Design Tips for Design Tips for PowerPointPowerPoint• 1st –– Backgrounds – Templates• Best fonts• Bullets –– 6 is max• Content is king!• Words on a slide –– 25 or less• Images –– key

Content and layout provided by Professor Keri Stephens

A picture isA picture isworth aworth a

thousand wordsthousand words

PowerPoint morevisualvisual

than written

PowerPoint rulesPowerPoint rules

Templates & color schemes

• Match the mood• Look professional

Pick a Pick a goodgood template template

• Don’t get the bluesblues• medium bluesmedium blues• navy blue OKnavy blue OK

BluesyBluesy templates – templates – yikes!yikes!Blue

diagonal

SoaringLock & key

Azure

Brighton

dark

Darkon

bright

GOOD GOOD GOOD

EVIL EVIL EVIL

Use high contrast colors

Why high-contrast?Why high-contrast?• Your PC screen is hi-res

• everything looks great• don’t trust it!

• big displays “wash out” colors• always TESTTEST on final equipment• alter template’s defaults as needed

See for yourselfSee for yourself

• Which line is easier to read?• Which line is easier to read?

Which line is easier to read?Which line is easier to read?

Be font savvyBe font savvy

SerifSerif bad• Times New

Roman• New York• Courier

Sans serifSans serif good• Arial• Arial Black• Futura• Tahoma

Which is easier to read?Which is easier to read?Once upon a time there lived a yellow bearnamed Pooh. He had a cat named Tigger anda law degree from Texas Tech. He wasallergic to chocolate.

Once upon a time there lived a yellow bearnamed Pooh. He had a cat named Tigger anda law degree from Texas Tech. He wasallergic to chocolate.

Lessvisual

complexityStronger

lines

Don’t waste bulletsDon’t waste bullets

• use• no• more• than• 66• in a list

Observe the limitObserve the limit

25

words per slidemax

Morelooksbusy

Avoid death by cheese…Avoid death by cheese…• Weird sound effects• Most transitions• Flying text• Strange animations • Bad clip-art

Clip-art Hall of ShameClip-art Hall of Shame

Content is King!Content is King!• Single phrases• Short lists• Quotes• Photographs• Video