The Hierarchy of Information in a Presentation — Slidelab

All good communication materials have a hierarchy of information. Have you ever wondered why?

The hierarchy of information allows the target audience, viewer or reader to know where to focus first. It also shows the order of importance of the information and content presented.

Whether on a newspaper ad, on the news or on a television show, it is always necessary to resort to a hierarchy of information, in order to engrave the main message in the minds of the target audience.

In a presentation, the hierarchy of information also plays a very important role, whether the presentation is only sent by email or presented live to an audience.

The hierarchy of information in a presentation can and should be worked on on several fronts, such as:

• Typography — we must use a larger and more imposing font for the headings, a medium font for the subtitles and a smaller font for the body. It’s always advisable to underline or highlight, in bold, key messages and expressions, especially when text areas are larger.
• Graphic elements — we can and should use boxes, circles or other visual elements to highlight important information or key elements in a presentation. This way, we attach more importance to the contents within these graphic elements, making them more memorable.
• Images, photos or illustrations — we must pay attention to the way images, photos and illustrations are displayed. This is because the angle, the alignment and the colors convey different messages and priorities.

Check out our examples in the infographic below:

Originally published at https://slidelab.pt on May 21, 2019.