Pt 5. Making Things Pretty — Consistency is Key
From restaurant furnishings to the uniform of the staff to the ingredients of the dish — the entire dining experience should tell one clear and coherent story. Remember, even Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Wellington will lose its charm if presented in a plastic takeout box. As a chef, you want to ensure the entire dining experience is smooth. Don’t execute a great dish only to have it ruined by a lackluster service.
Likewise, with deck design, you don’t want to have burnt a lot of midnight oil crafting a beautiful deck, only to leave a sour taste in the client’s mouth with improper engagement protocol. There are a couple of things to watch out for:
File formatting. Always send deliverables in file formats that have been mutually agreed on by you and your client. Nothing is more aggravating for a client than receiving a deck as a Keynote file when they only have a PC. Another amateur mistake is forgetting to deliver the custom font files. It doesn’t matter how good your deck looks if your client can’t view it. With this, also keep in mind that converting file formats between keynote and PowerPoint leaves room for formatting shifts. It never hurts to send both the native file (.key or .ppt) and also include a PDF. PDF files will make it easier for your client to view on their mobile device and eliminate the risk of designs unintentionally moving around.
File naming. With comments and edits flying back and forth between your team and your client, how do you keep track of the latest versions? You may have more than one designer working on the deck, and each designer might have their own file naming habits. You have to make sure these practices are standardized or else files will get lost. A good starting point for versioning is including the date before each file and keeping each file name consistent. For example: 030818 ClientNameProposal. This file indicates that it was last edited March 8th, 2018. This naming method can be used both externally with clients, and internally with your team.
File tracking. Restaurant staff will routinely check-in with you throughout the night to see how things are going. It’s important that they understand what works for you and what doesn’t so they can improve in the future. In the restaurant of building decks, Docusend is your best staff. You can use it to capture metrics such as who is viewing your deck, which slides they are spending the most time on, and even see if clients get through the entire deck. This data will provide you important guidance on how to augment the deck.
Incorporating these little details helps you present your deck in the best light possible.
Cooking Tip: Always triple check that you are sending the right file to your client. Sending wrong files will show your lack of attention to detail. This is unprofessional and will damage your legitimacy in the eyes of the client.
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This post concludes the mini design series. The tips above are just what I’ve picked up over the couple of weeks I’ve been at Lumenary. If you’re looking to spice up your any part of your company, whether that be your product, website, management, or slide deck, reach out to Lumenary. We’ve got designers with years of experience that are able to cook up something that is right for you.
Since our founding, we’ve helped build over 100 decks and have successfully raised over $200 million in venture funding for our clients.
Interested to see what we can put on your menu? Check us out at www.lumenary.co
