can

also repeat more subtle elements

Remember me?

Yeah you do

Let the images

tell the story

If you’re using a full page image, find some room

in the picture where the text

can contrast against the background.

If an image is too “busy” add a semi9transparent background behind the text for contrast.

If an image is too “busy” add a semi9transparent background behind the text for contrast.

Like This!

Use images where the

background of the

image blends into the

background of the

page The white space

around it makes it look

clean and makes the

image pop.

If you can see the

If you can see the

background, the effect is

ruined (In this case, you

might consider making

the background black.)

Protip: In Google images, you can filter images by color in

the left%hand column Choose white and you’re more

likely to find images with white backgrounds You can

also try searching for “<query> white background.”



Stock exchange has beautiful images.

Sites with free high quality stock images

http://www.everystockphoto.com/

http://flickr.com/creativecommons

http://www.morguefile.com

Compiles images from other sites.

Requires that you include an attribution.

Almost no restrictions on these files.

Don’t forget to give

credit when required

Limit one main

point per slide.

Limit one main

point per slide.

When you start to overload a slide…

point per slide.overload a slide…

Limit one main

point per slide.

When you start to overload a slide…

point per slide.overload a slide…

Your audience can get distracted…

Limit one main

point per slide.

When you start to overload a slide…

And may begin to wonder…

point per slide.overload a slide…

Your audience can get distracted…

Limit one main

point per slide.

When you start to overload a slide…

And may begin to wonder…

What the hell 60 Pomeranians…

point per slide.overload a slide…

Your audience can get distracted…

Limit one main

point per slide.

When you start to overload a slide…

And may begin to wonder…

What the hell 60 Pomeranians…

Are doing in a

slideshow about

point per slide.overload a slide…

Your audience can get distracted…

slideshow about

slideshows anyway

And then your

main point is lost.

Content is what the text says; typography is how it appears By manipulating attributes like

Typography

how it appears By manipulating attributes like

color, font, size, weight, and position

you can enhance the impact and visual interest

of your slides and create hierarchy

A quote splashed across the screen

breaks up the monotony and looks interesting.

By moving

you can create

text around

interesting effects

create

By moving text around

you can create

Interest

interesting

effects

color, and placement

of the text affects

Changing the type,

of the text affects

how it’s interpreted

and the order in

which it’s read.

Tip #10

DON’T OVERDO IT

Remember white space

Design like

the Google

Not like Yahoo

A slide can’t function right

if there’s too much stuff on it.

The white space that surrounds the

object adds emphasis and gives the

page a clean, fresh feeling.

Credit: Ramzi Hashisho

The white space that surrounds the

object adds emphasis and gives the

page a clean, fresh feeling.

X X X X X X X X X X

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X X X X

X X X X

X X X X

X X X X

1 Know your goal | make each slide count

2 Plan it out | in some detail

3 Avoid templates | they have the uglies

4 Choose a color scheme | 4 colors, 1 accent

4 Choose a color scheme | 4 colors, 1 accent

5 Choose a font scheme | match tone

6 Choose a layout scheme | comprehension

7 Use images (wisely) | they’re more memorable

8 15 words per slide | this slide had 16 words

9 Play with typography | impact, interest, hierarchy10.Don’t overdo it | white space

And remember…

BREAK THE RULES

don’t be afraid to

Edahn Small is a content manager and writer in

Los Angeles, California.

About the author

Email: edahn.small@gmail.com

Web: http://www.AskEdahn.com

Twitter: @askedahn

The End.