Articles: Design - 2 views
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The less clutter you have on your slide, the more powerful your visual message will become.
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merle64 on 24 Sep 14This is a huge takeaway for me--less is truly more. But the "less" needs to be thoughtful, not just less.
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According to the Segmentation Principle of multimedia learning theory, people comprehend better when information is presented in small chunks or segments.
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Again, nothing should look accidental. This looks like they were going for the full-bleed background image effect but just missed. Now the software background template can be seen just enough to become a bit of noise
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This may look like many of my slides. I considered that the "border" rather than "noise"--which is a bit like using a scrapbooking model rather than a presentation model.
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Yes, the border would seem to help. Is there a way to fit to screen? Is there a tool for this technique? It often seems to be an issue for me.
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So make sure your slides pass what I call the glance test: People should be able to comprehend each one in about three seconds.
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If sharing this approach prevents just one audience from suffering through another bullet-point-intensive, “death by PowerPoint” session, my efforts were not in vain.
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Make sure you know the difference between a Serif font (e.g., Times New Roman) and a Sans-Serif font (Helvetica or Arial).
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f you have a detailed handout or publication for the audience to be passed out after your talk, you need not feel compelled to fill your PowerPoint slides with a great deal of text.
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Thanks to Zen Presentations, I did this very thing today at a faculty inservice. The atmosphere was light and fun and simple and I gave them a one page handout that was full of bullets. Thank you Zen!
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I am excited about changing my presentations and eliminating the wordiness. I am a true believer in putting more work into the hands of the students, and they will hopefully become more in-tuned with the material.
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“white space”
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Think of your slides as billboards.
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Avoid off-the-shelf clip art
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Some animation is a good thing, but stick to the most subtle and professional
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Similarly, your audience should focus intently on what you’re saying, looking only briefly at your slides when you display them
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I absolutely agree, but when the presentation is posted on a large screen in the front of the class it will be difficult to not have the students stare at the screen the entire time. This kind of seems contradictory. If we are trying to make catchy and interesting slides, why are we also only wanting them to take a brief glance?
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You can use video clips within PowerPoint without ever leaving the application or tuning on a VCR. Using a video clip not only will illustrate your point better, it will also serve as a change of pace thereby increasing the interest of your audience. You can use audio clips (such as interviews) as well.
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Even worse is to take a free comp from a photo website and stretch it out. This introduces distracting visual noise (and says you are either cheap, lazy, or both). If you cannot afford images (or do not have a camera, etc.), then it's better to use none at all
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Sometimes the image is actually a pretty good one but it just needs a bit of editing so that the text will pop out more. The slide on the left below is not horrible but the balance is off and the text does not pop out as much as it could. For the slide on the right below, the image is cropped for better balance, giving more space for the text to breath (and a transparent box is added to help the text pop out a bit more, though there are other ways to do this).
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I have been experimenting with creating a transparent box to help the text show up when there is a picture with background that interferes. I am still not happy with the effect that I got. I'm thinking there is probably a better way.
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I would also like to perfect this technique. I agree that it helps the text stand out much better.
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White space is the open space surrounding items of interest. Presenters are often tempted to fill it up with additional content that competes for attention. But including a healthy amount of white space sharpens viewers’ focus by isolating elements. In this example, if we’d paired the text with a larger or more detailed image, your eye wouldn’t know where to begin, and the quote would have lost its power:
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Here, I'm wondering why they didn't enlarget he picture to cover the full screen as suggested earlier, and put that transparent box behind the text. Maybe they tried that and preferred this look. I find myself trying different things versions of my slides now as I am working on my current presentation project.
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Presentation software gives us many shiny, seductive elements to work with. But there’s beauty and clarity in restraint. Use simple visuals that support your message, and you’ll free people up to really hear — and adopt — your ideas.
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It can be challenging to reduce and simplify
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Follow these steps to reduce and simplify your text-heavy bullet points — your audience will thank you. Live long and prosper.
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(the star, of course, is your audience)
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“negative space.”
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The best slides may have no text at all.
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Try to avoid cheesy clip art like this.
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decrease the opacity and add a Gaussian Blur or motion filter in Photoshop
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Image is lame & has nothing to do with contentNot sure what two guys shaking hands in front of a globe has to do with the fertility rate in Japan. Yet even if we were talking about "international partnership" the image is still a cliché.
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People should be able to comprehend each one in about three seconds.
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Use high-quality graphics including photographs
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Audiences are much better served receiving a detailed, written handout as a takeaway from the presentation, rather than a mere copy of your PowerPoint slides
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Remove all extraneous copy from bullet points