- Several years ago, I was hired by a large corporation
to design a template system for their presentations.
At the time, each division had its own style.
Each manager used different typefaces and colors.
Confusion was the only quality they all shared.
My job was to help everyone maintain
a cohesive visual language and to give them
the best tools to create a dynamic presentation.
The keyword here is dynamic.
A presentation is broken into three components.
The visual presentation, typically onscreen or projected.
The spoken presentation as you walked through your solution,
and the printed version that you leave behind.
The onscreen presentation is a prompt
for you as you speak.
I prefer to create this in Keynote or a PDF file,
but there are other software options
such as PowerPoint that work.
I find it best to use a black background rather than white.
The black disappears when projected or on a screen.
The white shows every flaw on the surface.
It's important to stress that the onscreen
information does not need to explain everything.
That's what you are there to do.
Start with a simple title page.
Next state the assignment you're given.
Now present your findings.
The onscreen visuals might be bullet points
or very brief sentences.
Be as clear as possible.
And space the information out across slides.
You are only using pixels.
A screen of dense text makes people want to leave the room.
I use different colors to highlight information
just as I would on a printed object.
Say red for headlines, white for body text,
and yellow to highlight a point.
Now this is a critical page that you may need to refer to,
the brand or project attributes you
determined with your client.
Next, move on to the design phase.
Every designer has a different approach
to presenting a solution.
Some designers prefer to show three finished solutions.
I think it's important to explain your process
and the various options you explored.
The goal is to help the client feel like a collaborator
without overwhelming him or her with possibilities.
I show much of the exploration.
I start with small studies on two or three pages.
This helps answer the question,
"Did you try making a circular shape?"
Yes, right here.
I stay with black and white because I don't want color
to be an issue and someone discard an idea
because it was in green and they hate green.
From the multiple studies, I refine two
or three of the concepts and show them.
From these three, I choose one and refine it.
I might try different typefaces or colors.
Then I reveal the final version fullscreen
as a big hero shot.
From this, I show the project on applications.
This is a funneling process from many choices to one.
Clients typically agree if you explain your thinking
and why some solutions were discarded.
Seeing the solution applied to actual items
solidifies the idea and makes it real.
I end the presentation with the Next Steps
and a Thank you.
The reason for this is to be given approval
on the direction and move on to refinement
or to begin work on another aspect of the project.
It's a call to action.
Without this stated on the screen,
nobody knows what to do next.
Help them with that decision.
There's something about seeing it stated in text
that gives it relevance.