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In a web browser, click to advance
(using the space bar or PgDn doesn’t work properly)
Tips for avoiding a visual mess
N.B. This presentation was created on Powerpoint 2003.
Some of the animation does not work on earlier versions of powerpoint
Summary
Does this typeface remind you of anything?
• Summarise at the beginning and end
• This is not a “whodunnit”
- so tell the audience the plot
- but don’t tell them everything, otherwise they’ll walk out!
Summary - 2
Does this typeface remind you of anything?
• Take a dire presentation
• Improve it by looking at
- colour
- typefaces and text
- page layout
- common technical problems
• Rules are there so that you think before you break them
Remem
ber, yo
u do not have
to
try and in
vent s
ometh
ing tota
lly
new...
Background
• White, or lighter colours are usually better for backgrounds
Background
• White, or lighter colours are usually better for the background
Comic Sans
Aa Bb Cc Dd
Comic Sans was originally designed for
speech bubbles in comics.
• Is this the image we want to portray?
• May be appropriate for presentations to children• Never appropriate in a business environment
Banners – 1
• You’re not using paper - so you don’t need margins
• The banner should touch the edges of the page
• This gives you more room, as well
Banners – 2
• You’re not using paper - so you don’t need margins
• The banner should touch the edges of the page
• This gives you more room, as well
Banners – 3
• Don’t blend one colour into another
Banners – 3
• Don’t blend one colour into another
• Especially, resist the temptations of the rainbow fill
• Instead, use a solid colour with neutral tones...
Banners - 4Logo
...or a gradient (fade)
Ban
ner
s -
5Logo
If a template exists, use it!
RAL templates and a “house style” guide areavailable from:
http://www-internal.clrc.ac.uk/communications/corp_id.htm
The official CMS banner is available from
http://cmsdoc.cern.ch/cms/outreach/html/CMSdocuments/Logos/Logos.html
Ever seen it used?
Basics of Typography
NNSerif typeface Sans-serif typeface
- best for screen
Century Schoolbook
Garamond
Palatino
Times New Roman
Arial
Gill Sans
Tahoma
Trebuchet
Serif typeface - best for paper
Serif
Typefaces - Serif & Sans Serif
Broadway
Display, or decorative typefaces
Bauhaus
Edwardian Script Pla
ybill
Old English Text
- use for titles only - never for body text
Typefaces - Display
Typefaces - Usage
Page layout for Print What is Lorem Ipsum?
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. Itwas popularised in the 1960s with
the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Where does it come from?Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32.
Fig. 1: Type block
Main title usually serif, sans-serif or display font.
Sans-serif italics for captionsSerif font for
body text
Typefaces - Limiting Usage
• Maximum of three typefaces in a presentation
• Mixing typefaces just...
• ...creates a mess
• Make sure the host computer has your typefaces, or that PowerPoint embeds them
Typefaces - WordArt
The WordArt tool does not add class to presentations.
Emphasis - 1
• CAPITALS
- out-of-date
- look like you’re SHOUTING
• Underlined
- out-of-date
- looks like a web link if published online
• Exclamation marks!
- use sparingly, if at all
- one is enough - using lots doesn’t make you look like a wacky person!!!!!!
Emphasis - 2
Emphasis is better served by:
• Using bold type
• Using colour
• Using italics
or a combination of the three.
Type size
48 point
AC E
Q W E R T Y U
I O P A S
D F G H J
L Z X C V B
N M Q W E R
T Y U I O P
36 point
16 point
24 point
18 point
14 point
12 point
10 point
60 point
Minimum
Arranging Text
Avoid right alignment.
Avoid full justification.
Avoid centering.
Avoid / and ( ).
Avoid omitting word “the.”
Right alignment breaks lines in awkward places.
Justified alignment puts the text at the margins and adds extra spaces.
Centering makes words fall in strange places.
Right-aligned text with undesirable line
breaks
Justified text is aligned on both sides. It affects word spacing
Left-aligned text is considered to be most readable
Centred text with awkward line
breaks can look odd
Colour
Lightness
Saturation
Hue
Colour
Same hue, high contrastAcceptable
Same hue, high contrastAcceptable
White on dark colour Acceptable
Black on light colourUsually the best option
Colour
Different hue, low contrast Hard to read, makes your eyes go funny
Different hue, High contrastLegible, but garish?
Same hue, low contrastHard to read
Same hue, low contrastHard to read
Colour Blindness
Different hue, low contrast Hard to read, makes your eyes go funny
Different hue, High contrastLegible, but garish?
Same hue, low contrastHard to read
Same hue, low contrastHard to read
Previous slide as seen by person with deuteranopic colour blindness
You can check your own slides at www.vischeck.com
Graphics
Similar hue to logo - good
Neutral tone - good
Colour clash
Graphics
Ideally, maximum 5 colours per page (photographs excepted)
Too many colours
Text & Narrative
Text & Narrative
Text exactly the same as narrative - audience gets bored
Don’t put large amounts of text on a slide and then read it out verbatim. This format is far too wordy; and in any case, your audience will be able to scan read the text far more quickly than you can read it out.
So they’ll be twiddling their thumbs waiting for you to catch up with them.
Text & Narrative
Text completely different to narrative
She clasped him so tightly to her, she felt that that she might burst with passion in this final embrace.
He looked deep into her eyes. “Stay with me, Cath. We would be hurting no-one.”
“We should only be hurting ourselves,” she stammered, as the tears welled in her eyes, etc etc...
- the audience can’t listen and read at the same time - they’ll choose whichever is more interesting.
Text & Narrative
• Use key words and bullet points.
• Say the rest.
• Otherwise the audience reads while you talk and may miss an important point
• Beware of grammar pitfalls like the grocer’s apostrophe
• Don’t miss out the definite or indefinite article (“the” or “a”)
Jargon
• Make sure you explain unfamiliar TLAs and ETLAs as you introduce them
• TLA = Three Letter Acronym
• ETLA = Extended Three Letter Acronym
Graphics
Animation
...provided it’s subtle
• There’s nothing wrong with animation...
• This isn’t subtle
• Animation is lost if you convert to PDF
Graphics
Aren’t we clever at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory?
Graphics
Not when we do this, we’re not...
Graphics
Solution A: Leave it alone
Graphics
Solution B: Use the crop tool, and enlarge
Temporarily omit the banner if you need to
Graphics
These pictures face outwards which makes them “fall off the page.” There is also some clutter in the background
Graphics
By rearranging and cropping the pictures, the slide has better visual integrity
Graphs
You can clearly see from the graph that Hg = 5.4pkt
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
Series2
Graphs
Title
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2
X Axis Title (Units)
Y A
xis
Tit
le (
Un
its)
You can clearly see from the graph that Hg = 5.4pkt
Technical Issues
• Ensure the presentation works without a network connection
• Movies in Powerpoint are unreliable- better to use Windows Media Player etc
• Reduce file size by using the “Compress Picture” command in the Picture toolbar
• Make a pdf, just in case
Summary
• Powerpoint should support your talk, not dominate it
• Don’t re-invent the wheel
• Use the appropriate template
• Limit your usage of typefaces and colours
• Use a sans serif typeface
• Align text to the left (in general)
• Graphics should be clear and simple
Summary - 2
•Strive for:- Simplicity- Consistency- Elegance
End