why is presentation design important

A Beginner’s Guide To Presentation Design [+15 Stunning Templates]

Table of Contents

• What Is Presentation Design? 

What Is the Significance of Presentation Design?

Understanding various forms of presentations.

• 10 Tips to Create a Compelling Presentation Design 

5 Inspirational Presentation Design Trends

• 15 Best Presentation Design Templates to Consider 
• Key Takeaways 
• Conclusion 

Once you’ve mapped out your presentation, it’s time to tackle the intimidating task of creating a visually stunning presentation design . Creating an excellent presentation design becomes simpler by learning and adhering to fundamental presentation design standards. Here is a presentation design guide to creating an engaging and well-designed presentation,  regardless of the kind of project you are putting together. 

What Is Presentation Design?

Presentation design focuses on the visual facet of your presentation to captivate your audience. An outstanding presentation design may significantly impact your target audience, whether it is investors, employees, collaborators, or potential customers. The design must ideally complement the material of your presentation to help get your views across and convince your audience.

Creating a presentation for the first time to present in a professional setting or to a large audience might feel challenging. This guide to presentation design will walk you through the elements required for building a visually appealing presentation. 

A presentation is much more than just a layout of slides with text and graphics on them. You need to make sure it’s visually appealing too. It is mainly because visuals are much more engaging than written words in your presentation slides. Presentation design is crucial because it allows you to combine your ideas, narrative, graphics, facts, and statistics into one cohesive tale that drives your audience to the decision you desire.

A robust presentation design may unlock doors you never imagined could be opened. An effective design is much simpler to understand and earns a lot of credibility for your brand. You can communicate your message effectively, encourage your audience to take subsequent actions, and get them to engage with what you’re saying with excellent presentation design.

You have the potential to communicate your point of view, create a brand identity, and get your audience to see and hear you loud and clear when you build a presentation with impeccable design. The material of your presentation is crucial to your project’s success, but a poor design may divert the listener’s attention (and not for a good reason). Don’t let a lousy presentation design force you to lose out on a huge business opportunity.

Creating a winning presentation design involves combining design components to produce slides that will neither bore nor exhaust your audience. Instead, it will engage and inspire them effectively. So, instead of creating a lousy presentation using shoddy designs, it is significant to master the fundamentals of creating the best presentation design.

Presentations may be used for several purposes and can come in different forms. A quarterly sales presentation with your team will not be the same as a presentation focused on employee training. 

In the first scenario, you’ll strive to advance your team to achieve targeted sales growth. In the second, you’ll focus on imparting essential knowledge and skills to your employees. Looking at some of the most prevalent presentation types can give you a better idea about presentation design and when to begin constructing your own.

1. Investor pitch presentation

Using facts to convince rather than enlighten is the primary goal of this presentation style, as indicated by the name. If you’re a startup or a small firm looking for investment, you’ll need to use this form of presentation to your advantage. An investor pitch presentation will be required when you’re explaining your company’s user acquisition growth rate to prospective investors. Such presentations are created using the classic pitch deck concept to make the perfect, thoroughly professional pitch.

2. Educational presentations

Educational presentations are sometimes misunderstood as informative presentations since they are designed to teach viewers new skills and educate them on a new subject. You may need to produce a presentation for a school for various reasons, such as presenting an idea or providing an academic report.

Academic and corporate training programs often employ this presentation format. A video tutorial with comments and suitable themes may be added to the slides to improve them. Educators are always looking for new and unique methods to provide engaging and enthralling presentations for their students. Using an educational presentation template may guarantee that your presentation is visually appealing as well as easily comprehensible.

3. Webinar presentations

Webinar presentations are the newest craze, and they’re a win-win for presenters and the audience alike. A webinar refers to an online presentation, but unlike a video posted elsewhere, the webinar takes place in real-time and with the active participation of the audience. There are several themes and settings for which webinar presentations might be utilized. 

Short surveys, quizzes, and Q&A sessions let participants feel more involved in the webinar. Most commonly, a webinar is meant to disseminate information, but it may also act as a marketing tool, a source of leads, or a way to generate new sales and sign-ups.

4. Report presentations

A report presentation is intended to offer the necessary information to those engaged in a process or project. Report presentations are critical in ensuring these stakeholders that the procedures that must be followed for the project’s completion are effectively planned and executed. Sample reports are also accessible to these stakeholders. 

A report presentation may take numerous forms, such as a business report or an infographic. Reports on sales and marketing performance, website statistics, income, or any other data that your team or supervisors wish to know about can be presented during the report presentation.

5. Sales presentations

Sales presentations are often the initial phase in the sales cycle, and are, therefore,  critical. A sales presentation, often known as a sales pitch deck, is a form of presentation you would need to provide a prospective customer or client with when pitching a product or service.

Not every sales presentation is designed to close a deal right away. The goal might be to pique the curiosity of the people concerned. Sales presentations often include your company’s unique selling proposition (USP), product price points, and testimonials. Your sales presentation must be engaging and successful in influencing potential customers, using a well-thought-out approach.

6. Inspirational presentations

An inspiring presentation is a standard tool used by managers, team leaders, motivational speakers, and business owners to stimulate and encourage their audience. Inspirational presentations are essential to influencing others and achieving your individual and business goals. 

To get a desirable result from this kind of presentation, elicit an emotional response from the audience and motivate them to act. Using a presentation template that has been professionally developed provides you with an advantage over others. 

7. Keynote presentations

Keynote presentations are given in front of a larger audience. A good example can be those shown at TED Talks and other conferences. While the presenter gives the entire speech, there are advantages to using slides, such as keeping an audience engaged and on track.

10 Tips to Create a Compelling Presentation Design

If your presentation is lousy, you might come across as unprepared, uninterested, and lacking any credibility. A well-designed presentation makes you appear reliable and competent. Here are some fantastic points to help you develop the best presentation design.

1. Outline your content and fine-tune the message

It’s crucial to prepare your content and fine-tune your main message before you begin developing your presentation. Try to figure out what your target audience wants to know, what they may already know, and what will keep them engaged. Then, when you create your presentation’s content, keep those things in mind and furnish designs accordingly. It is vital to remember the key takeaway of each deck you create.

Too much information shown on a single slide is difficult for most viewers to comprehend. Make sure you don’t overwhelm your viewers; each presentation slide should include no more than one key point. Make your information as brief as possible, yet make it detailed enough and valuable.

2. Use more visuals and less text in your decks

Your audience recalls information considerably better when images complement it because they can better understand visual features than simple text. Presenters that employ images instead of words get more favorable feedback from their audience than those who rely only on text.

Using visual examples in slide decks increases audience engagement, encourages more questions, and registers your message in the minds of your audience. Remove any unnecessary text from your slides and replace it with visuals that will engage your audience.

You may use various methods for adding images, but the most common is using your data’s visual representation. It’s important to note that adding visuals does not mean sprinkling fancy images and symbols across your slides. Relevant images and iconography are a must.

3. Limit the use of fonts and colors

It is vital to pay attention to color schemes and other design components, such as fonts, to ensure your presentation succeeds. Although it may be thrilling to employ as many fonts and colors as possible, the best presentation design practices imply that you should only use two or three colors overall. Also, make sure the content in your slides is of a different font than the headers.

When it comes to color schemes, certain combinations work better than others. When choosing colors, keep in mind that they should not detract from the message you want to convey. Add an accent color to one or two of your primary hues for a cohesive look. It’s critical that the colors you choose complement one another and communicate your purpose effectively. Headers should be in one typeface, while body content should be in another. Add a third font for the accents, if you’d like. 

4. Create a visual hierarchy

Visual hierarchy is an important consideration when including text in a presentation. Visual hierarchy is one of the most significant but underappreciated presentation design principles. Color, size, contrast, alignment, and other aspects of your slide’s elements should all depend on their value.

When creating a visual hierarchy, you must clearly understand the story and its structure. Your audience’s attention should be drawn to the most critical components first, then to the second-most essential aspects, and so on. When creating your presentation, think about the story you want to tell and the visual hierarchy you need to support it. If you do this, the essential ideas you wish to convey will not be lost on your audience. 

5. Incorporate powerful visuals

It is important to use visual aids to make a compelling presentation: think images, icons, graphics, films, graphs, and charts. You should also ensure your slides’ aesthetics accurately portray the text they contain. Alternatively, if you don’t have words on the slide, make sure the visuals mirror the words you’re saying in your speech.

Visual aids should enhance your presentation. In addition, you’ll want to ensure that your slide has some form of visual representation so that you’re not just dumping a bunch of text onto a slide.

6. Avoid using bullet points

These days, any excellent presentation design instruction would encourage you to avoid bullet points as much as possible. They’re dull and old-fashioned, and there are more effective methods to display your material. 

A slide consisting of icons, images, and infographics is more exciting and conversational than one written in list form. Using bullet points for each slide’s primary theme is a standard PowerPoint design recommendation that you should refrain from while designing your presentation.  

7. In group presentations, segregate slides by theme

While making a group presentation, finding an appropriate balance of who should be demonstrating which presentation segment is often challenging. Arranging a group presentation by topic is the most natural technique to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to speak, without the presentation becoming incoherent. Your group presentation should be divided into sections based on the subject.

Prepare your presentation ahead of time so that everyone understands when it’s their turn to talk. It’s up to each person in the group to pick one thing to talk about when they give this presentation to investors or potential customers. For instance, the business model slide may be addressed by one person, while another can discuss the marketing approach.

8. Maintain consistency

Consistency is essential when you work on the design of your presentation. Your presentation is still one presentation, no matter how many slides it has. Design elements, color schemes, and similar illustrations can all be used to achieve design consistency.

Although some of the slides in your presentation may appear to be styled differently than the others, the overall presentation must be held together by a single color scheme. To ensure that your viewers don’t lose track of what you’re saying, make sure each of your slides is visually connected.

9. Emphasize important points

It is pertinent to use shapes, colorful fonts, and figures pointing to your material. They help emphasize vital information to make it stand out. This not only keeps the reader’s attention on the page but also makes your design more streamlined. Emphasizing the point you’re trying to put across with visual elements makes it easier for your audience to grasp what you’re saying.

10. Integrate data visualization

Consider utilizing a chart or data visualization to drive your argument home, especially if you have vital figures or trends you want your audience to remember. This might be a bar graph or a pie chart that displays various data points, a percentage indication, or an essential value pictogram. 

Confident public speaking mixed with good visuals may greatly influence your audience, inspiring them to take action. The use of design features makes it simpler for your audience to grasp and recall both complex and fundamental data and statistics, and the presentation becomes much more enjoyable too. 

Even though trends come and go, effective presentation design paired with some inspiration to get you started will always be in style. Think about what’s current in the world of graphic design before you create a staggering presentation deck for a creative proposal or a business report. To help you better, we’ve come up with a list of the most popular presentation design concepts. 

1. Dark backdrops with neon colors

While white backgrounds have long dominated web design, the advent of “dark mode” is gradually altering that. Designers may use dark mode to play with contrast and make creative things stand out.

This is a great way to get your audience’s attention and keep them interested in what you have to say. The key is to pick one or two bright colors and utilize them as highlights against a dark backdrop, rather than using an abundance of them.                                                                                            

2. Monochromatic color schemes

In recent years, color schemes originating from one base hue, such as monochromatic color schemes, have been given a subdued pastel makeover. The usage of monochromatic color schemes in presentation design is always seen as clean and professional. It’s ideal for pitch decks and presentations since monochrome is generally utilized to assist people in concentrating on the text and message, rather than the colors inside a design.

3. Easy-to-understand data analysis

The fundamentals of data visualization should be restored. In other words, even the most complicated measurements may be made easy to grasp via effective design. Designers, marketers, and presenters are generating snackable stats in the same way infographics have found a place on visual-first social networks.

Create a dynamic proposal or presentation with the help of an infographic template that is easy to use. You can create distinctive slides with animations and transitions to explain your point more effectively. With the help of templates, you can convert your data into bar graphs, bar charts, and bubbles that represent your idea simply, guaranteeing that every data point is simple to comprehend.

4. Straightforward minimalism

Minimalism is a design trend that will probably never go out of style. It has always been a show-stopper. Each slide should offer just enough information to let the reader comprehend what’s going on. You should use a color palette that isn’t distracting. Your simple presentation will enthrall your audience if you boldly highlight your most significant points and use trendy fonts.

5. Geometric structures

There’s a good reason why designers are so fond of geometric patterns, 3D objects, and asymmetrical layouts. They’re basic yet stunning, making them perfect for times you want to make a lasting impression with the information you’re sharing. 

More cutting-edge components, such as 3D shapes and floating objects, are used in presentation graphics these days. Go for a presentation template that contains editable slides that enable you to easily add your visuals and material to brighten your presentation. 

15 Best Presentation Design Templates to Consider

In the case of presentation designs, you should never sacrifice quality. Ideally, you should have a design that improves your brand’s image, amplifies your message, and enables you to deliver various content forms efficiently. 

The problem is, it’s pretty challenging to locate premade themes and templates of this merit. We’ve made it easy for you by putting together a list of the best 15 presentation design templates out there. These presentation design suggestions are a great place to start.  

1. Business plan presentation template

This is a crucial business presentation template with a significant emphasis on visualizations and graphics. To create a business strategy, you need this presentation template. It consists of several crucial elements, such as a mind map, infographics, and bar graphics. Replace the placeholder text with your own to complete the presentation.

2. Pitch deck template

Startups seeking financing require a clean and eye-catching pitch deck design to impress investors. You may use it to present significant aspects and achievements of your company to investors. You can include slides for mockups, testimonials, business data like statistics, and case studies.

The pitch deck presentation template is excellent for your next client pitch, as it allows you to pick from a range of different startup tales to showcase the most crucial features of your firm.

3. Brand guidelines presentation template

Creating a bespoke presentation talking about the company dos and don’ts may be a terrific approach to discuss your brand rules with your team and stakeholders. You can easily show off your brand’s typeface and color schemes using this presentation template.

4. Marketing plan presentation template

Marketing is a vast concept, and the slides included in this design stock set reflect that broadness. A well-executed marketing strategy is essential to the success of any team. A marketing plan presentation template should ideally include slides for charts, timelines, and competition research. You can create executive summaries or mission statements with the below-mentioned presentation’s elegant and minimalistic slides.

5. Keynote presentation template

This keynote template has a lovely color scheme that is equal parts captivating and professional. You can employ a keynote presentation template if you’re going to be a keynote speaker at an upcoming event and want to ensure that your design stands out.

In addition to several slides, the template comes with various predefined color schemes. This template is perfect for any business presentation requiring a well-designed layout.

6. Training manual presentation template

A training manual presentation template may be used to convey new hire training to your workforce. It is essential for the design to be as clean and straightforward as possible.

These training material decks created with a predesigned template make it easy for new employees to learn the ins and outs of their jobs. 

7. Case study presentation template

A case study is an excellent way to illustrate a point in your presentation. The best way to attract new consumers using a case study presentation is to show them how your existing customers are using your product or service. Make sure to highlight how your product solved their pain points.

8. Interactive brief presentation template

It’s common to provide a creative brief when working with a contractor, freelancer, or designer to ensure everyone involved understands what the final product should look like.

An interactive presentation template like a creative brief is a terrific concept for absorbing and memorizing that information.

9. Workforce handbook presentation template

When hiring a new employee, your company needs to create an employee handbook to ensure they know the company’s objective and general working norms. You may connect this presentation to your intranet or website, or just distribute the digital version through a password-protected or private link.

10. Ignite presentation template

Using this template as a starting point for an Ignite presentation would be ideal. An Ignite presentation is a five-minute presentation consisting of 20 slides, compelling the speaker to speak fast and concisely. As a result, an Ignite presentation template prevents you from using too much text on any slide. 

11. Informative presentation template

The need to create an educational presentation may arise due to several reasons, such as onboarding new hires, explaining a concept to students, and more. An informative presentation template is a suitable solution in all cases.

Regardless of who they are meant for, presentations are the optimal format for sharing information with any audience. Create an educational presentation that you can embed in a blog post or publish on several platforms online. Make presentations to provide knowledge at conferences and other meetings.

12. SWOT analysis presentation template

A strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis is a valuable tool for gauging where your business stands, and how your strategic planning measures are paying off. This presentation template is an excellent tool for SWOT analysis or refining your marketing strategy.

It comes in several formats; circular design and hexagonal shapes being two of them. You may modify the colors as desired.

13. Competitor analysis presentation template

Knowing your competition and what they offer is essential for a successful business. Competitor analysis means researching your competitors’ key strengths and weaknesses, which can, eventually, help you define your goals and USPs more clearly. 

There are built-in interactive elements in this competitor analysis presentation template, which can help hook your audience. 

14. Bold presentation template

Ideal for non-corporate sales presentations, a bold and daring presentation template includes slides with a vibrant, attention-grabbing theme that is neither overbearing nor distracting. The color combination is striking without being oppressive.

15. Company overview template

Creative presentation templates are all the rage today. Using a lot of negative space will allow your audience to take a breath and direct their attention to the most crucial parts of your presentation. It is suitable for corporate presentations, since it doesn’t stick out more than is necessary.

Key Takeaways

• Audiences tend to forget a large percentage of what was addressed before the presentation is through. This is why it is important to create a presentation design that is memorable.
• A presentation is much more than just a layout of slides with text and graphics on them. You need to make sure it’s visually appealing too. 
• Use a wide range of best presentation design tools, components, and styles until you discover the one that resonates with your target audience. 
• Consider the most recent trends and best practices, and dedicate time to thoroughly crafting every presentation.
• Fine-tuning your message, avoiding the use of bullet points, incorporating visual hierarchy, and incorporating data visualization are a few design tips to create a winning presentation. 

Both your presentation style and design are crucial. You can deliver more dynamic, memorable presentations by creating visually pleasing decks. It’s advisable to create a resourceful presentation design if you want to elevate your personal as well as professional credibility.

Take cues from some popular presentation templates, and enhance one little aspect at a time. Now is the time to practice everything you’ve learned in this presentation design guide. As with any other visual communication, creating the best presentation design requires time, effort, and patience. Never be afraid to try something new; you’ll quickly see the benefits a strong presentation can have on your project.

A presentation design puts ideas, tales, words, and pictures into a series of slides that convey a narrative and engage your audience.

A presentation design template is used to achieve a uniform look for your slides. Templates are pre-made presentations into which you may insert your data.

People remember images and words better than just words. The design of your slides should be simple and consistent. This way, your audience will focus on the most important points.

Use high-quality images to back your message, but don’t use too many special effects. Make sure you don’t read from your slides.

A well-presented, memorable introduction and conclusion are two essential parts of a presentation. Don’t forget them when you write your outline.

Presentation design is essential, because it helps you weave your ideas, narrative, images, facts, and statistics into a unified story that leads your audience to the choice you want them to make.

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The Golden Rules of Presentation Design

You don’t have to be a professional graphic designer to master the ins and outs of what makes a visually enticing presentation. While building a super-polished template from scratch might seem daunting, all you really need to know are a few basic principles of presentation design to take your slides from messy and unprofessional to clean, informative, and on-brand.

These days, presentation slide templates and tools abound – from the default options in Powerpoint and Google Slides , to services like SlidesCarnival , Canva , Envato and more that specialize in compiling eclectic template options. While these resources can take the guesswork out of creating sleek and professional deck designs, it’s still up to you to optimize each slide to communicate your ideas as clearly as possible. Furthermore, just because a presentation template looks nice, doesn’t necessarily mean it fits your brand aesthetic and message – and seeing the same common templates reused repeatedly can make yours more forgettable. 

No matter what program you use to build your presentations, there are a few principles of presentation design you should always bear in mind.

The Most Important Rule: Less is More

We’ve all heard this one before, yet it’s still tempting to try and cram as much information as you can onto a slide. Remember that the focus should always remain on the presenter and the story they’re telling – your presentation is an accompaniment to help you illustrate the ideas you’re communicating, not a textbook to be studied. 

Let’s break down a few of the easiest ways to declutter your slides:

• Use key words, not full sentences What’s the main idea for each slide? Try to distill it into a single word or short phrase, rather than spelling out the complete thought as a sentence. When in doubt, use the 6×6 rule: no more than 6 bullet points per slide, with less than 6 words per line.
• Utilize white space – balance is your friend! Afraid that you’re wasting real estate by not filling every corner of your slide? The eye naturally needs a place of rest, so don’t be afraid of white space. This also helps funnel and direct the viewer’s attention where you want it to go. Avoid the temptation to blow your content up to fill all the available space on your slide. Even if it’s still just a couple sentences of information, this can make it look overwhelming. 

• Break up your ideas if needed Don’t be shy about spreading out information between multiple slides, and pace yourself! A “title slide” to introduce a new topic can provide a nice (and necessary) breather that balances out the pace of your presentation, preventing audience exhaustion.
• Use fewer fonts (aim for 2 or maybe 3 max) Mixing and matching typefaces takes a fairly well-trained eye, but there are a couple of handy resources on the web to help: FontJoy and Typ.io will both auto-generate a pairing of fonts that go well together visually. Other rules of thumb: keep body copy typefaces simple and sans-serif (using too much of a display typeface hurts legibility), use caps lock only for emphasis and visual contrast, and understand how typefaces can help convey brand sentiments.
• Choose colors and fonts wisely You may be designing a presentation for work, in which case you likely have a couple established brand colors to use throughout your presentation. If you’re making up a color scheme from scratch, bear in mind: (A) Don’t use too many colors. Using too many different colors will make the presentation look messy, busy, or incoherent – so focus on one or two key, recurring colors that’ll lend a sense of cohesion throughout all your slides. (B) Try to get one or two vibrant, saturated colors to energize your presentation with a more youthful energy – muted and neutral tones run the risk of boring your audience or looking overly corporate.

Use Visual Hierarchy

Create a clear delineation between the most and the least important information. This can be done in a few ways:

• Contrast Don’t let your text or other elements disappear in a monochromatic fog; up the contrast to make things pop off the page.
• Background vs. Foreground images If you want to overlay text on top of an image, make sure to use photos with copy space and more subtle, uncluttered background elements. Can’t find enough white space in the pic to give your text breathing room? Consider adding a photo filter, color block, or even a gentle and more subtle gradient block to put beneath your text.
• Size Use 30+ pt. text sizes to keep your copy legible even from a distance – and keep it bolder for titles, headings, and key words. Be sure that the size you use for headings is at least 50% larger than the size you’re using for body text to better call out your main ideas.
• Alignment One of the single biggest threats to legibility – and your professional credibility – is a “scattershot” slide with text and images thrown together with no rhyme or reason. Instead of combining alignments (center-aligned with left-aligned headers or body copy, for example), stick with left-alignment for quick scanning. Your best bet? Use a grid system instead of plopping elements on the page and hoping for the best. Align similar elements along vertical and horizontal lines to give each slide a sense of rhythm and repetition. Tidy groupings of similar items (e.g. having all your headings, descriptions, pictures and icons along the same lines) bolsters scannability.

Use Icons to Get Your Message Across Faster (and More Beautifully)

Icons are a critical component of presentation design, as they help your audience digest the ideas you’re covering quicker than words alone. In fact, studies have shown that audiences will remember an image paired with a verbal cue 55% better than a verbal cue alone – a phenomenon known as the Picture Superiority Effect (and a critical component of Dual Coding Theory ).

Some may even argue that icons can (and should!) take the place of bullet points.

It’s especially critical to bring in visual aids like icons when you’re covering topics that are more abstract or technologically complex – consider how much words on a page can fall flat and fail to “click” in your audience’s minds, vs. bringing in a quick and concise visual that will help people place the key ideas in a clear, real-world context.

Visual cues like this “deliver the punchline” for your viewers before you even need to – so your ideas can not only jump off the page, but stay in your audience’s memories for longer.

Nonetheless, you’ll need to make sure you’re using your icons as effectively as possible. 

Using Noun Project Icons in Your Presentations

• Search Icons Get all the icons you could ever need from Noun Project . Our collection is literally millions of icons deep – and each one can be customized, colored, and downloaded as a PNG or SVG.
• Use Apps & Plugins Instantly insert icons without leaving your workflow – Noun Project has apps and plugins for Google Slides , Powerpoint , Adobe Products and more. (Plus, Noun Project apps now support SVG icons – so you can use and customize vectors directly inside apps like Powerpoint).
• Go Pro for Royalty-Free Downloads Customize and insert unlimited icons royalty-free with a Noun Pro account. When you go Pro, you can instantly recolor and click-and-drag icons straight from the Noun Project window without needing to worry about attributions.

Tip: Icons are essential to help an important point “click” in people’s brains more quickly. The Noun Project Add-On for Powerpoint lets you instantly search, recolor, click and drag icons instantly all without having to leave your window (and a Noun Pro account lets you insert unlimited icons).

Use Icons to Make Your (Bullet) Point

• Condense & Summarize Your Big Ideas with Icons Use icons as a direct translation of your information – or an obvious metaphor that won’t leave people guessing. Noun Project offers a dazzling range of icons, from the extremely literal (bar graphs, money, medical icons and more) to more broad and abstract concepts (gerrymandering, sanctuary city defunding, you name it)…. But with any icon you need, choose one that doesn’t need too much deciphering, or provide an explanatory caption where necessary. As with all things design, go by the famous maxim “ Don’t Make Me Think .”

• Aim for Visual Consistency Icons come in numerous styles: thin line icons, thick “glyph”-style icons, sharp, rounded, pixel-perfect or hand-drawn. Pick a style that suits your brand and message, then stick with it. Selecting icons from the same collection, or the same creator, will help maintain visual consistency – whereas a mixing and matching of styles will appear messier and less professional.

Tip: Try to select icons from the same collection so that they have a consistent visual style. ( Basic Interface icon collection by Caesar Rizky Kurniawan ).

• Use Icons to Accentuate Your Theme Icons don’t need to be used merely to reinforce your statistics – they can usher people through your narrative and play off your visual theme as well. Think about the stylistic possibilities of your overall presentation – e.g., bringing in a nostalgic ‘80s theme with 8-bit pixel icons or discussing holistic health with naturalistic, ecological icon collections. 

Tip: Browse the latest topical icon collections on Noun Project .

Use Photos to Suit the Mood

Icons aren’t the only must-have in packing a visual punch. While we’ve already written dedicated articles about the best ways to use stock photos in Powerpoint or even in social media campaigns , here are a few quick rules of thumb:

• Use photos that are natural, authentic, diverse, and inclusive Ditch the overly-posed and unnatural corporate stock photoshoots of bygone eras. It’s important to make sure your photos feature a variety of ages, ethnicities, body types, sexualities and more so that no matter who your audience, they’ll feel included (Hint: check out photo collections like Diversity in Tech and Empowered Women on Noun Project).

Tip: Search for diverse stock photos that don’t feel too “stock-y.” Relaxed poses and natural lighting and textures will look more suitable than the overly staged corporate photo shoots of yore. Explore the Diversity in Tech or Empowered Women collections on Noun Project for inspiration.

• Focus on single background images – not a whole album. Usually one supporting image is enough – there’s no need to include multiple images on a single slide as this muddles your message. If, perhaps, you want to show multiple photos to recap an event or show steps in a process, be sure to align your photos, use a grid system, or give each one even dimensions through thoughtful cropping.
• Visually unify your photos using color overlays Apps like Powerpoint will typically let you adjust brightness and hue or overlay a color so that multiple disparate photos can appear unified – and reinforce your brand.

Tip: While a full-color photo may be eye-catching, consider using a color overlay (at right) with your brand or theme colors to give a stronger air of sophistication and cohesion to disparate photos. (In Powerpoint, with an image selected, go to Picture Format > Color > More Variations to set your own color).

Get Started on Your Next Presentation Design With Noun Project.

Explore icon and photo collections, and unlock unlimited royalty-free icon downloads with Noun Pro .

Ready to try out different types of presentation design apps? If you’re looking for friendly, web-based alternatives to the classic Powerpoint, try out free options like Google Slides or even Canva .

Hungry for more design tips? View more on our blog at blog.thenounproject.com .

Marketing Communications Manager at Noun Project, Designer and Illustrator.

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Presentation design guide: tips, examples, and templates

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera January 09, 2023

Presentation design defines how your content will be received and remembered. It’s responsible for that crucial first impression and sets the tone for your presentation before you’ve even introduced the topic. It’s also what holds your presentation together and guides the viewer through it. That’s why visually appealing, easily understandable, and memorable presentation design is what you should be striving for. But how can you create a visually striking presentation without an eye for design? Creating a visually appealing presentation can be challenging without prior knowledge of design or helpful tools. 

With this presentation design guide accompanied by Prezi presentation examples and templates, you’ll have no problem creating stunning and impactful presentations that will wow your audience.

In this guide, we’ll start by looking at the basics of presentation design. We’ll provide a simple guide on creating a presentation from scratch, as well as offer helpful tips for different presentation types. In addition, you’ll discover how to organize information into a logical order and present it in a way that resonates with listeners. Finally, we’ll share tips and tricks to create an eye-catching presentation, and showcase some great presentation examples and templates you can get inspired by!

With our comprehensive introduction to designing presentations, you will be able to develop an engaging and professional presentation that gets results!

What is presentation design?

Presentation design encompasses a variety of elements that make up the overall feel and look of the presentation. It’s a combination of certain elements, like text, font, color, background, imagery, and animations. 

Presentation design focuses on finding ways to make the presentation more visually appealing and easy to process, as it is often an important tool for communicating a message. It involves using design principles like color, hierarchy, white space, contrast, and visual flow to create an effective communication piece.

Creating an effective presentation design is important for delivering your message efficiently and leaving a memorable impact on your audience. Most of all, you want your presentation design to support your topic and make it easier to understand and digest. A great presentation design guides the viewer through your presentation and highlights the most essential aspects of it. 

If you’re interested in learning more about presentation design and its best practices , watch the following video and get practical insights on designing your next presentation:

Types of presentations

When creating a presentation design, you have to keep in mind several types of presentations that shape the initial design you want to have. Depending on the type of presentation you have, you’ll want to match it with a fitting presentation design.

1. Informative

An informative presentation provides the audience with facts and data in order to educate them on a certain subject matter. This could be done through visual aids such as graphs, diagrams, and charts. In an informative presentation, you want to highlight data visualizations and make them more engaging with interactive features or animations. On Prezi Design, you can create different engaging data visualizations from line charts to interactive maps to showcase your data.

2. Instructive

Instructive presentations teach the audience something new. Whether it’s about science, business strategies, or culture, this type of presentation is meant to help people gain knowledge and understand a topic better. 

With a focus on transmitting knowledge, your presentation design should incorporate a variety of visuals and easy-to-understand data visualizations. Most people are visual learners, so you’ll benefit from swapping text-based slides for more visually rich content.

3. Motivational

Motivational presentations try to inspire the audience by giving examples of successful projects, stories, or experiences. This type of presentation is often used in marketing or promotional events because it seeks to get the audience inspired and engaged with a product or service. That’s why the presentation design needs to capture and hold the attention of your audience using a variety of animations and visuals. Go beyond plain images – include videos for a more immersive experience.

4. Persuasive

Persuasive presentations are designed to sway an audience with arguments that lead to an actionable decision (i.e., buy the product). Audiences learn facts and figures relevant to the point being made and explore possible solutions based on evidence provided during the speech or presentation.

In a persuasive presentation design, you need to capture your audience’s attention right away with compelling statistics wrapped up in interactive and engaging data visualizations. Also, the design needs to look and feel dynamic with smooth transitions and fitting visuals, like images, stickers, and GIFs.

How to design a presentation

When you first open a blank presentation page, you might need some inspiration to start creating your design. For this reason, we created a simple guide that’ll help you make your own presentation from scratch without headaches.

1. Opt for a motion-based presentation

You can make an outstanding presentation using Prezi Present, a software program that lets you create interactive presentations that capture your viewer’s attention. Prezi’s zooming feature allows you to add movement to your presentation and create smooth transitions. Prezi’s non-linear format allows you to jump between topics instead of flipping through slides, so your presentation feels more like a conversation than a speech. A motion-based presentation will elevate your content and ideas, and make it a much more engaging viewing experience for your audience.

Watch this video to learn how to make a Prezi presentation:

2. Create a structure & start writing content

Confidence is key in presenting. You can feel more confident going into your presentation if you structure your thoughts and plan what you will say. To do that, first, choose the purpose of your presentation before you structure it. There are four main types of presentations: informative, instructive, motivational, and persuasive. Think about the end goal of your presentation – what do you want your audience to do when you finish your presentation – and structure it accordingly.

Next, start writing the content of your presentation (script). We recommend using a storytelling framework, which will enable you to present a conflict and show what could be possible. In addition to creating compelling narratives for persuasive presentations, this framework is also effective for other types of presentations.

Tip: Keep your audience in mind. If you’re presenting a data-driven report to someone new to the field or from a different department, don’t use a lot of technical jargon if you don’t know their knowledge base and/or point of view.

3. Research & analyze 

Knowing your topic inside and out will make you feel more confident going into your presentation. That’s why it’s important to take the time to understand your topic fully. In return, you’ll be able to answer questions on the fly and get yourself back on track even if you forget what you were going to say when presenting. In case you have extra time at the end of your presentation, you can also provide more information for your audience and really showcase your expertise. For comprehensive research, turn to the internet, and library, and reach out to experts if possible.

4. Get to design

Keeping your audience engaged and interested in your topic depends on the design of your presentation.

Now that you’ve done your research and have a proper presentation structure in place, it’s time to visualize it.

4.1. Presentation design layout

What you want to do is use your presentation structure as a presentation design layout. Apply the structure to how you want to tell your story, and think about how each point will lead to the next one. Now you can either choose to use one of Prezi’s pre-designed templates that resemble your presentation structure the most or start to add topics on your canvas as you go. 

Tip: When adding content, visualize the relation between topics by using visual hierarchy – hide smaller topics within larger themes or use the zooming feature to zoom in and out of supplementary topics or details that connect to the larger story you’re telling.

4.2. Color scheme

Now it’s time to choose your color scheme to give a certain look and feel to your presentation. Make sure to use contrasting colors to clearly separate text from the background, and use a maximum of 2 to 3 dominating colors to avoid an overwhelming design.

4.2. Content (visuals + text)

Add content that you want to highlight in your presentation. Select from a wide range of images, stickers, GIFs, videos, data visualizations, and more from the content library, or upload your own. To provide more context, add short-format text, like bullet points or headlines that spotlight the major themes, topics, and ideas in your presentation. 

Also, here you’ll want to have a final decision on your font choice. Select a font that’s easy to read and goes well with your brand and topic.

Tip: Be careful not to turn your presentation into a script. Only display text that holds significant value – expand on the ideas when presenting. 

4.3. Transitions

Last but not least, bring your presentation design to life by adding smooth, attractive, and engaging transitions that take the viewer from one topic to another without disrupting the narrative. 

On Prezi, you can choose from a range of transitions that take you into the story world and provide an immersive presentation experience for your audience. 

For more practical tips read our article on how to make a presentation . 

Presentation design tips

When it comes to presentations, design is key. A well-designed presentation can communicate your ideas clearly and engage your audience, while a poorly designed one can do the opposite.

To ensure your presentation is designed for success, note the following presentation design tips that’ll help you design better presentations that wow your audience.

1. Keep it simple

Too many elements on a slide can be overwhelming and distract from your message. While you want your content to be visually compelling, don’t let the design of the presentation get in the way of communicating your ideas. Design elements need to elevate your message instead of overshadowing it. 

2. Use contrasting text colors

Draw attention to important points with contrasted text colors. Instead of using bold or italics, use a contrasting color in your chosen palette to emphasize the text.

3. Be clear and concise. 

Avoid writing long paragraphs that are difficult to read. Limit paragraphs and sections of text for optimum readability.

4. Make sure your slide deck is visually appealing

Use high-quality images and graphics, and limit the use of text to only the most important information. For engaging and diverse visuals, go to Prezi’s content library and discover a wide range of stock images, GIFs, stickers, and more.

5. Pay attention to detail

Small details like font choice and alignments can make a big difference in how professional and polished your presentation looks. Make sure to pay attention to image and text size, image alignment with text, font choice, background color, and more details that create the overall look of your presentation.

6. Use templates sparingly

While templates can be helpful in creating a consistent look for your slides, overusing them can make your presentation look generic and boring. Use them for inspiration but don’t be afraid to mix things up with some custom designs as well. 

7. Design for clarity

Create a presentation layout that is easy to use and navigate, with clear labels and instructions. This is important for ensuring people can find the information they need quickly and easily if you end up sharing your presentation with others.

8. Opt for a conversational presentation design

Conversational presenting allows you to adjust your presentation on the fly to make it more relevant and engaging. Create a map-like arrangement that’ll encourage you to move through your presentation at your own pace. With a map-like design, each presentation will be customized to match different audiences’ needs. This can be helpful for people who have different levels of expertise or knowledge about the subject matter.

9. Be consistent 

Design consistency holds your presentation together and makes it easy to read and navigate. Create consistency by repeating colors, fonts, and design elements that clearly distinguish your presentation from others.

10. Have context in mind

A great presentation design is always dependent on the context. Your audience and objective influence everything from color scheme to fonts and use of imagery. Make sure to always have your audience in mind when designing your presentations.

For more presentation tips, read the Q&A with presentation design experts and get valuable insights on visual storytelling.

Presentation templates

Creating a presentation from scratch isn’t easy. Sometimes, it’s better to start with a template and dedicate your time to the presentation’s content. To make your life easier, here are 10 useful and stunning presentation templates that score in design and engagement. If you want to start creating with any of the following templates, simply go to our Prezi presentation template gallery , select your template, and start creating! Also, you can get inspired by the top Prezi presentations , curated by our editors. There you can discover presentation examples for a wide range of topics, and get motivated to create your own. 

Business meeting presentation

The work desk presentation templates have a simple and clean design, perfectly made for a team or business meeting. With all the topics visible from start, everyone will be on the same page about what you’re going to cover in the presentation. If you want, you can add or remove topics as well as edit the visuals and color scheme to match your needs.

Small business presentation

This template is great for an introductory meeting or pitch, where you have to summarize what you or your business does in a few, highly engaging slides. The interactive layout allows you to choose what topic bubble you’re going to select next, so instead of a one-way interaction, you can have a conversation and ask your audience what exactly they’re interested in knowing about your company.

Mindfulness at work presentation

How can you capture employees’ attention to explain important company values or practices? This engaging presentation template will help you do just that. With a wide range of impactful visuals, this presentation design helps you communicate your ideas more effectively. 

Business review template

Make your next quarterly business review memorable with this vibrant business presentation template. With eye-capturing visuals and an engaging layout, you’ll communicate important stats and hold everyone’s attention until the end.

History timeline template

With black-and-white sketches of the Colosseum in the background, this timeline template makes history come alive. The displayed time periods provide an overview that’ll help your audience to grasp the bigger picture. After, you can go into detail about each time frame and event.

Storytelling presentation template

Share stories about your business that make a lasting impact with this stunning, customizable presentation template. To showcase each story, use the zooming feature and choose to tell your stories in whatever order you want.

Design concept exploration template

Not all meetings happen in person nowadays. To keep that face-to-face interaction even when presenting online, choose from a variety of Prezi Video templates or simply import your already-existing Prezi template into Prezi Video for remote meetings. This professional-looking Prezi Video template helps you set the tone for your meeting, making your designs stand out. 

Employee perks and benefits video template

You can use the employee benefits video template to pitch potential job candidates the perks of working in your company. The Prezi Video template allows you to keep a face-to-face connection with potential job candidates while interviewing them remotely.

Sales plan presentation template

Using a clear metaphor that everyone can relate to, this football-inspired sales plan presentation template communicates a sense of team unity and strategy. You can customize this Prezi business presentation template with your brand colors and content.

Flashcard template

How can you engage students in an online classroom? This and many other Prezi Video templates will help you create interactive and highly engaging lessons. Using the flashcard template, you can quiz your students, review vocabulary, and gamify learning.

Great presentation design examples

If you’re still looking for more inspiration, check out the following Prezi presentations made by our creative users.

Social media presentation

This presentation is a great example of visual storytelling. The use of visual hierarchy and spatial relationships creates a unique viewing experience and makes it easier to understand how one topic or point is related to another. Also, images provide an engaging and visually appealing experience.

Leadership books presentation

Do you want to share your learnings? This interactive presentation offers great insights in an entertaining and visually compelling way. Instead of compiling leadership books in a slide-based presentation, the creator has illustrated each book and added a zooming feature that allows you to peek inside of each book’s content.

Remote workforce presentation

This is a visually rich and engaging presentation example that offers an interactive experience for the viewer. A noteworthy aspect of this presentation design is its color consistency and matching visual elements.

A presentation about the teenage brain 

Another great presentation design example that stands out with an engaging viewing experience. The zooming feature allows the user to dive into each topic and choose what subject to view first. It’s a great example of an educational presentation that holds the students’ attention with impactful visuals and compelling transitions.

Remote work policy presentation

This presentation design stands out with its visually rich content. It depicts exactly what the presentation is about and uses the illustrated window frames in the background image as topic placements. This type of presentation design simplifies complex concepts and makes it easier for the viewer to understand and digest the information.

Everyone can create visually-appealing presentations with the right tools and knowledge. With the presentation design tips, templates, and examples, you’re equipped to make your next presentation a success. If you’re new to Prezi, we encourage you to discover everything it has to offer. With this presentation design guide and Prezi, we hope you’ll get inspired to create meaningful, engaging, and memorable content for your audience!  

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• Fundamentals of Slide Design

Learn about slide design, its importance, and principles and strategies for designing strong slides.

What is Slide Design?

Through the use of different elements, including visuals, colors, typography, style, layout, and transitions, slide design provides a visual representation of the important points of your presentation. It not only complements your research, but can also enhance your presentation. Slide design can impact how much an audience understands and retains the content that you present.

Slide design strategies that thoughtfully consider and prioritize the experience of the audience can result in stronger presentations. Melissa Marshall —an expert in understanding how technical presentations can be transformed—advocates for an innovative approach to slide design. Her well-researched methods have been successful in the scientific community and we recommend her strategy.  In an article on how to transform your technical talks , Marshall discusses the science behind the impact of slide design and how the overuse of text on slides while engaging in verbal communication during presentations increases the chances of cognitive overload for audience members. Marshall advocates for an “audience-centered speaker” approach, a technique in which you shift your focus from the speaker to that of the audience.

-Melissa Marshall

Audience engagement is an important indicator about the level of success of a presentation. Marshall argues that “a critical insight is to realize that your success as a speaker depends entirely upon your ability to make your audience successful.” In order to prioritize the experience of your audience and how they receive your presentation, Marshall advocates for a design strategy called assertion-evidence design which uses a succinct headline in the slide with the key assertion in the form of a sentence that is accompanied by visual evidence, such as charts, graphs, and flowcharts. This method prioritizes the utilization of strong visuals and minimizes the amount of text on slides. As needed, presenters can provide the audience with a handout of their slides that contain more detailed notes from their presentation as a reference. If you have not used assertion-evidence slides before, it is a good technique to further explore and consider as its approach can enhance a presentation when carried out effectively. Examples of strong assertion-evidence slides and a self-assessment checklist for this design strategy can be found on Create and Assess Your Slides , and a template can be accessed below.

(Click to Enlarge)

An assertion-evidence slide template that includes tips and layout suggestions by melissa marshall. .

To learn more about creating strong visual representations of your data and the importance of forming a mutual exchange between you and your audience, visit our pages on Data Visualization , along with Consider Your Audience which is part of the section on how to Deliver Authentically . 

Watch these short videos by Marshall to further explore the impact of slide design, strategies for fostering audience engagement, and helpful ways to approach the scope and focus of your presentation.

Learn more about the impact of slide design.

Further explore how to analyze your audience.

Consider scope and focus of your slides and talks.

For additional resources to help you think about the organization and framing of your talk visit Deliver Authentically and Prepare for Any Talk .

What Does it Look Like to Design Effective Slides?

There are techniques and tools that can be utilized to strengthen the design of your slides in order to enhance the quality of your presentation. The following section presents one approach. Review this list and explore how each strategy can improve your slide design.

A more comprehensive slide design checklist and other resources can be found on Create and Assess Your Slides .  

Inclusive Slide Design

Creating slides that are inclusive and accessible for different learners is a critical part of the design process. Consider the implications of your design on the viewer’s interpretation, including visual representation, language and color choice. As you engage in this process, explore the role of slide design in creating an inclusive environment that considers multiple perspectives, values, beliefs, identities, disciplines, abilities, experiences, and backgrounds. To learn more about what it means and looks like to design visuals that are inclusive, visit Visual Storytelling as part of the section on Data Visualization and Preferred Terms for Select Population Groups & Communities from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

Are You Ready to Create Your Own Slides?

To begin the process of designing your slides or to improve an existing deck, visit Create and Assess Your Slides . Use the provided resources to learn more about helpful design strategies, how to create effective slides and ways to assess them.

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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Presentation Design: Ultimate Guide for Beginnersi

Great presentation design is as important as presenting. Are you creating your own slide decks? Here are some must-follow rules for awesome presentations!

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Whether you are pitching a business idea, telling about your new research, or sharing important data with your audience, presentations are a visual aid essential for your success. You could have awesome presenter skills, and a fantastic idea for the content. But without stunning presentation design, the whole thing will fall flat. Learn how to make a good PowerPoint presentation design with these 10 tips.

Presentations: you’ve seen many of them, and you've probably made several yourself. An ultimate visual communication tool to get your point across, presentations are deeply integrated into the academic and business world.

However, many individuals and businesses still make the mistake of thinking that PowerPoint presentation design always comes down to dark text on a white background, with a few images and charts sprinkled in. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Presentation design shouldn’t be walls of text or extensive bullet point lists, but rather a way to tell a story and inspire the audience with a beautiful and balanced design. And it’s not just about communicating with your audience. Visme found that 91% of presenters feel more confident when using a professionally designed slide deck .

Want to learn how to make a good PowerPoint presentation design? We can help. In this article, we’ll cover the basics, such as:

What is presentation design?

• What types of presentations are there?
• 7 Tips to design presentation slides yourself.

Presentation design focuses on the visual look of your presentation as a tool to engage your audience. It is the way you present your information on the slide: the color scheme, combination of fonts, the way design elements are used as part of your slide. All of this comes together to present your message in a certain way.

Presentation design is about finding the perfect combination of design elements to create slides that will not bore or tire your audience, but rather engage them and glue them to the slides while attentively listening. Whether you are looking to inform your audience, entertain them, establish credibility, or something else, well-thought-out and executed presentation slides can help you achieve this.

Types of presentations

What is the first step in designing an effective presentation? Knowing what the presentation is for, of course.

Presentations have different purposes. A quarterly presentation you are making for the investors of your dropshipping business will not be the same as an employee training slide. In the first case, your aim will be to inform and report, in the second case, the goal of the presentation is to educate. Depending on what you are trying to achieve, there are 5 types of presentations. Let’s take a look at each.

• Informative - One of the most common presentation types, informative presentations aim to communicate important information with the audience and show new findings. Think of presenting company updates or planning a new project: informative presentations should be clear and straight to the point.
• Persuasive - As the name suggests, the aim of this presentation type is to use important data to not simply inform the viewers, but to persuade them to take a specific action. Persuasive presentations are what you should show to potential investors when telling them about the user acquisition growth speed of your company.
• Educational - Often confused with informative presentations, educational presentations are different because they aim to not simply inform, but to teach the viewers new skills and educate them about a new topic. Staff training slides or academic presentations are a great example of this slide type. You can go as far as making a tutorial video and including it in the slides, adding notes and key points next to it.
• Inspirational - Often used by managers and team leaders, inspirational presentations aim to cause a spark and motivate employees to work harder. Presentations of this type usually have a highly emotional message the aim of which is to inspire viewers to take a particular action.
• Problem-solving - This presentation type does a particularly good job at hooking the audience, as the key part of this presentation is the problem they are facing. Then, during the presentation, you are showing them how you are going to solve that problem. An example of this would be discussing how hard it is for large companies to hire qualified people by sharing statistics, then presenting your new HR automation tool and showing its benefits.

7 presentation design tips for beginners

Are you ready to jump into it? Here are 7 golden tips that will help you design presentation slides you can be proud of.

1. Outline your content and refine the key message

What is the first step in designing an effective presentation? You need to prepare your content and refine the key message. Try to understand what your audience wants to know, what they may already know, and what is more likely to keep them engaged. Then, keep this information in mind as you prepare your content for your presentation. What is the main takeaway from each slide?

Choose a working title and have a clear point for each of the slides. Understand what you want your slide to tell people. For example, instead of “Using hashtags for Instagram ” go with “Using hashtags for Instagram increases engagement by 12.5%.”

Keep your content specific and informative, but as concise as possible. Simplify your sentences, keep only the main point without writing an excessive amount of information on the slide. Below are two examples of a slide with the same information. Which one do you think is more readable?

2. Pick a framework

Now it’s time to pick the framework you are going to use to make your professional presentation design. Do you want to create a presentation from scratch, or go with something pre-built?

There are many terrific presentation design templates available online, on platforms like Canva, Visme, and Venngage. Still, you should never use a presentation template without editing it .

Changing the color scheme or fonts to match your brand may seem like a small detail, but it will greatly improve the overall impression of your presentation. It also helps to strengthen your brand identity (whether for a personal or business brand marketing ), and demonstrates professionalism and care.

Another important thing is not to limit your creativity to pre-built presentations. That’s why it’s also advisable to explore presentation designs on platforms, such as Behance, Dribble, and 99Designs.

Sure, most of these will have been done by professional designers, and may be a little challenging for beginners to recreate. However, understanding just how creative PowerPoint presentation design can be will help you shed your preconceptions and explore new creative routes.

3. Choose a color scheme and fonts

The best presentation design will be limited to a handful of options as too many colors will create chaos on your slide and make it harder for the readers to understand.

If you have a brand guide in place, it’s best to stick to colors and fonts used in your branding. However, remember that a PowerPoint presentation design is supposed to keep viewers engaged. So, even if your brand colors are soothing muted tones, a bright element here and there can work well to draw attention to the key messages.

4. Make it visual

Sharing your information only as texts and bullet points is a lazy way out. When you design presentation slides, consider how you can present information visually. This will help your audience understand and take in key messages faster.

A simple example of this is adding relevant icons instead of simple bullet points. Colored or outlined texts next to realistic and relevant photos make the presentation a lot more enjoyable and keep the viewers entertained.

Graphs and charts are a business presentation design staple. However, you can also think about different design elements that can be both surprising and effective. For example, a simple illustration instead of a dull stock photo will delight your audience and keep them engaged.

5. Pay attention to the layout

Your slide layout is the area where all of your presentation elements (photos, texts, icons, logo) are contained. Most presentation tools come with pre-built layouts you can use.

You can also create your own layout from scratch. In both cases, the main aim is to design a beautiful slide that doesn’t overwhelm the viewer. Include plenty of white space in your layout, don’t crowd it with too many text boxes and elements. If the elements are different, as they often will be, keep similar one close to each other. Keep your layout as clean and simple as you can.

6. Align and position

Nothing screams amateur more than jumping texts and layouts from slide to slide. Mismatching logos and design elements jumping here and there showcase a lack of professionalism and give an impression that you’ve put your presentation in a hurry. Not to mention that they are sometimes extremely annoying and distractive!

So, whenever you are working on your slides, always align and position them properly. No matter the presentation tool used, chances are, it will have an alignment tool.

Presentation software such as Keynote and Figma even offer an option to create background grids to help with the alignment. Below is an example of a slide, before and after aligning the texts and icons. Notice the difference?

7. Stay consistent

As you progress through the design of your presentation, it is essential that you stay consistent. No matter how many slides your presentation has, they are still part of one presentation. And you don’t always have to keep the same background color, or slide themes for this. Consistency in design can be achieved through design elements, color schemes, and similar illustrations.

Take a moment to look at these three slides. Although some of the slides seem to be styled differently from the rest, the color scheme of design elements holds the presentation together. It’s crucial to make sure that each one of your slides is visually connected to the previous one, to make sure your viewers don’t lose track of what you were saying.

Key takeaways

Now that you know the basics of professional presentation design, it's time to try them in practice! As with every other design type, there is no end to presentation design. Try to experiment with different tools, elements, and styles to find the one that works best for your audience. Research trends and best practices, and dedicate time to plan each slide thoughtfully. Don't be afraid to try new things, and you'll see the benefits a good presentation can have for your project in no time.

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What is presentation design?

Presentation design is the art and science of creating visually appealing and engaging slides to deliver your message effectively. It involves combining text, images, and graphics to convey your ideas, data, and information in a clear and compelling way. Whether you are delivering a sales pitch, giving a lecture, or presenting a report, effective design can make a significant impact on your success.

Presentation design refers to the process of creating slides that convey a message or information. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves graphic design, user experience, psychology, and communication skills. Presentation designers use various tools such as PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides to create visually compelling slides that support the speaker’s message. The goal is to engage the audience, communicate ideas effectively, and make a lasting impression.

Why is presentation design essential?

The effectiveness of a presentation depends not only on the content but also on the design. A well-designed presentation can grab the audience’s attention, convey complex ideas, and persuade them to take action. Here are some reasons why design is essential when it comes to presentations:

I t grabs attention. 

People are visual creatures, and they are more likely to engage with a presentation that is visually appealing and stimulating. Above all, your presentation design should capture attention.

I t helps communicate ideas effectively.

A well-designed presentation can convey ideas, data, and information in a clear and concise way, making it easier for the audience to understand.

I t creates a lasting impression.

A visually compelling presentation can make a lasting impression on the audience, increasing the chances of them remembering the content and taking action.

How to Create Powerful Presentations

Creating a powerful presentation requires a combination of design skills, storytelling, and effective communication. Here are some tips to help you create powerful presentations that get results:

Define Your Message

Before you start your presentation design, define your message and objectives. What do you want your audience to take away from your presentation?

Choose the Right Visuals

Choose visuals that support your message and are visually appealing. Use high-quality images, charts, and graphics that are easy to understand.

Keep It Simple

Avoid cluttering presentation slides with too much information. Keep it simple and use a consistent design that reflects your brand guidelines .

Use Fonts Wisely

Choose fonts that are easy to read and complement your design. Avoid using too many fonts, and use them consistently throughout your presentation.

Trust the presentation design pros

Are you doubting your design skills or tight on bandwidth? It might be time to find a professional presentation designer , like SketchDeck. Even if your design team is at capacity, SketchDeck can turnaround show-stopping presentations as quickly as you need them.

Practice your presentation

Practice your presentation multiple times, and don’t be afraid to get feedback from others. Above all, this will help you refine your message, delivery, and design.

Why invest in presentation design?

Presentation design is a critical component of creating a successful communication strategy. Investing in it helps you grab attention, communicate ideas effectively, and create lasting impressions. By following the tips mentioned above, you can create powerful presentations that get results. Remember to define your message, choose the right visuals, keep it simple, use fonts wisely, and practice your delivery. With the right design and delivery, your presentation will captivate and persuade your audience and achieve your biggest objectives.

Ivy Croteau

• Originally published on April 24, 2023

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PowerPoint.Guru

What Is Presentation Design?

What could be better than a presentation, especially when showing data, research results, or brainstorming? A set of slides, perfectly aligned like chain mail links, helps your ideas look solid. Indeed, you can quickly find and put together the required information, but what about the nuances that seem not obvious at first glance? So what is presentation design, and why is it important to you? So let's start with the essential details.

Presentation Design: Its Definition and Importance

Surely you already guess that presentation design is a combination of certain elements. For example, you should consider text optimization, font selection, color, and background selection. Other design elements are icons and figures. In other words, combining visual and textual elements forms the basis for the overall design.

As you can see, now you know more about the basic terminology and are unlikely to ask questions like, "What is presentation design?" But why is proper structuring of slides and visual information so important? The fact is that there are many types of presentations. Each is aimed at a specific type of audience and ultimate goals. So let's look at a couple of presentation graphic design examples to understand the essence of design activities.

Educational Presentations

Imagine that you are a student and need to create a report, present a scientific idea or support your hypothesis. In this case, you should craft design presentation slides like a pro. For example, add your research data, emphasize the importance of each fact, and highlight where people should focus on what stands out. In other words, the design gives you a chance to grab people's attention.

Investor Pitch Decks

Imagine that you are creating a presentation for investors, showing annual growth, the success of a new team, or the prospects for expanding your business. How to design a presentation to keep your management happy with your work? Surely you should work on visual elements and provide concisely formed information. Investors and top managers don't have time for hour-long lectures, so your slides must be highly informative. At the same time, good design should make them as light as a feather, so people don't have to spend much time researching each line.

Webinar Presentations

Such presentations are essential for lead generation or informing your audience about some crucial aspects. So this is where presentation graphic design matters, as you need to motivate people to take a certain action. For example, suppose the slides are interesting enough and easy to understand. Then your audience will willingly take any action.

Sales Presentations

Not everyone knows the answer to questions like, "How to design a presentation to boost sales?" However, the answer is somewhere nearby. Do not forget that this presentation aims to present products and services and motivate people to take certain actions. In this case, the design allows you to launch verbal and non-verbal triggers to encourage people to buy. Pick the right visuals and slogans, and you'll see things get better.

Report Presentations

Imagine that you are the head of a department and your boss asks you to prepare a report on the company's progress. To get started, you should find presentation design inspiration ideas. Don't forget that you must add tables, graphs, charts, and other graphic elements to let your boss know all about the company's success. You can achieve the desired results by balancing data, graphics, and text.

Keynote Presentations

What if you need to prepare a speech and craft slides? Your keynote presentation is like a springboard for capturing your ideas and transitioning between you and your audience. Stick to design presentation basics since each slide should contain only a part of the information you want to convey to the audience. Your goal is to form a thought base and avoid heavy slides with paragraphs of text. So this is where good design avoids failure.

Presentation Design Tips for Beginners

Nothing is better than analyzing a few good ideas before crafting your presentation. Perhaps you will find the right ideas to start and avoid common mistakes. Here are tips to help you craft your slides better.

1. Use No More Than 6 Lines of Text

You don't need to add a wall of text to every slide because it will look weird. Instead, add up to six lines to emphasize any fact or information. First, you are unlikely to read all the information from the slides. Secondly, the final audience will be able to focus on the most important aspects you want to highlight. As you can see, these design tips for presentations help grab people's attention without piling up tons of text on your slides.

2. Stick to 2-3 Fonts and Colors

Now let's talk about your presentation's typography and color scheme. Usually, young users tend to use dozens of fonts and colors when it comes to crafting slides. But this strategy is not the right one, as you will blur your audience's attention and make your slides uncomfortable to read. So, choose one font for your headers and another for your body copy. Use one or two main colors throughout, then throw in an accent color for good measure. And don't forget that your color combinations must match! Don't ignore presentation design tips like this if you want your work to be worth it.

3. Pay Attention to Visual Hierarchy

Usually, beginners ask, "How to make slides look good?" There are dozens of answers, but the most important one concerns visual hierarchy. In other words, this means that the order someone reads info on your slide should be obvious. Use font size, color, or weight to structure information and give your audience a clear signal to build a hierarchical chain. This trick will allow you to emphasize certain parts of the slides to make your presentation look more informative.

4. Take Advantage of Powerful Visuals

You probably need presentation design inspiration ideas to figure out how to craft your slides. Look at good samples, and you will see one common pattern: an engaging presentation takes advantage of visual elements. So you should add videos, photos, illustrations, icons, and even charts to make your presentation look perfect. Sometimes text isn't enough to convey your ideas, so you must take care of the visuals. Your slide should tell a story, not create logical barriers for your audience.

Final Words

As you can see, slide design is critical, especially if you need to convey any information to your audience. Memorize all the ideas and facts above, and you can stand out from the crowd. Either way, you'll have more ideas to start slide crafting, so don't waste your time!

Keynote vs Powerpoint

Presentation design techniques

Types of presentations

Presentation Design and the Art of Visual Storytelling

Discover a practical approach to designing results-oriented presentations and learn the importance of crafting a compelling narrative.

By Micah Bowers

Micah helps businesses craft meaningful engagement through branding, illustration, and design.

Presentations Must Tell a Story

We’ve all been there, dutifully enduring a dull presentation at work or an event. The slides are packed with text, and the presenter feels obligated to read every single word. There are enough charts, graphs, and equations to fill a trigonometry book, and each screen is awash in the brightest colors imaginable.

As the presentation drags on, the lists get longer. “We do this, this, this, this, this, and oh yeah, this!” Unfortunately, everyone in the audience just wants it to be over.

This is a major opportunity missed for a business, and we designers may be part of the problem. No, it’s not our fault if a presenter is unprepared or uninspiring, but if we approach our clients’ presentations as nothing more than fancy lists, we’ve failed.

See, presentations are stories , not lists, and stories have a structure. They build towards an impact moment and unleash a wave of momentum that changes people’s perceptions and preconceived notions. Good stories aren’t boring and neither are good presentations.

But before we go any further, it’s important to ask why presentations exist in the first place. What’s their purpose? Why are they useful?

Presentations exist to…

Presentations impart new and sometimes life-changing knowledge to an audience.

Most presentations provide a practical method for using the knowledge that is shared.

If executed correctly, presentations are able to captivate an audience’s imagination and lead them to consider the worth of what they’re learning.

Well-crafted presentations have the power to arouse feelings that can influence an audience’s behavior.

Presentations ready people to move, to act on their feelings and internal analysis.

Ultimately, presentations make an appeal to an audience’s logic, emotions, or both in an attempt to convince the audience to act on the opportunity shared by the presenter.

With this kind of power, designers can’t afford to view presentations as “just another deck.” We shouldn’t use the same formulaic templates or fail to educate our clients about the importance of high-quality image assets.

Instead, we need to see presentation design as an opportunity to craft a compelling narrative that earns big wins for our clients.

Need more convincing? Let’s take a quick look at how a few big brands merge storytelling with world-class presentation design.

Salesforce – Write the Narrative First

The overarching emphasis of any presentation is its narrative. Before any flashy visuals are added, the presentation designer works hand-in-hand with the client to establish the narrative and asks big questions like:

• Who are we presenting to?
• Why are we presenting to them?
• How do we want them to respond?

The marketing team at Salesforce, the world’s leading customer relationship management platform, answers these questions by first writing presentations as rough essays with a beginning, middle, and end. As the essay is fleshed out, themes emerge and section titles are added.

From here, the presentation is broken into slides that present the most impactful topics and information the audience needs to know. Only a few select words and phrases will make it onto the screen, but the essay draft will be rich with insights for the presenter to further refine and share in their oral narrative.

Writing the narrative first prevents the chaos of slide shuffling that occurs when a presentation’s stories aren’t clearly mapped out. With no clear narrative in place, slides don’t transition smoothly, and the presentation’s momentum dissipates.

Deloitte – Establish Credibility

Within the first few moments of meeting someone new, we quickly assess whether or not we feel they’re trustworthy.

Presenters are typically afforded an initial level of trust by virtue of being deemed capable of talking in front of a large group of people. But if that trust isn’t solidified within the first minute of a presentation, it can vanish in an instant.

Deloitte is a global financial consultant for 80 percent of all Fortune 500 companies. Naturally, they understand the need to quickly establish credibility. The slide used in the example above is number five in a thirty-slide deck. Right from the outset, Deloitte establishes their authority on the topic, in essence saying, “We’ve been at this awhile.”

Including a slide like this in a client’s deck can be a real confidence booster because it allows them to quickly secure expert status. Establishing credibility also helps an audience relax and engage with what they’re learning.

iControl – Define the Problem Visually

It’s not always possible to express a complex problem or solution with a single visual, but when it happens, it can be a powerful experience for an audience.

iControl is a Swedish startup that built an iPad app designed to replace paper and create better documentation at construction sites. They aren’t a big brand, but their investor pitch deck powerfully identifies a huge audience problem with a single slide—too much paper wasted, too many documents to track. An image like this so clearly identifies the problem that it simultaneously intensifies the need for a solution.

Defining the problem visually is an awesome strategy, but use it with care because an image that’s confusing or overly specific to an industry can leave audience members feeling like outsiders.

Arrange a Compelling Narrative

“Storytelling” is everywhere these days. Social media platforms have cleverly packaged the promise that our every post, image, and interaction is part of an ongoing story, but most of what we call “stories” are loosely related moments strung together by the happenstance of time and technology.

So what’s the distinction between narrative and story? How do they relate, and how do they differ? And most importantly, how do they tie into a compelling presentation?

A story is bound by time. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It details events and orders them in a way that creates meaning. In a presentation, stories speak to specific accomplishments and inspire action—“We did this, and it was amazing!”

A narrative is not bound by time. It relates separate moments and events to a central theme but doesn’t seek resolution. In a presentation, the narrative encompasses the past, present, and future—“Where we’ve come from. Where we are. Where we’re headed.”

How does this information impact the presentation designer? Here’s a simple and practical example.

You have a client who makes amazing paper clips that always bend back to their intended shape no matter how much they’re twisted. They ask you to design a presentation that highlights the paper clips and their company vision to “forever change the world of office products.” How do you begin?

Start with the Narrative

The narrative is the overarching emphasis of a presentation.

In this example, you would shape the presentation around your client’s company vision of forever changing the world of office products.

Advance the Narrative with Stories

Use succinct stories that highlight challenges, improvements, big wins, and daily life.

Perhaps the paper clip company’s research and development team faced several setbacks before a eureka moment made mass production cheaper than traditional paper clips.

Use stories like this as brush strokes on a canvas, each one contributing towards a more complete picture of the narrative.

Support Stories with Visuals

This is where the simple, yet stunning slides you design come into play.

In this case, you could show a simple graph that compares the production cost of traditional paper clips to your client’s innovative paper clips. And, to make sure you’re reinforcing the narrative, you could add a short title to the slide: “Game. Changed.”

Conflict Is the Engine of Memorable Presentations

In his bestselling book Story , Hollywood screenwriting guru Robert McKee writes, “Nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict.” This advice is extremely valuable for the presentation designer.

An overly optimistic presentation packed with positive information simply crashes over an audience and sweeps away their enthusiasm. Each rosy insight is less impactful than the one prior. Before long, all the audience hears is, “Good, better, best. We’re just like all the rest.”

An effective presentation designer looks for ways to create internal conflict within an audience. This means they feel the weightiness of a problem and actively hope for the relief of a solution. The yin and yang of problem and solution is the presentation designer’s true north, the guiding principle of every piece of information included in a deck.

One tried and true way to ensure a healthy positive/negative balance, without overly dramatizing a presentation is withholding information.

For instance, in our example of the paperclip company, this could mean devoting an extra slide or two to the research and development process. These slides would hint at the soon-to-be-revealed production costs and build anticipation without providing actual numbers.

Then, when the cost comparison chart is finally shared, the audience is genuinely eager for the information it holds, and the payoff is far more rewarding and memorable.

Unlock the Power of Clear, Consistent, and Compelling Content

Content doesn’t exist apart from the narrative; it enhances it. Once the narrative is in tip-top shape, it’s time to make the content shine, but before we dive into slide design, let’s take a quick detour.

Imagine we’re reviewing an investor pitch deck and we take an elevator into the sky to observe the presentation from an aerial view. From this lofty position, the deck’s content should have a cohesive appearance that ties in with the brand, organization, or topic being presented.

If you’ve ever been hired to work on a company’s pitch deck design , you understand how challenging this can be.

Many times, clients already have some sort of skeleton deck in place before they hire a presentation designer. Sometimes, these decks are packed with a dizzying assortment of charts, graphs, fonts, and colors. Here, you have two unique responsibilities.

First, you must help your client understand how the disunity of their content detracts from the narrative. Then, you must provide a way forward and present them with a practical vision for remaking things in a cohesive style.

Be warned that you may have to sell this idea, especially if your client thinks that their visual content is presentation ready and only in need of some “design magic” to make it look good.

If this happens, remember to be gracious, and acknowledge the role that their expertise played in generating such valuable information. Then, bring the conversation back to results. “This is a compelling topic. I want your audience to be in awe as you present, but for that to happen, I need to recreate the visuals.”

This is a tough chore, but as designers, we’re hired to improve the way our clients communicate—not fill their heads with false affirmations of poor content.

Essential Slide Design Principles

Slide design is an important part of presentation design, and effective slides are rooted in visual simplicity. But the strange thing about simplicity is that it stems from a thorough grasp of complexity. If we know something well, we can explain it to someone who does not in just a few words or images.

In this section, we’ll look at hierarchy, typography, image selection, and color schemes, but know that these design elements are rooted in a proper understanding of a presentation’s narrative and content. If we start the design process with slides, we seriously risk equipping our clients with presentations that are unfocused and unimpactful.

Create Emphasis with Slide Hierarchy

Design hierarchy relates to the placement of visual elements in a way that creates emphasis. For the presentation designer, this means asking, “What two or three things do I want the audience to see on this slide?

Do’s and Don’ts

• Do create visual contrast through scale, color, and alignment.
• Don’t try to visually highlight more than three ideas per slide.

Whenever a really important idea comes up, be brave and only use a few words in bold type to communicate it. This kind of simplicity signals to an audience that it’s time to intensify their focus and really listen to what the presenter has to say.

Overcome Ambiguity with Thoughtful Typography

Most presentations are built on words, so it’s important to know which words to include and how to style them. This starts by choosing the right font, then knowing how big to make the words and where to include them.

• Do ask if your client has any designated fonts listed in their brand style guide.
• Don’t use more than two fonts in your presentation, and avoid text blocks and lengthy paragraphs like the plague.

Try not to use anything smaller in size than a 36 point font. Some designers believe it’s ok to use sizes as small as 24 point, but this often leads to packing slides with more text. Remember, slides are a speaking prompt, not promotional literature.

Communicate Authority Through Graphic Simplicity

Every chart, graph, icon, illustration, or photograph used in a presentation should be easy to see and understand. Images that are difficult to interpret or poor in quality can erode the trust of an audience.

• Do look for ways to use symbols, icons, or illustrations as they have a way of communicating ideas more quickly than photography.
• Don’t use more than one photograph per slide, and don’t use stock photography that conflicts with your client’s brand (e.g., too funny, serious, or ethereal).

During the consultation phase of a presentation design project, ask your potential client to see existing charts or graphs they’re hoping to include. If anything is confusing, pixelated, or inconsistent, tell them you’ll need to remake their graphics. Be prepared to show high-quality examples from well-known companies to sell your point.

Add Energy and Meaning with Bold Color Schemes

Color plays an important role in nearly every design discipline, and presentation design is no different. The colors used for a presentation affect the tone of the topic being shared and influence the mood of the audience.

• Do keep color schemes simple. Two or three colors should make up the majority of slides.
• Don’t use complementary colors for text and background (e.g., blue background with orange text). This has a way of making words vibrate with nauseating intensity.

Identify a few high-contrast accent colors to make strategic cameos for added impact.

The Mission of Every Presentation Designer

It can’t be overstated; presentations are huge opportunities for designers to positively impact their clients’ businesses. Innovation and advancements in culture and technology are occurring so rapidly that it’s become absolutely vital to be able to tell a good story. No one has time for poorly communicated ideas.

Here’s the simple truth: A bad presentation designer dresses up junk content with no thought for narrative and dumps a pile of slides into their client’s lap. Maybe the presentation looks pretty, but it doesn’t inspire, doesn’t activate, and certainly doesn’t sell.

To be effective, results-driven presentation designers means that we must empower our clients with an efficient tool. We carefully consider each slide, word, and visual for maximum impact, and we remember that presentations are intended for a human audience. Whether it’s a room of investors or a conference hall packed with consumers, it’s our job to provide our clients with opportunities to change minds and win business.

Understanding the basics

What is presentation design.

Presentation designers craft an array of ideas, stories, words, and images into a set of slides that are arranged to tell a story and persuade an audience.

Why is storytelling so important?

Where numbers, lists, and facts merely inform, storytelling has the power to make an audience care about and act on information that is being presented.

What are the basic elements of a slide?

The basic elements of a slide are its dimensions, text, images, layout, and color.

• SlideDesign
• VisualStorytelling
• PresentationDesign

Micah Bowers

Vancouver, WA, United States

Member since January 3, 2016

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Why is it Important to Design your Presentation?

Introduction

Components of a well-designed presentation, importance of design to your presentation, get to know alltime design, how can alltime design help you.

A well-designed presentation can help you connect with your audience, engage them and achieve all your desired results. Professionals create presentations to share information or message to their target audience - potential customers, investors, colleagues, partners, co-workers, and other stakeholders.

Presentations are mostly demonstrations, lectures, sales-pitch, or speeches that are presented to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, present a new product or idea, or share a recent report or achievements with an audience.

Design in presentation is what increases your chances of conveying your message or information to your audience in the best possible way. Creating and adding visually appealing designs to your presentations grabs your audience's attention and help you engage them from the beginning of the presentation to the end. A recent report by Zoho discovered that

Presentations with visual aids are 43% more persuasive than those without visuals.

Adding stunning and eye-catching designs to a presentation does not only appeal to audiences, Interestingly 91% of presenters also claim they feel more confident presenting well-designed slides to their audience.

A presentation unlike other forms of business communication is serious business, it can make or mar your business's success and if you don't prepare for it properly, you could lose out on so much - this is where designs come in. Designs make up for all your shortcomings, wherever you fall short in your textual content, your design draws readers’ attention and evokes their interest all through the presentations.

In this guide, we’ll discuss all the reasons you should always include visually appealing designs in your presentations and the components of a well-designed presentation

Image: Canva

A poorly-designed presentation can make you lose your customers, investors, and prospects when you fail to convey the message and convince them to buy in. Aside from that, a bad presentation also gives off the wrong impression of incompetence, unreliable and unprofessional. A well-design presentation on the other hand makes you look professional, credible, and prepared.

If you are struggling to get your presentation design right, here are some of the most important components of a well-designed presentation:

Use more visuals and lesser texts

The general rule to creating eye-catching and stunning presentation designs is to limit the text and use more high-quality and related visuals to gain your audience's attention and create long-lasting impressions on them. Humans are visual beings, we interact and understand content much better when they are paired with strong, high-quality images.

If you are looking to connect with your audience, consider reducing your text and adding more visuals to your presentations. For example, if you have some complex information or concept, you can visualize them in an infographic to improve readability and audience engagement.

Summarize your points efficiently

As emphasized earlier, your presentation should not have too many texts, as this can easily overwhelm and affect your target audience's interest in your presentations. How then can you achieve this? Learn to summarize long texts into short and clear words that your audience can easily understand.

With the average human attention span of 8.25 seconds, the majority of the presentation audience gets bored when they have to read the wordy presentations. David Paradi in his survey discovered three things that annoy audiences during presentations:

Share one key point per presentation

You must understand the best way to engage your audience and try not to overwhelm them with information overload. Presentations are information intensive, considering this nature, there's a high possibility that you are going to be sharing so much information with your audience during the presentation. The best way to keep them engaged and get them to remember if not all, the major points is to keep the salient points per slide. Share a key point per presentation to make more impact on your audience.

Implement visual hierarchy in your presentations

Visual hierarchy is one of the most important visual design elements. It guides how every visual element - colors, fonts, shapes, lines, and textures, in your presentation design is arranged and organized. The visual Hierarchy rule is that the most important elements should be placed in higher spaces in the presentations with bigger texts to capture the audience's attention followed by the second and least important elements in that order. To create a well-designed presentation that captivates your audience, be sure to arrange the information in order of their importance with more emphasis on important ones.

Ensure consistency across your slides

Consistency is the bane of every business's success. It determines how your audience perceives you as a professional and credible brand. Similarly in your presentation design, you have to ensure that all your message and information as well as your visual designs are consistent across your slides. Inconsistencies in your presentation affect your audience's engagement with your design. You must ensure that the colors, fonts, and messages are consistent and follow the same narrative from the first slide to the last slide.

Add a compelling call-to-action

A call-to-action is a written directive given to prompt your audience to take an action at the end of your presentation. After making a powerful and informative that has gotten you a resounding ovation from your audience, it's not enough to end it there without giving them something to remember you by or guiding them on the next thing to do with the information. Instead, add a short, compelling call to action like “Contact us,” “Connect with us on social media,” “Sign up for our webinar or seminar,” Request a demo,” or “Buy Now” to encourage them to perform your desired tasks.

Design in presentations is a key element of presentations that can help you enhance the quality of your narrative, improve the easy understanding of the message, information, or ideas shared, and ultimately increase audience engagement with your presentations. The use of eye-catching visuals increases your chances of achieving your goals much faster.

They help your audience process and comprehend your information much faster

According to a study, the Presentation audience only retains 10-20% of the information presented in written words, while the information presented visually was processed and retained 65% more than texts. This is a clear indication that humans generally interact better with visual content than with texts, a lot of audiences during presentations claim that having more texts in a presentation reduces their attention span and makes them lose interest in the entire presentation. Imagine presenting to people for over 4-5 hours without any visual designs, images, or videos to lighten up their mood, it would feel more like torture to them. To help your audience understand and relate better to the information you share, add visually appealing designs in the presentation.

Designs stick to your audience's memory much longer than text

According to the popular saying that “Pictures speak louder than words”, this is the exact situation of using eye-catching designs in your presentations. Being visual beings, your audience is most likely going to interact and remember the information visualized in infographics and other graphical elements, pictures, or videos much better than the text. It's common knowledge that people might find it hard to remember everything you say but the images, videos, and designs that they see that really strike them will stay with them much longer.

Designs increase audience engagement

As emphasized in the earliest section, adding a beautiful design that your audience can relate to can increase customer engagement and reaction to your presentation. When you explain complex concepts with attractive, high-quality designs, your audience will understand it better and can effectively interact with your presentation. Visualize complex data in infographics and use graphical elements or characters sparingly across your presentation to generate the right reaction from them.

Design works on human emotion

If you are looking to evoke your audience's emotion and help them connect with the information or message you are passing to them. For example, if you are making a presentation for fundraising, including compelling visuals in such a presentation can evoke the right emotion in your audience and get them to take your desired action.

Presentation design showcases your expertise

Adding designs to your presentations showcases your expertise and competence in your field. The quality of designs in your presentation can help your audience perceive you as a professional and credible brand that they can trust and be associated with. A design that follows an organized narrative will also help you present your thoughts in a simple and engaging manner.

Designs help you grab your audience's attention

As visual beings, adding visually appealing designs can help you attract your audience's attention and help your audience navigate through the content and even gain their attention to every slide.

Design in your presentations is an important element that can help you create a long-lasting impression on your customers, convey information, or explain hard-to-explain concepts and increase your audience engagement.

Alltime design is one of the leading creative design service providers well known for its excellent service delivery and proficient graphic designers.

With a robust and intuitive platform, Alltime design enables you to access incredibly fast and professionally vetted creative designs to empower your marketing efforts.

We offer a wide range of creative services to clients such as booklets, brochures, presentation designs, product packaging designs, books and journals, flyers design, branding, web design, infographics, product marketing designs, custom illustrations, apps, and website UI designs, presentation designs, motion graphics, and animation, and front-end development.

Our team of professional and dedicated designers has a deep understanding of brand and marketing design solutions that will help our clients promote their products or services on social media and other digital media platforms.

Alltime design is one of the leading creative design service providers well known for its excellent service delivery and proficient graphic designers. By using our service, you can be assured of the following benefits;

We provide full-service graphics design service

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• Presentation

Exploring benefits of giving a presentation

• May 30, 2022

In the fast-paced business world, making a lasting impression is often the key to success. Whether you pitch a new product, share quarterly results, or seek investment, how you present your information can make all the difference. This is where the art of Presentation design services comes into play, offering numerous advantages that can propel your business forward.

When you are giving a presentation, it’s important to make sure that your audience is engaged and getting the most out of what could be an informative session. There are many advantages to having well-designed presentations; this blog post will discuss some of them! Keep reading if interested or check back soon when we publish new content every day so that way know all there is about designing effective slideshows too!

Table of Contents

What is a presentation design?

The art and science of crafting visual and textual elements for clear communication lies at the heart of presentation design. It involves preparing engaging and impactful presentations using various multimedia features, such as text, images, charts, graphs, animations, and videos, to convey a story or present data compellingly and understandably.

In essence, presentation design is about transforming complex or abstract concepts into an easily digestible and memorable format for your audience. It goes beyond just the slides in a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation; it encompasses the entire visual and narrative experience accompanying your message.

Impact of presentation design

1-the human brain is wired to process visuals more quickly than text.

Visuals are a great way to keep your audience engaged and remember what you’re saying. In addition, visuals can help ensure that people stay tuned in because they will likely find themselves more interested than bored with the presentation if it contains some exciting graphics or photos!

2-Well-designed presentations help you stand out from the competition

You can make a huge impact on your business by taking the time to design professional presentations. Your audience will appreciate your effort, and that could win over new clients for sure!

3-They make your ideas easier to understand and remember

Your audience won’t remember your ideas if you don’t make them easy to understand. Use clear language and include visuals, because this will help people really get what it is that you’re trying to say!

4-Good design makes your content more persuasive

Graphic design is an essential element of any successful campaign. Whether you are trying to convince your audience of something, or simply want them to understand what it takes for one thing in particular designed visuals can be very persuasive and help illustrate points more effectively than text alone would do so!

5-People are more likely to take action if your presentation is well-designed

Clearly presenting your offer in a way that is easy to understand will help ensure the audience takes action on it, such as signing up for your product or service.

What are the advantages of presentation?

Clarity and Understanding

Presentations distill complex information into digestible chunks. With the right visuals and structure, you can ensure that your audience grasps your message clearly and quickly.

A well-designed presentation captures and maintains your audience’s attention. Visuals, animations, and interactive elements create a dynamic experience that engages people.

Professionalism

A professionally designed presentation reflects the professionalism of your brand. It shows that you’ve put thought and effort into your message, instilling confidence in your audience.

Memorability

Human brains are wired to remember stories and visuals better than raw data. Effective presentation design leverages this by weaving a compelling narrative and using memorable visuals.

An essential means of influence, presentations have the power to persuade. Employ storytelling methods, visual statistics, and powerful language to win over your audience.

Efficient Communication

Well-structured and designed presentations streamline communication within organizations. They help teams and stakeholders better grasp ideas, strategies, and goals.

Better Decision-Making

When everyone in a meeting or discussion understands the content and context, decision-making becomes more informed and efficient. Effective presentations reduce the need for lengthy explanations.

Competitive Edge

In a competitive business environment, a well-designed presentation can set you apart. It demonstrates a commitment to innovation and quality.

Increased Revenue

Ultimately, effective presentation design can lead to increased revenue. Whether you’re securing investments, closing deals, or attracting new clients, persuasive presentations can be catalysts for business growth.

Why is presentation design important?

Effective presentations facilitate better communication within your organization. Team members can quickly grasp ideas, strategies, and goals, leading to better collaboration.

Sales pitches, marketing campaigns, and product launches all benefit from compelling presentations. They help you stand out in a crowded marketplace and persuade potential customers. Moreover, when everyone in a meeting or boardroom understands the data and the stakes, decision-making becomes more efficient. You can save time and resources by avoiding lengthy explanations.

Standing out in a crowded industry requires a polished presentation. It showcases your dedication to excellence and cutting-edge thinking, opening up new possibilities. Ultimately, effective presentation design can lead to increased revenue. Whether you’re securing investors, closing deals, or attracting new clients, a persuasive presentation can catalyze growth.

Advantages of Using PowerPoint and Google Slides for Your Presentations

1-PowerPoint and Google Slides are both very user-friendly programs that are easy to learn

When you’re looking for a presentation program that’s easy to use but still has all the features needed, PowerPoint and Keynote are two great options. However, there is a difference between them which could be important depending on your needs as an individual or business owner!

2-They allow you to create beautiful, professional presentations with little effort

You can use images, videos, and other multimedia content in Google Slides. It has a variety of templates to help get you started with your presentation or collaboration project! If it’s more complex than just writing out notes on paper – like if there are animations and transitions involved- then we recommend PowerPoint because its interface allows for easier navigation between different parts while keeping everything together at once.”

3-You can easily share your presentations with others online

Here is a world where you need to be online at any time you need a way to show your slides online in your meetings. So, it’s one of the best options that you have. You can view presentations on any device, including smartphones and tablets, or otherwise You can present your slides offline if you need to.

4-They both have a variety of templates and themes to choose from

PowerPoint offers a number of options that make customizing presentations to your brand or style effortless. You can add videos, photos, and other multimedia elements for an even more engaging experience!

5-Google Slides is a great option if you need to collaborate on your presentation with others

As we mentioned before, sharing your presentation with others is one of the best features that it may have, you can easily share your presentation with others and work on it together in real-time.

it’s not just about sharing online you may need to share them online when you can’t connect to the internet. Google Slides is also a great option if you need to give your presentation offline.

6-They both offer built-in slide transitions and animations for a more polished look

The ability to create interactive, digital versions of your presentations is an excellent way for you and others in attendance at the same event or meeting. You’ll also want these files saved as PDFs because that allows users on different devices access through their computers’ web browsers–no need to uselessly carry around a USB keychain just so everyone has a peek ahead!

The advantages of presentation design are evident in every aspect of business, from internal communications to client-facing interactions. You can enhance these three aspects by harnessing the power of quality design. Enhanced communication yields amplified sales and marketing and a unique position in your industry. Ultimately, the impact on your bottom line is undeniable: The potential for lasting success and increased revenue is heightened when adopting innovative technologies. Embracing presentation design’s artistry is crucial to unlocking your business’s maximum potential.

What is the value of presentation design?

An excellent presentation design can serve as that visual index card for all the information you are trying to deliver; consider the power of the visual. Visuals are processed quickly. Did you know your brain can see visuals lasting just 13 milliseconds?

Is presentation design a skill?

Knowing how to design effective and visually stunning presentations is valuable for designers and everyone in the modern workplace.

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• Presentation Science

The Importance of Presentation Design

• By: Caitlin McGuire

We have all seen presentations that are just to cluttered and overwhelming visually. Whether they are jam packed with words on a slide or filled with terrible word art that looks confused and outdated busy slides can easily distract from the overall presentation.

That is why a good presentation design is a vital tool for every great presenter. In fact, according to one study only 10-20% of information was retained over time when represented through written word, but that number increases to 65% when the information was presented visually.

The data is there, great presentation designs are vital to a great presenter, but if you are not convinced take a look at some other reasons a great presentation design is important.

Visuals stick in long term memory. When information is paired with a visual it is much more likely to stick with a person for the long term. That visual becomes an information index card which the brain can reference later on to recall the information. A great presentation design can serve as that visual index card for all the information you are trying to deliver, don’t underestimate the power of the visual.

Visuals are processed quicker. Did you know your brain can see visuals that last for just 13 milliseconds? That is an insanely short period of time, yet your mind can still retain that visual. Along with this incredibly short amount of time needed to retain an image, 90% of information transmitted to your brain is visual. The reality is you are hardwired to see information much more than you are to hear it. As a presenter that means you have the unique ability to deliver information quickly using compelling imagery that cannot be achieved with the written or spoken word.

Visuals evoke emotion. A compelling visual is a powerful tool when it comes to evoking emotion. That is why whenever you see someone fundraising for an organization they are usually standing next to a compelling image that pulls on your heart strings. The visuals in your presentation have the power to evoke emotion and as a presenter you must leverage your design to help take your audience on an emotional journey.

Visuals engage the audience If all the above data is not enough there is one last reason presentation design is important and that is that, visuals engage the audience. The reality is we live in a digital and visual age. With the uptick in smartphone purchase and usage our minds are constantly taking in visual stimulation. Whether that is good or bad does not matter what matters is that your audience is used to taking in visual information. Why then would we choose to rely solely on our speaking skills and poor design concepts to communicate our message. As a presenter you must play in to the strength of a visual generation and leverage your design to engage your audience.

Presentation design is a vital part of every presentation; however, it is often overlooked and under resourced. Don’t make the mistake of settling for a boring template. Instead leverage your design and create a standout presentation that will bring your audience back time and time again.

Want help with your next presentation design? Check us out at ethos3.com/presentation-design .

Caitlin McGuire

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Presentation Layout Design: More Important Than You May Think

When you think of a presentation, what comes to mind? It’s probably either 1) the burden of creating a deck from scratch, 2) the content you’ll include, or 3) your fear of public speaking. While all three are valid concerns, presentation layout design is important to consider, too. Presentation layout is oftentimes overlooked, but it’s an important element of the presentation design process.

In this blog we’re talking about all things presentation layout; what it is, why it’s important, and quick tips to nail your layout design. 

What does presentation layout mean?

Your presentation layout is essentially the anatomy of your presentation, and the format of each slide within the deck. It’s the way you’re structuring your story for your audience. Presentation layout emcompasses everything from image size and text placement, to chart selection and the order of slides. 

When you don’t know where to take your presentation, templates are a great starting point to help with layouts. That said, you don’t have to let the templates limit your creativity. There are many different ways to customize each layout beyond the default settings. You can simply use them as a jumping off point to help organize your thoughts and create beautiful slides. 

Why is presentation layout important?

We’ve talked about visual storytelling and it’s importance time and time again. Visual storytelling is the narrative told through the use of visual assets such as images, illustrations, graphics or charts, and video. Visual storytelling helps paint a better picture of your story, and really drive your point home. It’s important to your story because it’s how your audience will receive your content, and it affects how they will retain the information. 

Presentation layout is the backbone of visual storytelling in your deck. 

The majority of us are visual learners, so having information presented in a way that makes sense by way of infographics, charts, or images is significantly easier to comprehend than a cluttered block of text. It’s simple, really. If your layout is jumbled and messy, it’s going to be a lot harder to digest on the receiving end. Likewise, if you stick to clean, professional presentation layouts your audience will have an easier time following along.

It’s important to note that a bad layout can also result in a Frankendeck (and nobody has time for that), so nailing your presentation layout is critical to the overall success of your deck.

Layout tips

These simple tips can help you improve your presentation layout with little-to-no extra work. 

Think outside the box

With Beautiful.ai’s inspiration gallery, the design informs the idea which helps you craft your story in a more thoughtful way. Our Smart Slides have guardrails to help prevent non-designers from making a mess of their slides. While those limitations might push some people outside of their comfort zone, we put those restrictions in place for a reason. It encourages more avid designers to be more creative and think outside the box. Our inspiration gallery might help users think of a certain chart or infographic in a new way, and as a result that might help them structure their story in a way that flows better for their audience. Try something new and see where it takes you!

Toggle between different formats

Our Smart Slide templates aren’t one-size-fits-all, and there are actually many different variations for each template. Fidgeting with the menus in our slides is low stakes because you can easily change anything back with the click of a button if you don’t like it. If you want to get creative, toggling between different formats is a good place to experiment without having to re-do any of your work. You can quickly try out a few variations to see what you like, and what fits your content best.

By selecting the “layout” dropdown, or clicking the tool wheel, you can unlock things like:

• Different bar styles, chart or graph layouts
• Labeling options (i.e. icons, fonts, numbers, percentages, etc.)
• A fit or fill option for your image ratio
• The ability to change the layout, or style, altogether
• And much more!

Less is more

While playing around with different layouts can be fun, and unlock your creativity, it comes with responsibility. It’s important to remember that less is more in the world of presentations, and things can get messy fast. When you’re laying out your presentation, lean into clean, modern design to keep things digestible, visually appealing and professional.

If you have an inevitably text-heavy slide, break it up by following with an image or infographic afterwards. Part of nailing your presentation layout includes knowing which slides to use, and when to use them. Does it have to be two bulleted slides, or can you say the same thing in one slide with an image and text, or with a simple chart? Do you have to use two chart slides back-to-back, or can you mix it up? These are all things to consider in the presentation layout. keyw

Jordan Turner

Jordan is a Bay Area writer, social media manager, and content strategist.

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Who Is A Presentation Designer? + Tips For Better Hiring

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In the world of business, a presentation designer can make all the difference. A presentation designer is the creative mind behind those captivating slides that leave a lasting impression. Are you a presentation design agency trying to find the perfect talent? Or are you a business owner curious about the importance of presentation design? Well, you're in the right place.

We understand that you have a lot of questions. We'll do our best to give you the answers. In this article, you'll learn about the presentation designer's role, why you might need one, and how to find the perfect fit for your business needs. We'll also share valuable insights and tips that explain how impactful presentation design can be. Especially when it comes to enhancing your business presentations.

Who is a Presentation Designer?

A presentation designer is a creative professional who specializes in enhancing the visual aspect of presentations. They work on presentation design, ensuring that the content is not only informative but also visually appealing. A presentation designer uses their skills to craft engaging PowerPoint designs, making complex information easier to understand and more captivating for the audience. Their role is to transform ordinary content into visually impactful presentations that leave a lasting impression.

Importance of a Presentation Designer

Hiring a presentation designer can be a game-changer for businesses. These experts offer a range of invaluable services that can enhance your brand's image, streamline your communication, and provide numerous other benefits. We've shared ten compelling reasons why a presentation designer is a crucial asset for your business. From their design expertise to the advantages they bring in terms of time efficiency and audience engagement, you'll discover how hiring a presentation designer can give your brand a competitive edge and contribute to your overall success.

1. Enhanced Visual Appeal

A presentation designer can significantly improve the visual appeal of your materials. They use their expert design services to create visually stunning presentations that capture your audience's attention and align with your brand's aesthetics.

2. Effective Communication

Presentation designers help in conveying your message clearly and effectively. They organize content in a way that makes it easy for your audience to understand, enhancing the overall impact of your message.

3. Professionalism

They also help elevate the professionalism of your brand. Their expertise ensures that your materials look polished and well-crafted, leaving a positive impression on clients and stakeholders.

4. Time Efficiency

By hiring an expert presentation designer, you save time that can be better utilized for other business tasks. They efficiently handle the design aspect, allowing you to focus on content and strategy.

5. Consistency

A presentation designer ensures that all your materials maintain a consistent brand image. This consistency helps in building brand recognition and trust among your audience.

6. Tailored Solutions

Presentation designers customize designs to suit your specific needs. Whether it's a sales pitch , training material, or a marketing presentation, they adapt their skills to meet your requirements.

7. Audience Engagement

Engaging your audience is crucial, and presentation designers are experts in creating visually engaging materials. This engagement can result in better retention of information and increased interest.

8. Competitive Edge

In a competitive business landscape, having a presentation designer on your team can give you a significant advantage. Your materials will stand out and leave a lasting impression on potential clients.

9. Error Reduction

Presentation designers pay attention to detail, reducing the chances of errors in your materials. This attention to detail reflects positively on your brand's professionalism.

10. Versatility

Presentation designers are versatile professionals who can adapt to various design requirements. Whether it's a PowerPoint presentation, infographic, or other visual materials, they have the expertise to create it effectively.

In summary, hiring a presentation designer is vital for businesses as they bring expertise in design services, enhancing visual appeal, ensuring effective communication, and contributing to brand professionalism, all while saving you time and offering tailored solutions to engage your audience.

What does a Presentation Designer do?

A presentation designer is responsible for creating visually appealing and effective presentations. Their responsibilities vary depending on the project but often include organizing content, selecting visuals, and applying design principles for clarity and engagement. Presentation designers need to have a keen eye for aesthetics, strong design skills, and a deep understanding of how to communicate information effectively through visuals and layout. After all, they play a crucial role in turning complex ideas into compelling and understandable presentations.

Responsibilities of a Presentation Designer

A presentation designer's role encompasses various key responsibilities. They are responsible for creating visual concepts that resonate with your audience and convey your message effectively. This involves designing slides that are not only visually appealing but also structurally sound, ensuring coherence and flow in your presentation. Whether it's crafting eye-catching graphics, selecting the right fonts and colors, or optimizing layout and content placement, a skilled presentation designer plays a pivotal role in transforming your ideas into a compelling and impactful presentation. You'll need their expertise to craft presentations that leave a lasting impression on your audience and align with your corporate objectives.

Take Deck Sherpa for example. We believe in a collaborative approach to presentation design. Our dedicated team of designers works closely with our clients, valuing their inputs and ideas throughout the entire process. We understand that your perspective is crucial in creating a presentation that truly reflects your vision and goals. Our designers actively engage with you, ensuring that your insights are incorporated seamlessly into the final presentation.

What Skills should a Presentation Designer have?

To excel as a presentation designer, you need various skills. Some are technical, like using Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft PowerPoint for designing. You must also have an eye for making things visually appealing with colors , layouts , and fonts, ensuring your slides captivate attention. A top-notch PowerPoint designer can incorporate visuals like images, videos, and charts to enhance presentations. They showcase their abilities through a portfolio, which demonstrates their style to potential customers.

However, it's not just technical know-how that matters; creativity is crucial. Being creative involves thinking of fresh, exciting ideas to make presentations engaging. Strong communication skills are essential for understanding clients' needs. The most critical aspect of a presentation designer's role is storytelling and maintaining audience interest. They skillfully craft narratives that evoke emotions and leave a lasting impression, combining technical expertise, creativity, and storytelling to create captivating presentations.

Advanced Techniques for a Presentation Designer

To make great presentations that people like, designers must be innovative. One cool trick is to pick colors from the color wheel because different colors can make people feel different things. For instance, warm colors like red and orange can make folks feel excited, while cool colors like blue and green can make them feel relaxed and trusting.

Professional PowerPoint designers should also know some important rules for presentations. There's the 10-20-30 rule , coined by Guy Kawasaki , which says to keep it short: use no more than 10 slides, talk for just 20 minutes, and use a font size of at least 30 so people can see well. Another rule is the 5/5/5 rule , which suggests using only five bullet points, five words per bullet, and five slides per minute. This makes the presentation easy to follow.

Furthermore, embracing design thinking can be highly beneficial. This approach encourages designers to focus on understanding the audience's needs, brainstorming creative solutions, and iterating on designs to continuously improve them. By adopting a user-centered mindset, presentation designers can ensure that they create high-quality presentations. Subsequently, this also effectively communicates the intended message, ultimately leading to more successful and impactful presentations.

Tools and Resources in Presentation Design

Professional PowerPoint designers have an array of tools and resources at their disposal to create visually appealing and effective presentations. Commonly used software includes Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote, which provide a solid foundation for building custom presentations. Additionally, designers often turn to Adobe Creative Suite, especially Adobe Illustrator, to craft custom graphics and illustrations that lend a unique and cohesive look to their presentations. These software tools enable designers to manipulate text, images, and other elements to create polished and engaging slides.

Lately, new technologies have opened up exciting options in presentation design. We can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to do boring jobs like organizing and analyzing data, which frees up designers to be more creative. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are cool because they make presentations super interactive and immerse the audience in the content. Also, adding interactive stuff like clickable models and videos makes modern presentations even more impressive. So, these new tools and tech make presentation design more fun and engaging for everyone. As these tools and technologies continue to evolve, professional PowerPoint designers have exciting new avenues to explore, enabling them to create presentations that are both visually stunning and highly engaging.

The Future of Presentation Design

As the coming year approaches, the presentation design trends for 2024 are shifting towards more personal, engaging, and innovative methods. For a presentation designer, it's important to stay ahead of these trends. In 2024, we'll see a focus on using authentic and diverse imagery, dynamic data visualization, interactive elements, and storytelling with images. Fonts will be bold, expressive, and sometimes futuristic, aligning with the overall presentation theme. Colors will range from bright to soft, making the message stronger. AI and AR/VR tech will make presentations feel real and exciting. These trends mean presentations should not only teach but also fascinate and stick in the mind. For any company's presentations to stand out, adapting to these trends is crucial. Let's take these insights and apply them to future presentation designs to make a lasting impression.

Get Help from Deck Sherpa's Experts

In conclusion, the evolving role of a presentation designer is crucial for businesses. They bring a blend of creativity and technical skill to transform content into visually appealing, engaging presentations. Their expertise in design enhances communication, adds professionalism, and saves time, making each presentation memorable and effective.

For those seeking expert presentation design services, Deck Sherpa is the go-to agency. Our team of skilled presentation designers is highly efficient, constantly upgrading their skills to stay ahead in the field. As a leading agency, we've worked with organizations in almost every industry nationwide, delivering presentations that leave a lasting impression. Choose Deck Sherpa for an exceptional, memorable presentation design that stands out.

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Mercedes Holmes

Like infographics, videos, and graphically designed emails — PowerPoints are a great marketing tool to communicate your message quickly and effectively. Why? Humans process images 60,000 times faster than text. This means a PowerPoint presentation (also known as a presentation deck or slide deck) can hold your consumer’s attention longer and relay more information than an email or long-form article.

While some people may remember PowerPoints from school projects, they’ve become a staple in the business world for companies and brands internationally. PowerPoints, or slide decks, are easy to use, great for brainstorming, and useful when presenting new information and ideas.

What Is A Slide Deck Presentation?

Instead of saying PowerPoint presentation, the term slide deck is sometimes used to represent the collection of PowerPoint slides. The two terms, PowerPoint and slide deck, can be used interchangeably. The only differences in phrasing are between the word “presentation” and “PowerPoint” or “slide deck.” A presentation conveys ideas and concepts, while a PowerPoint and slide deck are the visual aid to the presentation.

Slide decks can help you remember important pieces of information, back up your facts with data, keep your audience’s attention, and set the pace for your presentation. Not only are PowerPoint slide decks incredibly useful, but they’re also versatile. Presentation decks can be used when pitching to investors, relaying company growth and statistics, explaining product management, and promoting your brand.

How PowerPoints Can Help Grow Your Business

Photo by  charlesdeluvio  on  Unsplash

Did you know that over 35 million PowerPoint presentations are given each day? That makes PowerPoint the most popular presentation software around the world. You probably recognize how crucial slide decks are at this point, but ensuring your PowerPoints are well-designed is key to a great presentation. A well-designed presentation takes a lot of work, and great slide decks can take up to 3 months to finish.

Luckily, our graphic designers and copywriting experts at Flocksy can build a powerful slide deck for your next presentation in less than 72 hours. If you’re still unsure about using graphically designed slide decks as a marketing tool or to help pitch your company — here are 3 ways PowerPoints can help grow your business.

PowerPoints Increase Your Online Presence

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PowerPoint can help you organize your marketing campaigns, share content schedules, and create content ! Not only does PowerPoint come with many helpful scheduling and content marketing templates — you can also create videos and other content for your brand beyond presentations.

Creating relevant and interesting content for your target audience is the best way to generate leads on social media . PowerPoint’s easy-to-use tools can help you create useful and engaging infographics, Facebook posts, and more! Anyone can edit images, layer elements, make drawings, insert shapes, customize charts, and even add animations on PowerPoint. No need to learn more complicated programs like Photoshop or Illustrator, PowerPoint makes social media marketing easy!

Slide Decks Help You Share Marketing Plans And Research

Photo by  Matthew Osborn  on  Unsplash

PowerPoint slide decks are a powerful and engaging way to communicate and collaborate with your team. Utilizing PowerPoint to share large amounts of data and information can improve communication between you and your team by presenting it in a digestible and easy-to-understand format. The amount of information slide decks can convey makes meetings more efficient and shorter, which we are sure everyone on your team would appreciate 😉.

PowerPoint slides also allow you to show examples and data from your previous work instead of explaining past successes and struggles in detail. The ability to show real data alongside your presentation allows you to explain your goals and KPIs more effectively. Graphs and charts allow you to showcase your raw data or trends in a way that is easy for your clients to understand. You can easily include charts in your slide deck to show company growth, consumer satisfaction levels, and other important company data. Not only can you share these in-depth presentations with your marketing team, but also with other departments to keep them updated as well!

PowerPoints Improve Your B2B Marketing

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Sales presentations show potential clients why they should invest in your brand. PowerPoint slide decks let you add an audiovisual aspect to your presentation, making it more engaging. Building up your brand with visual storytelling is one way to make your presentation more compelling and give clients a peek into your brand’s history and unique advantages.

PowerPoint slides can show investors and consumers why they should invest in your company and help build up your brand image. One way to enhance your brand’s marketing would be to ensure the colors, graphics, and text you include in your presentation fits within your brand guide. Your PowerPoint can impress potential clients and promote the values and ideas you want to be associated with your company.

Why You Should Hire A Professional To Design Your Next PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a notoriously easy platform to use (we’ve all created a presentation or two while in high school or college) — but creating a great BUSINESS presentation is a whole different story. While the features are easy to navigate, and adding images and text is a breeze, professional graphic designers and copywriters like the ones at Flocksy can take your slide decks to the next level.

Professional designers can add animations, audio clips, and voiceovers, and format your images for social media while ensuring everything is on brand . While some presentations could take months to complete, hiring a professional means your presentation slide decks will be completed quickly and represent your company beautifully. Not having to worry about creating the slide deck means more time for your team to focus on collecting important information and the presentation itself.

Flocksy Can Create Outstanding Presentation Decks For Your Brand In Record Time

Our design experts can provide all the graphics you need for a PowerPoint presentation, no matter how many slides. You simply provide the text, data, and your brand requirements — and we’ll design images and designs that fit your presentation’s goals.

Creating a PowerPoint project on Flocksy is as easy as 1, 2, 3! 

• Choose the affordable package that works for you 
• Start a new project and choose the “PowerPoint” subcategory under graphic design
• Upload your data, information, and brand bucket

That’s all there is to it! Our designers are ready to create pitch decks, marketing slides, and company presentations that will impress even your most scrupulous investors and clients- so what are you waiting for? Sign up here and let our professionals take it from there!

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Why Presentation Design is Important

Presentations will always be an important part of business. Whether it’s in person, via a video call, or even sent as an email attachment. You may be presenting an idea, tendering or sharing information, it’s crucial that your presentations are on brand and well-designed.

Here’s why:

Demonstrates expertise.

You know what you’re talking about and you want to make it obvious to your audience, just how much expertise you have in your market. A considered, well-designed presentation will help make you look the part. An easy-to follow narrative will assist you present your thoughts in a simple and calm manner.

Makes you memorable

A well-designed presentation will stand out over a series of basic PowerPoint slides. It will create an impression and portray you well in all aspects of your business. Everyone wants to be remembered – for the right reasons at least.

Process information

You want to be able to deliver your message quickly and as clearly as possible. A well-designed presentation will take large paragraphs of text and break it up into bite sized chunks with imagery, icons or infographics to support. It will enable you to talk openly about your presentation, while not reading directly from the screen. It will also allow your audience to skim read and take in as much of the key information as possible in an attractive way.

Create a strong brand presence

Anything you create, whether it be for internal or external use, will reflect on your company and brand. A consistent and strong brand will ensure confidence, professionalism and trustworthiness.

Shows enthusiasm

A well-designed presentation will demonstrate that you care about the message you are trying to convey. It will show your passion for the topic. Much like the phrase ‘dressing for success’ your presentations should also look the part and will make you feel more confident when delivering.

A helpful aid

Whether you love it or hate it, presentations can often be nerve-racking. Having a well-designed presentation will provide prompts to encourage you to deliver a clear and powerful performance yourself.

Grab attention

Whether it’s a PowerPoint , Prezi or Canva (to name a few) presentation, the use of transitions and animations can allow you to navigate your audience through your document, drawing attention to key information or slides.

A presentation should not only sound great, but also look the part. If you can ‘talk the talk’, your presentations (as well as everything else) should follow suit to reinforce your company and brand as a strong and reliable business and deliver and elevate your message to the best it can be.

At Glow we assist many of our clients design powerful and impactful presentations. We’re here to ensure they stand out from the rest and would love to help you too .

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The Importance of Consistency in Presentation Design

Emily Bryce

6 February 2023

Presentation design plays a crucial role in effectively communicating a message to an audience. Whether you are presenting in a business meeting, delivering a keynote speech, or creating a marketing presentation, the design of your presentation can make or break your message. One of the key aspects of a successful presentation design is consistency. Consistency in presentation design helps to create a cohesive and professional image, reinforcing your message and improving its overall impact.

Consistency in presentation design can be achieved in several ways, including through the use of color schemes, typography, imagery, and layout. Let’s explore each of these elements in more detail.

Color Schemes:

Consistent use of colors throughout your presentation helps to create a visual hierarchy, drawing attention to important points and creating a sense of unity. It’s important to choose a color scheme that aligns with your brand identity and message. Once you have chosen your color scheme, make sure to use it consistently throughout your presentation, from your slides to your charts, graphs, and images.

Typography:

Consistent typography is essential for creating a cohesive and professional-looking presentation. Choose two or three fonts that complement each other, and use them consistently throughout your slides. This includes headings, subheadings, body text, and captions. Avoid using too many different fonts, as it can be distracting and can make your presentation look unprofessional.

Using images in your presentation can be a powerful way to convey your message and make it more memorable. When choosing images, make sure they are high quality and relate to your topic. Consistency in the style of your images, such as color or tone, can help to create a cohesive look and feel.

Consistency in the layout of your presentation is also important. Use the same layout throughout your slides to create a sense of structure and continuity. This includes the placement of text, images, and charts. Avoid using too many different layouts, as it can be confusing for your audience.

So why is consistency in presentation design so important? Here are a few reasons:

1. increases professionalism:.

Consistency in presentation design helps to create a professional-looking presentation. It shows that you have put thought and effort into your presentation and that you take your message seriously.

2. Improves Clarity:

A consistent design helps to make your message clear and easy to understand. It allows your audience to focus on the content of your presentation rather than being distracted by inconsistent or confusing design elements.

3. Builds Trust:

Consistency in presentation design builds trust with your audience. It shows that you are organized and detail-oriented, and that you have a clear and consistent message.

4. Enhances Memorability:

Consistent design helps to make your presentation more memorable. It allows your audience to remember your message and key points more easily, making your presentation more effective.

In conclusion, consistency in presentation design is crucial for creating a professional-looking, clear, and memorable presentation. By using a consistent color scheme, typography, imagery, and layout, you can create a cohesive and effective presentation that resonates with your audience. So next time you create a presentation, remember the importance of consistency in design and its impact on the success of your message.

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Why Presentation Design Is Important for Business Reports

An efficient business report is critical for the success of any project. Professionals understand that poor presentation designs can easily undermine all the work that goes into creating rare business reports. A business presentation is a purpose-led summation of important information about your company’s practices, plans, products, or practices. The presentation can be intended for external or internal audiences. 

Whatever business presentation you are working on, design is critical. Evidence shows that compelling business presentations are crucial for effectively communicating ideas, persuading others, and introducing new products and offerings to the market. As such, designing your business presentation is an essential skill to master. Here is what you need to know about how to make report presentation. 

Why Is Business Presentation Design Important?

It is important to reiterate that business presentations are more than just stacks of slides containing texts and images. An excellent presentation captures the audience’s attention and keeps them interested in the vocal core message. Remember, audiences are likelier to remember your presentation if your slides contain colorful and creative visuals. 

A good presentation design allows you to develop your visuals, ideas, narrative, statistics, and data into coherent and appealing slides. It will enable you to tell a compelling story, leading your audiences to the correct conclusions. If you need help, engage a reliable PowerPoint presentations service .

Also, creating presentations with suitable designs allows you to share your viewpoint successfully. You grow your business by getting target audiences to see and follow your vision. 

While presentation designs are crucial, most presenters don’t know how to achieve good results with their decks. In addition, many audiences dread sitting through presentations because of the length and visually exhausting slideshows. So, while the content of your slides is essential, how you design the presentation decks is even more critical. To make your slides more engaging and visually appealing, consider using a presentation maker that offers a variety of design options and templates to elevate your presentations.

Design Tips for Effective Business Reports

An effective business report is essential for the success of any project. After working hard and getting incredible achievements, you must present your results coherently and consistently. If you want your work to get the appreciation it deserves, ensure your report presentation is flawless. Remember, showing data and valuable ideas is not enough to guarantee an excellent presentation. Here are a few tips to help you get going when designing your slides.

Use Visuals for a Balanced and Engaging Presentation 

Evidence shows that human beings better understand information when it is presented through visuals instead of written text. Since most reports are text-heavy, designing their presentation slides should focus on getting opportunities to transform their text into visuals. If possible, strive for a 50-50 balance between text and images. 

In other words, the more you use visual presentations like charts, diagrams, infographics, and photographs, the quality of your slide decks will improve. But remember, functionality is the most crucial consideration. As such, visuals should enhance your deck’s appeal and comprehensibility. So, select visuals that will help audiences understand your message better. 

Remember, your data visuals do not have to be fancy to be effective. For example, use bar graphs, line charts, and pie charts to help your slides stand out. These detailed visuals in your report presentation design reduce the risk of confusing your readers. 

Use Bold Colors to Make Important Information Stand Out 

Color is one of the most important elements of presentation design. Experts know how to use color to control the areas of their slides that attract the audience’s attention. In other words, your color theme can help with navigation, guiding the audience to what matters during the presentation. 

Bold color features draw your audience’s focus to essential facts and statistics. The point is that color can be used as a design feature, helping the presenter to highlight crucial data points. However, you must be cautious and stick to the theme selected for the entire deck.

Your business report presentation ppt will appear more aesthetically appealing if you use colors in headers and footers as background. You can also use color to draw attention to specific information in the report. All you need to do is enter some text in a box with a colored background. 

Use Your Company Brand to Reinforce Presence

In business presentations, the presence of your company brand says a lot about what you offer and your ideals. Use your brand to tell the audience your core values before presenting the core message of your report. Then, when you use your company’s brand elements, your deck will have consistent and clear messaging. 

Use Whitespace Effectively 

The space around the content of your ppt report in every slide you create can play an essential role in enhancing the design of your presentation. Of course, the space does not have to be blank. You can use any color, texture, or pattern to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the document. Remember, the right amount of whitespace in a presentation deck helps the design to feel balanced. On the other hand, slides without the right amount of white space can seem unfinished and cramped. 

Create an Appropriate Background 

A strong slide background is one of the essential elements of a great presentation design. However, the background you choose can improve attention or distract from the primary information. So, choose your background carefully, ensuring the audience can focus on what matters.

Your background can comprise a color, a picture, or specific patterns. To start with, consider what you want to achieve with the deck and choose a suitable theme for your slides. For instance, choose a solid and less distracting color background if your presentation uses several pictures and visuals. Choosing the right background adds character to your deck. 

As you write presentation report, remember that consistency is vital. Choose the right fonts and colors, and stay within the same theme for the entire deck. Ensure that each slide in your presentation goes together with the others and talks about the same topic. You can also improve the appeal of your design by breaking different sections of your report using section header slides.

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What Exactly Is Ethical Design?

“Imagine designing an e-commerce website. You could make the add-to-cart button literally half the page. You have that freedom.”

Cynthia Savard Saucier, UX director at Shopify and co-author of Tragic Design , offered this hypothetical pattern when speaking with Built In not as a recommendation (obviously), but as an example of just how rife product and UX design is with opportunities to spectacularly fail users. But by the letter of more than one ethical design framework, a comically outsized add-to-cart button is not just bad design — it’s also unethical.

What Is Ethical Design?

Because there is no one true-north code of ethics for digital design, parsing what exactly constitutes ethical design can be tricky. Some of the codes that do exist are “well-intentioned” but “clunky” documents that few actually incorporate into their work, said Lennart Nacke, a professor of user experience and gamification at the University of Waterloo who’s researched UX ethics.

The continuum of unethical design could range from algorithmic bias to subtly manipulative confirmshaming . It logically encompasses connected devices with known vulnerabilities and healthcare user interfaces whose density of information has fatal consequences, as outlined in Tragic Design .

Despite the lack of a universal, single source of truth for digital design ethics, plenty of commonalities exist across the many proposed frameworks. It’s clear that ethical design should: resist dark patterns, respect data privacy, prioritize accessibility, be human-centered and encourage co-design.

Ethical Design Resists Dark Patterns

By any framework, dark patterns are textbook antitheses of ethical design. Unfortunately, they appear to be on the rise.

Designer Harry Brignull coined the term dark patterns in 2010 to describe UX tactics that manipulate users into changing their intended behavior, defining them as “tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn’t mean to.” Types of dark patterns include the “sneak into basket” tactic, where a site clandestinely adds an item to users’ carts, “often through the use of an opt-out radio button or checkbox on a prior page,” and the “roach motel,” in which a service that was easy to opt into becomes arduous to opt out of. Think 12-step subscription cancellation processes or ones that require a long phone call when signing up took just a click or two.

“Increasingly, these strategies are being used as a design playbook. They’ve probably become more ubiquitous over the last decade since Harry [Brignull] first introduced the concept,” said Colin Gray, director of the UX Pedagogy and Practice Lab at Purdue University.

Gray pointed to a 2019 study by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Chicago that showed the common use of dark patterns. The study, which reviewed about 53,000 product pages, found that some 10 percent employed at least one dark pattern in some fashion.

The Federal Trade Commission has taken notice too. The agency sought public comment earlier this year about dark patterns and hosted a virtual workshop to further examine the problem.

Kat Zhou, a product designer at Spotify and the creator of the Design Ethically project, told the FTC that dark patterns persist because designers are heavily incentivized to build experiences that meet growth-focused OKRs, allowing a slippery slope for shady tactics to assimilate into standard UX practice.

“We learn these tactics in universities. We learn these tactics on the job. And that normalization makes speaking up about these anti-pattern designs and these tactics very, very tricky,” Zhou said during the FTC workshop. 

Moreover, Gray and his co-authors have studied a trend  that extends dark patterns’ generally inconspicuous or sneaky methods into something more “blatantly coercive” — what they call “asshole design,” derived from a popular subreddit of the same name.

The above image shows some of these tactics in action. The left is an example of a confusing design that uses contradictory information: an adblocker that contains ads. The center example, meanwhile, shows an unsubscribe page where the only button is to resubscribe — an example of a pattern that blocks users’ intended pathways. And the right — an in-game pop-up that requires the user to either make a payment or watch ads — is emblematic of what Gray and his co-authors dub “entrapping” designs.

Mike Monteiro, co-founder of Mule Design Studio and author of Ruined by Design , told Built In that designers are hired not only for their ability but also their expertise, which includes the knowledge that such patterns are unethical. That creates an obligation to advocate against their use, he said. That also begs an obvious question (how?) and we’ll explore advocacy resources below.

But first let’s consider other important aspects of ethical design.

Related Help! My Company Won’t Hire a Tech Ethicist

Ethical Design Is Accessible

Despite the potential for lawsuits , accessibility tends to be deprioritized in web and application design. It sounds good to pretty much everybody in the abstract, but not necessarily in the time and effort it requires.

“Everyone’s okay with the concept of accessibility. They understand intrinsically we should be including everyone,” said Michele Williams, a UX accessibility educator and consultant. “Not everyone is on board with the work that comes with accessibility.”

Oftentimes, companies turn to after-the-fact would-be solutions like widgets and overlays. But these frequently fail to provide the hoped-for legal cover, since they tend to generate inaccurate information — such as incorrect alt text for images — and don’t address the underlying code. At worst, they actually worsen accessibility in the process.

Companies that are serious about not only hitting baseline ADA legal requirements but centering accessibility in products are urged to bake accessibility into their design process and consider it from the very start. But what does that mean in practice? It means both revamping early stage design processes and promoting education, according to Williams.

UX and product teams should check their decisions against established guidelines for information architecture , color and contrast , and other UX , interface and content details. That said, the nuance of each consideration varies by project, so designers have a responsibility to self-educate and advocate for larger training throughout the organization, Williams said.

Following the fundamentals of the Web Accessibility Initiative and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines , published by the World Wide Web Consortium, is a basic first step, while resources like the A11y Project and the Stark library can further the foundation, she said. 

“It doesn’t make sense to hyper-focus on a project and not get that foundational understanding,” Williams said.

For accessible user research, consider services like Fable , a group of testers with disabilities, who together use more than 20 assistive technology configurations.

It’s true that accessibility research can be more time- and cost-intensive , but the explanation for why companies often fail accessibility is even simpler than time and budget. It comes down to internalized ableism, which leads to erasure, Williams said. “We don’t value disabled lives.” 

Any design that aspires to be ethical cannot do the same.

Ethical Design Embraces Co-Design and Is Human-Centric

The push for ethical design is also emblematic in two recent evolutions in design terminology: the move from “participatory design” to “co-design” and from “user-centered design” to “ human-centered design .”

These aren’t simply semantic differences — or they shouldn’t be, at least. Simply put, participatory design is designing for people, perhaps allowing them some manner of involvement but no significant decision-making power. Co-design means designing with people.

Liz Jackson is the founder of The Disabled List , which pairs disabled designers with leading design studios. At a 2019 talk , she spoke about how embedded design concepts like user empathy can border on extraction. User empathy can “feel a little bit less like empathy and a little bit more like designers are coming in, gleaning our ideas and our life hacks, and then selling them back to us as things that are inspirationally done for us without ever giving us credit.”

In the talk, Jackson recalled being told about a new technology intended to help disabled people get hired. “What disabled people did you hire to create this technology that’s intended to get disabled people hired?” she asked. “They said, ‘none.’”

In ethical design, products intended to serve a specific population must meaningfully include that population throughout its design.

Similarly, the shift from user-centric to human-centric design ideally represents a transition beyond just language. For NowNext founder and Future Ethics author Cennydd Bowles it means considering your product’s consequences for all, not just its immediate user base. 

“Even if someone isn’t a user of our products, if they are affected by our products, we still have to try and anticipate their potential harms,” Bowles told Built In last year. “We have a moral obligation, if not eventually a legal one, to try to mitigate them in the same way tobacco firms are held liable for passive smoking.”

A human-centric approach must also place a premium on inclusive and equitable design, as Vivianne Castillo has stressed. Castillo focuses on such work as founder of  HmntyCntrd , a community and course provider for UX professionals focused on equitable design.

During a recent appearance on the UI Narrative podcast, she stressed that individual designers need to self-interrogate their biases and influences, and also “be intentional in developing your skill set and awareness around supporting … and helping other people.”

That includes pushing for equitable work environments. “If you aren’t human-centric in the workplace, that’s 100 percent going to impact [employees’] ability to understand what it means to be human-centered in design and the experiences that we’re creating,” Castillo said at a Fast Company summit earlier this year.

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How to Advocate for Ethical Design

For a recent paper , Richard Wong, a tech ethics researcher at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, interviewed UX professionals to study tactics for bringing social values to UX work.

In it, a UX researcher named Laura, who works for an edtech company, is quoted recounting an attempt to include people from Indigenous communities to her user research interview pool. “But when I was talking about [recruiting users from tribal colleges], even our product marketing person who does think we should help people and care about people, was like ‘Yeah, but we can’t make a marketing strategy specifically to them because there’s not a large enough population of them to warrant us to spend that money,’” Laura said.

Her workaround? “We should try to figure out what group do they align with the most,” she said. “Is it rural students? Okay, that then broadens the population, makes the business case a lot more easy to fight for and also we’re not making a claim that we cannot live up to.”

Both the resistance and solution — “imperfect but tactical,” as Wong called it — may ring familiar for UX professionals. Some “​perfect is the enemy of good” strategy is often at play.

“Between the path of doing nothing and doing everything, there’s a lot of breadth of potential action points,” said Saucier, of Shopify.

For example, if a designer’s more ethical recommendations aren’t implemented, put in place tripwires and tracking — such as monitoring customer service problems related to the feature in question — “to make sure it does not hurt users,” Saucier said.

Nacke, of the University of Waterloo, recommends the Ethics for Designers toolkit , which includes resources like a moral value map . When prototyping a new feature, designers can use the map to identify values they consider most important and how that design might intersect with and affect those values.

Also consider phrasing ethical concerns in different terms, Gray, of Purdue, said. If a design choice threatens accessibility, frame it in terms of legal cover. If you’re pressed to use a dark pattern, stress the long-term brand management risk.

“Most organizations aren’t going to care about [a design pattern] because it’s ethical,” he said. “So we can think instead of reframing it around ... an accessibility, regulatory or legal liability issue. Other kinds of framings may have better penetration within the organization than just saying this isn’t the right thing to do.”

Of course, any number of power dynamics can make it difficult to press an issue. It can be especially difficult for more junior designers and those who’ve yet to establish relationships with company leadership. Designers who are in a position to advocate more directly shouldn’t underestimate the power of tone. Being forthright can go a long way in preventing tactics like dark patterns, Monteiro, of Mule, said. When a line is crossed, “say, ‘This is unethical. This will hurt people. And if need be, I will not build it.’ A lot of times just hearing that from the people charged with building the thing might be enough to give folks pause,” he said.

In Monteiro’s experience, pushing back against design requests for excessive data collection was the most common ethical conflict he had to initiate. “Until you have an actual, solid reason for asking for information, don’t put it in spec,” he said.

Saucier emphasized the importance of voicing concerns as well. “People actually have a lot more power than they realize,” she said. “They have a lot more space to influence the decision-making process. They can discuss, they can advocate and, if they can’t make a change right now, they can at least educate for later.”

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The future of design systems is marketing

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Measuring success

Design systems promise consistency, efficiency, and scalability, but realizing these benefits hinges on widespread usage. To get your entire team on board, you’ll need to tap into your inner marketer and craft a compelling adoption strategy.

If you work on a design systems team, I bet you’ve hit some walls trying to drum up excitement and buy-in for your system. You’ve probably sent countless Slack messages, organized presentations, and hosted under-attended training sessions. As someone who has worked on design systems for years, I know firsthand that simply building a great system isn’t enough—you need to actively market its value to drive adoption.

Interested in the future of design systems? Join us for Framework by Figma , a global design systems event happening April 16.

What if we started treating design systems as products themselves, requiring a go-to-market strategy to succeed within organizations? By crafting compelling narratives, identifying champions, and measuring impact, design systems teams can position their work as an essential cornerstone of how organizations design and build digital experiences. This marketing mindset turns design systems from nice-to-have toolkits into must-have instruments for your team.

Build it, but will they come? The art of marketing your design system

In my time at Figma, I’ve talked to dozens of design systems teams looking to drive adoption and prove the value of their work. Now, more than ever, it’s important to think, strategize, and execute like a marketer. Here are some of the tactics and strategies for helping you position your design system as an integral asset—whether launching anew or revitalizing existing efforts.

Get to know your target audience

First and foremost, you need to be confident that your design system resonates with the needs of your audience. Finding product-market fit is an ongoing process of exploration, communication, and iteration. It requires a nuanced understanding of your audience—what drives them, what concerns them about new tools, and how do they perceive the system’s value in their daily work? This means immersing yourself in the daily realities of designers, developers, and decision-makers—identifying not just their challenges, but also understanding their unstated frustrations and desires. What gets under their skin? What are they craving that they don’t even know they need yet?

Engaging in this level of audience understanding is not unlike the initial stages of product development, where user research is paramount. Interview people across your Product Design and Engineering (PDE) organization—from individual contributors to leadership. Each level offers unique perspectives to inform your strategy. Start conversations discussing existing processes, bottlenecks and goals, before diving into specifics about your design system.

Developers, designers, project managers—they all speak slightly different dialects of the same language. By creating and fine-tuning a pitch to each group’s specific needs and concerns, you ensure that the proposition for your design system is heard loud and clear.

• For designers , highlight how the system enables creativity, while ensuring brand consistency.
• Developers will likely care more about reusability and efficiency gains. Share how the system facilitates reusability, standardization, and a frictionless workflow between design and code.
• And for decision-makers , emphasize ROI through accelerated speed-to-market, reduced technical debt.

Part of this means addressing hesitations and concerns head-on. Understand why some may be reluctant to adopt or invest in your design system—like concerns around flexibility, technical limitations, or implementation overhead—and craft messaging that addresses these objections, converting skepticism into enthusiasm.

Thinking about making the switch to Figma? Check out Designer Advocate Clara Ujiie’s An insider’s guide to a seamless Figma migration for a plethora of resources, tips, and tools.

Get the word out: Going to market

Martin Hardee helps large organizations navigate big design transitions, and offers his advice for others looking to do the same .

This phase demands careful consideration of the channels and formats that best suit each audience. Communicate your design system’s core value and functionality in a way that sparks interest without overwhelming–you can always link to resources with more detail if people want to go deeper. Here are some strategies for how you can get your message across are:

Treat the roll-out as a learning opportunity. At Spotify, the team prioritized collaboration and feedback loops when rethinking their design system implementation. Showing responsiveness to user feedback not only improves the system but also builds trust and reduces resistance.

• Host engaging hands-on workshops and FigJam sessions.
• Publish informative, yet concise documentation.
• Produce short videos highlighting real-world use cases and benefits.
• Schedule presentations at relevant team meetings and events.

Discover how News UK shipped their multi-brand design system , leveraging custom resources to onboard designers and empower advocates.

Timing is everything. Capitalize on moments like product launches, company meetings, or quarterly planning sessions to amplify your message, and steer clear of periods when your audience is likely to be disengaged or preoccupied, such as late Friday afternoons, around holidays, company-wide events, or involved product launches. And remember, building awareness is an ongoing effort. If you don’t see immediate traction, that’s okay! Companies make marketing moments not only during a launch, but continuously—and you can use this same approach through updates and evangelism.

Building influence through advocacy

Identify internal advocates and influencers who can champion the system and equip them to rally others. These could include senior designers, respected developers, or product leaders who have sway and see the system’s potential. Consider formalizing their advocacy through performance reviews or a program where members earn recognition for contributions like creating new components, giving training sessions, or writing educational content. This fosters a culture that highlights the system’s importance and impact.

The flywheel effect in marketing refers to a strategy of creating a self-sustaining cycle of growth and improvement. It’s based on the idea that initial efforts to engage and satisfy customers generate momentum that leads to more customers and further growth, much like a flywheel gaining speed.

By empowering a mobilized group of internal experts and formalizing incentives, you create a powerful flywheel effect of grassroots promotion, enablement, and lasting adoption. This can attract and retain a wider audience over time. A community not only supports the system’s current users but also welcomes new ones, creating a dynamic environment where feedback fuels continuous improvement.

Establish clear success metrics for your design system in terms of adoption, engagement, and satisfaction. Think of it like a game where you’re keeping score on how many people are actually using the system: how many show up eager to learn at your workshops, and how many roll up their sleeves to help make the system even better? It’s about setting clear markers for success, like aiming for most of your design and development teams to use the system regularly, getting a packed room for training, and building a buzzing community. Specific metrics to track could include:

• Number of teams or projects using the design system
• Contribution rates: people creating or updating components
• Attendance at trainings, workshops, community events
• System usage telemetry: component inserts & detaches, library usage, et cetera

Learn how Pinterest’s design systems team measures adoption using our REST API.

Set ambitious but achievable targets, like aiming for 70% of product teams using the system within six months. Monitor progress and share wins. An actively engaged community will provide a feedback loop to evolve your design system into an ever-more integral asset.

Stepping into the marketing spotlight

Design systems are a force for unifying creative visions, streamlining processes, and empowering teams to build incredible user experiences with efficiency. But to maximize this impact, design systems teams need to move beyond a build-it-and-they-will-come mentality. Driving adoption requires thinking, planning, and executing with a marketing mindset.

It’s time to embrace wearing the marketing hat. By proactively raising awareness, building advocacy, and proving impact, you’ll transform your design system from a helpful utility into an indispensable centerpiece of how your organization crafts amazing digital experiences. The work won’t always be easy, but the payoff of an enthusiastically embraced design system will be well worth the effort.

Ana Boyer is a designer advocate at Figma, where she is building community and empowering design teams across industries. She believes in collaboration and iteration and is always looking to build systems and establish processes where there is ambiguity.

Artwork by Cynthia Alfonso

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What Is an Information Designer?

Explore a career as an information designer and the daily responsibilities you may face. Discover the necessary skills, potential salary, job outlook, and tips on how to start down this exciting career path.

Information designers present information to an audience in a visually appealing, easy-to-understand manner. In addition to being able to create designs, information designers understand what kinds of design (such as a pie chart, table, or timeline) a specific audience might need. While many companies hire information designers for digital projects, these designers might also work on printed publications and store, museum, or trade show displays.

Why is information design important?

You can find information design everywhere. Consider the owner's manual in your car, the fire escape poster in the breakroom at work, the historical guideposts along your favorite hiking trail, and the DIY videos you watch on the weekends. By clarifying information with an appealing design and a simple story, information design offers many benefits, including the following:

Giving an audience greater accessibility to information

Getting and holding a viewer's attention

Providing a more pleasant audience learning experience

Keeping an audience up to date on important trends

Increasing audience engagement

Improving audience decision-making

What does an information designer do?

In this position, you'll develop content to communicate information to an audience. To develop effective content, you should know your audience and understand how consumers respond to different types of information.

To communicate your message in a digital or print format, you'll use design elements like color, imagery, shape, space, texture, and type to create various infographics. Examples of infographics you might create include:

Comparisons

How-to guides

Daily tasks and responsibilities

As an information designer, you might work for an editor, a manager, or different clients. Knowing what you might do on a daily basis helps you understand more about information design. 

Consider the needs of the client and plan the message to display.

Analyze information and decide how to present it clearly.

Research the best methods for creating a design.

Plan layouts for displays using imagery and artwork.

Create design wireframes and prototypes.

Engage in usability testing to get design feedback.

Make changes to designs based on feedback.

Use various design tools to create visuals.

Create designs according to a schedule. 

Present design proofs to managers and clients.

Work alone or with a design team.

Important information designer skills

Building a successful career in this job requires a mix of technical and workplace skills. These skills might help you perform better on the job.

Technical skills

Technical skills involve abilities that help you complete specific work-related tasks. Technical skills that might help you with your work as an information designer include the following:

Business knowledge

Data analytics abilities

Graphic design skills

Familiarity with typography

Research skills

Web programming 

Writing and editing skills

Workplace skills

Workplace skills involve abilities that help you work with other people, and they transfer to almost any job. For an information designer position, these might include:

Analytical skills

Attention to detail

Collaboration

Communication

Organization

Time management

Information designer education and training

To improve your chances of becoming an information designer, it helps to have an education and training strategy. Consider completing the following steps:

1. Get a bachelor's degree.

Many information designers benefit from a bachelor's degree. You may opt to pursue your degree in information design specifically, or you can pursue a bachelor’s in another subject. Common degrees earned by information designers include:

Advertising

Computer science

Digital design

Graphic design

2. Take extra courses or enroll in certificate programs.

Extra courses or certificate programs might help advance your information designer skills. To boost your market potential, you might consider courses or certificate programs in:

Business writing

Data analytics

Information architecture

Instructional design

3. Apply for an internship.

An internship in information design can offer practical workplace experience. To find an internship in your area, follow these suggestions:

Check online job sites.

Attend local job fairs.

Check with your college or university career center.

Call the job service center in your city.

Get in touch with your professional network on social media.

Call local businesses directly.

Information designer salary and job outlook

Currently, the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn't contain employment data for information design. However, it does contain data for similar professions like graphic design, digital design, and web development.

According to the BLS, the median annual salary for graphic designers is $57,990. BLS predicts the number of graphic design jobs will grow by about 3 percent from 2022 to 2032 [ 1 ].

The median annual salary for digital designers and web developers comes to $80,730 per year, according to BLS. Additionally, BLS predicts the number of jobs for this group to grow by about 16 percent from 2022 to 2032 [ 2 ].

Getting started on Coursera

To build a good foundation for an information design career, consider taking the Effective Communication: Writing Design and Presentation Specialization on Coursera offered by the University of Colorado Boulder. This highly-reviewed specialization covers topics such as business writing, graphic design, presentation, and more. 

If you commit to 10 hours per week, you should complete the four-course series in about two months. When you're finished, you'll earn a special career certificate to post on your social media profile, add to your resume, or hang on your office wall.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What factors might affect my salary as an information designer ‎.

In some parts of the country, you can make more as an information designer due to the high demand for work and a lower cost of living, so where you live can affect your salary. Other factors that can affect your salary as an information designer include the specific duties on your job description (more complex duties usually earn higher pay), how well you perform your job duties, and your level of education, experience, and skill. ‎

What is the difference between information design and data visualization? ‎

Information design involves telling a story using images and text and presenting clear conclusions. Data visualization presents raw data and allows the viewer to formulate a conclusion. Due to its simplicity, information design helps users understand information easily. Designs in data visualization can be simple, like bar graphs or pie charts, or more complex. In addition, conclusions reached from data visualization can change with the addition of more data. ‎

Article sources

US Bureau of Labor Statistics. " Occupational Outlook Handbook: Graphic Designers , https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/graphic-designers.htm." Accessed December 19, 2023.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics. " Occupational Outlook Handbook: Web Developers and Digital Designers , https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/web-developers.htm." Accessed December 19, 2023.

Keep reading

Coursera staff.

Editorial Team

Coursera’s editorial team is comprised of highly experienced professional editors, writers, and fact...

This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

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Cries of Sexism Greet a Nike Olympic Reveal

The sporting giant offered a sneak peek at its track and field outfits for Team U.S.A., and an unexpected backlash ensued.

By Vanessa Friedman

Ever since the Norwegian women’s beach handball team turned the fact that they were required to wear teeny-tiny bikini bottoms for competition into a cause célèbre, a quiet revolution has been brewing throughout women’s sports. It’s one that questions received conventions about what female athletes do — or don’t — have to wear to perform at their very best.

It has touched women’s soccer (why white shorts?), gymnastics (why not a unitard rather than a leotard?), field hockey (why a low-cut tank top?) and many more, including running.

So it probably should not have come as a shock to Nike that when it offered a sneak peek of the Team U.S.A. track and field unies during a Nike Air event in Paris celebrating its Air technology on Thursday (which also included looks for other Olympic athletes, like Kenya’s track and field team, France’s basketball team and Korea’s break dancing delegation), they were met with some less-than-enthusiastic reactions.

See, the two uniforms Nike chose to single out on the mannequins included a men’s compression tank top and mid-thigh-length compression shorts and a woman’s bodysuit, cut notably high on the hip. It looked sort of like a sporty version of a 1980s workout leotard. As it was displayed, the bodysuit seemed as if it would demand some complicated intimate grooming.

Citius Mag , which focuses on running news, posted a photo of the uniforms on Instagram, and many of its followers were not amused.

“What man designed the woman’s cut?” wrote one.

“I hope U.S.A.T.F. is paying for the bikini waxes,” wrote another. So went most of the more than 1,900 comments.

The running comedian Laura Green posted an Instagram reel in which she pretended to be trying on the look (“We’re feeling pretty, um, breezy,” she said) and checking out the rest of the athlete’s kit bag, which turned out to include hair spray, lip gloss and a “hysterectomy kit,” so the women would not have to worry about periods.

When asked, Nike did not address the brouhaha directly, but according to John Hoke, the chief innovation officer, the woman’s bodysuit and the man’s shorts and top are only two of the options Nike will have for its Olympic runners. There are “nearly 50 unique pieces across men’s and women’s and a dozen competition styles fine-tuned for specific events,” Mr. Hoke said.

Women will be able to opt for compression shorts, a crop top or tank and a bodysuit with shorts rather than bikini bottoms. The full slate of looks was not on hand in Paris but more will be revealed next week at the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in New York. The Paris reveal was meant to be a teaser.

Mr. Hoke also pointed out that Nike consults with a large number of athletes at every stage of the uniform design. Its track and field roster includes Sha’Carri Richardson, who happened to be wearing the compression shorts during the Paris presentation, and Athing Mu. And there are certainly runners who like the high-cut brief. (The British Olympic sprinter Dina Asher-Smith , another Nike athlete, told The New York Times last summer that while she opts to run in briefs, she also leans toward a leotard style, rather than a two-piece.)

What Nike missed, however, was that in choosing those two looks as the primary preview for Team U.S.A., rather than, say, the matching shorts and tanks that will be also available, it shored up a longstanding inequity in sports — one that puts the body of a female athlete on display in a way it does not for the male athlete.

“Why are we presenting this sexualized outfit as the standard of excellence?” said Lauren Fleshman, a U.S. national champion distance runner and the author of “Good for a Girl.” “In part because we think that’s what nets us the most financial gain from sponsors or NIL opportunities, most of which are handed out by powerful men or people looking at it through a male gaze. But women are breaking records with ratings in sports where you don’t have to wear essentially a bathing suit to perform.”

The problem such imagery creates is twofold. When Nike chose to reveal the high-cut bodysuit as the first Olympics outfit, purposefully or not, the implication for anyone watching is that “this is what excellence looks like,” Ms. Fleshman said.

That perception filters down to young athletes and becomes the model girls think they have to adopt, often at a developmental stage when their relationships with their bodies are particularly fraught.

And more broadly, given the current political debate around adjudicating women’s bodies, it reinforces the idea that they are public property.

Still, Ms. Fleshman said, “I’m glad Nike put this image out as the crown jewel of Olympic Team design,” because it may act as the catalyst for another conversation that has been long overdue.

“If you showed this outfit to someone from the W.N.B.A. or women’s soccer, they would laugh in your face,” she said. “We shouldn’t have to normalize it for track and field anymore. Time’s up on that.”

Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014. More about Vanessa Friedman

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