Ideas worth taking with you
Practical ideas for making complex information clearer, designing stronger slides, and communicating with greater impact.
Text placed over a photograph can become difficult to read when it crosses lighter areas of the image. A simple transparent gradient can solve the problem by creating additional contrast behind the text while allowing the rest of the photograph to remain…
Read storyReports are created for readers who can move through detailed information at their own pace. Presentation slides are seen while the audience is also listening to a speaker. Placing report-style paragraphs, tables and explanations onto slides can force people…
Read storyAn upward trend is commonly shown with a line chart, but a chart may contain more information than a presentation needs. When the important message is simply that a number has grown significantly, Growing Numbers offers another approach. Selected values…
Read storyPhotographs placed perfectly straight can sometimes make a slide feel rigid and predictable. Rotating selected images by around five degrees introduces movement and gives the arrangement a more natural, informal character without allowing the effect to…
Read storyYour final slide may remain visible for five, ten or even fifteen minutes while you close the presentation and take questions. That's valuable time to keep communicating with your audience. Instead of filling the screen with “Thank you”, “The End” or “Q&A”…
Read storyA title can lose its authority when it sits too close to the content or competes with surrounding visual elements. Placing it inside a simple box is one of the easiest ways to create separation and establish a clearer visual hierarchy.\n\nBut the box itself…
Read storyCharts are among the most useful ways to communicate business information. They help us compare numbers, recognise patterns and see changes that may be difficult to spot in a table of data. But there is a difference between a chart that displays data and one…
Read storyA crappy presentation slide isn't necessarily an ugly slide. It is a slide that makes the audience work unnecessarily hard to understand what the presenter is trying to communicate. Better slides start with a clear objective. Decide what you want the…
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