Aug 6, 2019
Owning the Art of Storytelling
5 design tips to rock your next presentation.
Yes we have all spent countless hours on presentations, thinking that they are quite something, when they really, quite simply, are not.
Below you’ll find my 5 Star Tool Book to make your presentation (and you) SHINE!
1) BEWARE OF OVERLOAD
We have all sat through a presentation in utter horror at slides, that look a little something like the slide above. Yet some of us may not realize that we may be culprit to the same thing.
When designing a slide, ELIMINATION is key.
Try to summarize as much as you can, keep each slide with 6–8 words (of course you can cheat if you need).
A slide can not stand alone, the words or numbers on it need an explanation, that is what you are there for.
The slide is there to help you — you are not there to help the slide, hence keeping only the key words is crucial.
2) RULE OF THIRDS
The rule of thirds is a compositional guideline for design, photography and painting etc. It basically states that if you are to divide your frame by placing two lines vertically and two lines horizontally, the meeting point of the lines (where they intersect) is where you should place your most important object or text.
Sound confusing? Let’s look at the example below :
On the left you can see the red lines that equally divide the page. I have put the key facts on the top left intersection of the lines and bottom right intersection.
Why do we do it ? Because it draws the eye to it effectively, and adds more energy and interest in the composition than if you were to simply centre the subject.
3) FONTS
There are 3 S’s that you must know when working with fonts for your presentation.
SANS — STAY AWAY FROM THE “SERIFS”. Serif fonts are designed with curling edges. *My tip, don’t get too fancy with fonts — go for those that are easy to read.
STORY — What message are you trying to portray by the fonts you are using? It may be funky, playful or fancy etc .. just make sure it is readable!
SIZE- “Can my boss at the back of the room see what is written?
This is what you should be considering when deciding on font size.
4) TALK DATA TO ME
We have all survived a presentation with ineffective data visualisation. It could be a confusing graph, an overloaded table and infinite numbers yet zero concrete conclusions that are visually tangible.
Below are my 3 Data Fundamentals.
DATA DRIVEN — Ask yourself what message am I trying to convey and what is the most effective way to visually tell this story?
CLEAR — Same as the rule of elimination, try to keep the presentation of the data, as clear and simple as possible. This could mean just extracting a single number or statistic or it may be by simplifying a graph to depict a trend.
WOW — Get creative. Find a way to grab your viewers attention, emphasise, contrast numbers.
5) IMAGES
Pick an image that tells a story, unposed, and looks REAL.. (and high quality of course)
Images have to be authentic. This will take your presentation to new heights, and today it is so easy to accomplish with hundreds of free sites offering images you don’t even have to give any attribution to.
MY FAVES :
UNSPLASH.COM
pexels.com
burst.shopify.com
These are just the tip of the ice-berg of the presentation toolbox presentation, but they are enough to kick start you into owning your presentation, wowing the crowd and delivering your message in an effective way.. just don’t forget to have a little fun.
Yarin is a multi-disciplinary designer based in Jerusalem. Along with Avital Bayer, the two female founders run HiPitched, an agency in Jerusalem which focuses on Digital | Design | Strategy. Need help with your presentation? Give us a shout : avital@hipitched.com
