Design principles for great presentations

We have all sat through one: slides full of text, a speaker reading them aloud and a bored room. There's even a joke name for it — death by PowerPoint. The problem isn't the program, it's the design. In this lesson you will learn the simple principles professionals use to make any topic clear and memorable.

Story first, slides second

1. 1
   Define the audience and the goal

   Who will be listening, and what should they know, feel or do afterwards? The same topic is told differently to teachers, classmates or investors.

2. 2
   Write the key message in one sentence

   For example: “If our school collects plastic bottles separately, we can send hundreds of kilograms of waste for recycling every year.” Any slide that doesn't serve this sentence is extra.

3. 3
   Build the story

   Beginning: a problem or an intriguing question. Middle: 3–4 key points with evidence. End: the conclusion and a clear call to action — what the audience should do now.

4. 4
   Draft it in Outline View

   In View › Presentation Views › Outline View, type only the titles — each title becomes a slide. If the titles read in order tell the story, the plan is ready. Only then move on to design.

One slide, one idea

An audience can't read and listen at the same time. So the slide shows, and the speaker tells. Write each slide title as a conclusion, not a topic label: instead of “Sales”, write “Sales doubled in spring”. The well-known 6×6 guideline — at most 6 bullets with about 6 words each — is a rule of thumb, not a law: often even less text is better. If there's too much text, split it across two slides or move it to the notes.

Hierarchy, contrast, alignment

• Visual hierarchy: the most important element should be the biggest, boldest or brightest. The eye goes to it first, then to the rest.
• Contrast: light text on a dark background or the other way round. Save the accent color for the key thing — if everything is red, nothing stands out.
• Alignment: every object should line up with something else. The red dashed smart guides that appear as you drag an object help with this.
• Consistency: titles, logo and slide number sit in the same place on every slide — Slide Master takes care of that.
• White space: empty space isn't wasted — it gives the eye room to rest and makes the key element stand out.

Data slides

A chart slide should answer one question: “So what?” Put the conclusion in the title and simplify the chart to prove it: delete unnecessary gridlines, 3D effects and the legend, show the key column in the accent color and the rest in gray. If a single number matters, you don't need a chart at all — a big “48%” in the middle of the slide is stronger.