Graphic designs

How to create a slide?

Focus on the natural element of the image and deepen the message.

Look for contrast

Graphic gradients in colour

Vividity and focus

Brightness

Detailing of imperfections

Image blurring and transparency

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Avoid stock templates

It is better to have a bold plain presentation than to use a generic computerised version.

Look for images

Think of the emotion that motivated you for the topic.

Focus on impact with:

• vivid images

• images with colour gradients

• emotional and spiritual

• single images or contrast images

• colour (no more than 5 colours)

• shapes in the image

• good position (text can be centralised or guiding from left to right).

Create backgrounds with colour

Expect 20-30% loss of brightness from projection.

Plain backgrounds or backgrounds with colour gradients are effective.

- Dark rooms

Dark background (dark blue, grey, etc.) with white or light text have the highest contrast.

Increase leading, tracking and font weight.

Other good backgrounds are blue and green colour schemes.

Warm colours (such as orange and red) are best for objects in the foreground (they appear to be reaching out to the audience).

Remember to consider colour vision deficiency.

- Room with ambient light

When the lights are on during a presentation, your audience has more opportunity to see your facial expressions and body gestures. They will have a better understanding of your message.

Turn the lights off directly above the screen of your presentation.

White backgrounds with black or dark text increase clarity and readability. Avoid light colours on white.

Add context

Include most important information.

Use statistics.

Summarise with graphs, charts, tables to display data (make your own simple version).

Contrast text with image and background.

Give examples with case studies.

Simplify

Shorten sentences and reduce 2 to 3 letter words.

Use power words.

Avoid bullet points for slide with less than 3-5 lines.

Take out phrases and idioms.

Reduce learning time

No more than 6 lines of text.

Format letter spacing (kerning) and sentence spacing (leading).

Align words and colour text to create more focus.

Use Sans Serif fonts or easy to read font.

Choose readable font size.

Make it more vivid.

Balance font and position to page.

Ensure text is contrasting to gradients of colour in images.

Summarise. Give more information with less reading​.

Prioritise casing (lowercase is easier to read than uppercase).