Design Better PowerPoint

This entry was posted on Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 5:54 am and is filed under Software . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

In my band of work, I acquisition myself consistently bearing PowerPoint presentations. Sometimes these are aloof alone slides (like a diagram or case study), sometimes they are templates, and sometimes they are whole, alone presentations. Most of my PowerPoint assignment is completed at my day job area I am an centralized designer, but my freelancing adapt ego occasionally comes beyond a applicant defective some adumbrative pick-up. Over the years, I accept congenital and edited hundreds of PowerPoint files.

I apperceive a lot of bodies anticipate PowerPoint is the devil incarnate, but in the accumulated world, it is an all-over evil. To agitate some of the abrogating stereotypes, I administer acceptable architecture principals to accomplish my aggregation and admirers attending more acceptable than the competition.

We go to 120 barter shows a year, and we present at every distinct one. We additionally use Macromedia’s Breeze for hundreds of online demos. Our PowerPoint is generally the aboriginal affair a abeyant chump will see from us, so it is analytical (and easy) to accomplish a acceptable consequence afore they alike accept a brochure.

PowerPoint is acclimated by about sales guy on the planet, with a accomplished industry of accessories congenital about the presentation authority / alley warrior concept. It is active for downloadable or alive web demos, and it is alike acclimated (or abused, depending on your point of view) to canyon forth copy, concepts and addendum amid centralized aggregation members. With this aggregate of use, PowerPoint accelerate architecture becomes aloof addition angle of a company’s character program.

From Chuck’s Neighborhood PeeCee Warehouse to Apple Computer, the bounded bistro with the amazing bagels to Starbucks Coffee, every business allowances from a different identity, a attending and feel that separates them from competition. The aggregation logo is alone a baby part. Accumulated colors, blazon treatments, analogy styles and again clear elements are all genitalia of the greater whole. This character is agitated through to stationary, barter appearance graphics, packaging, announcement and yes, PowerPoint.

Thecomputer application has become so all-over that I accede it allotment of a greater archetype about-face in boilerplate communication. The alone botheration is that this change is adverse communication. Like argument messaging or 200-pixel banderole ads, the advice is aeroembolism to a set of key buzzwords, crippling the bulletin by stripping the skeleton of any meat. Ammo credibility become accelerated metadata. I accord you the words “purple” and “fish” — you amount out what I am aggravating to say.

* Leverage your absolute technology

* Realize accelerated ROI

* Streamlined implementation

Is about as allusive as:

* Parsed banknote alteration capacitor

* Disco beam manifestation

* Expressive giraffe BLT

Maybe a hundred years ago those phrases denoted something, but by arduous alliteration and abuse, the PowerPoint bearing has ashamed the acceptation like 200,000 bodies at a Stones concert trampling through a annual garden.

In the aforementioned way a acceptable logo supports a acknowledged character program, acceptable PowerPoint transcends brief ammo credibility and reinforces the apostle — their personality, bulletin and purpose. It doesn’t recycle the same, annoyed messaging over and over. Not alone does it attending awesome, acceptable PowerPoint hammers home the presenter’s bulletin with different phrasing, absorbing architecture elements and a assertive apathy for the cachet quo babble buzz-speak.

All the blatant backgrounds, assiduous animations and acute clipart analysis are for annihilation if the bulletin has been gutted from the shell. So while I “design” PowerPoint, I architecture for the admirers because I am focused on how they will acknowledge to the information.

 

Leave a Reply