Food photography

Probably one of the few areas where visuals do not contribute to more effective communication is on restaurant menus. When I stand outside a place and see a menu with an image of a greasy hamburger on a laminated piece of paper I decide to move on, because I have eaten in too many bad restaurants…

How to position a data chart

There are two ways to center a data chart on a slide: center the entire chart image including labels and legends, or center just the chart area, ignoring the labels. I prefer the latter.

It does not have to be pretty

You have limited time, you have limited budget, and you are not a natural-born designer. Still you can design an effective presentation. Keep it minimal and tasteful.

1. No bullet points
2. One big idea per slide

Story prioritization

Some startups have a technology platform that can be used in multiple markets, and often the startup is not completely clear (yet) about how to prioritise them. In a first 20-minute investor pitch this creates a highly confusing story; an investor can only take in so much information in 20…

But we are a serious company!

I get that question often when presenting my deck loaded with impressionist paintings to a big corporate. Serious companies cannot make presentations like these.



Wrong. Visual presentations without bullet points can be highly professional, and highly serious. Just take a…

Pink URLs

PowerPoint does weird things with URLs and email addresses. When you type in either, it turns them automatically into a hotlink (sometimes useful), but applies a highly ugly formatting (a bright color with underlined text). A slide is not a web page where links compete for your attention, make sure to tone down the formatting or remove the hyperlink all together.

A double-edged sword

There are 2 benefits to using simple slides with little content and one focussed message:

1. They are much more effective than busy complex slides (most of us believe this by now)
2. They are a lot easier to design than busy complex slides (very…

Stress-inducing cover image?

A frightening, dramatic, stressful image can greatly enhance your message. But I would not use it on the cover page of your presentation. That page usually sits on the projector for a long time while the audience is walking in and you do not want to destroy their mood before…