Designing Powerpoint Slides

1
Designing Powerpoint Slides

• Fall 2004Jo-Anne AndreUniversity of Calgary

2
Designing Powerpoint Slides

• Fall 2004Jo-Anne AndreUniversity of Calgary

Include your name organization onyour title
slide
3
Designing PowerPoint Slides

• 1. Choose high-contrast colours
• 2. Edit slides for conciseness
• 3. Select a readable font
• 4. Choose a readable font size
• 5. Limit the use of animation

4
Choose high-contrast colours

• What colours do you prefer for the background
  and text?
• Consider the following examples

In very dark rooms,a light or bright
backgroundmay be your best choice
5
Choose high-contrast coloursExample 1a Black on
white

• 1. Choose high-contrast colours
• 2. Edit slides for conciseness
• 3. Select a readable font
• 4. Choose a readable font size
• 5. Limit the use of animation

6
Choose high-contrast colours Example 1b B/W
with colour block

• 1. Choose high-contrast colours
• 2. Edit slides for conciseness
• 3. Select a readable font
• 4. Choose a readable font size
• 5. Limit the use of animation

7
Choose high-contrast coloursExample 1c White on
Blue

• 1. Choose high-contrast colours
• 2. Edit slides for conciseness
• 3. Select a readable font
• 4. Choose a readable font size
• 5. Limit the use of animation

8
Choose high-contrast coloursExample 1d Yellow
on blue

• 1. Choose high-contrast colours
• 2. Edit slides for conciseness
• 3. Select a readable font
• 4. Choose a readable font size
• 5. Limit the use of animation

9
Choose high-contrast colours Example 1e White
on black

• 1. Choose high-contrast colours
• 2. Edit slides for conciseness
• 3. Select a readable font
• 4. Choose a readable font size
• 5. Limit the use of animation

10
Edit slides for conciseness

• Aim for maximum 6 lines of text and 6 words
  per line
• Consider these before after examples

11
BEFORE editing for concisenessIntroduction in a
research article

• Statement of the nature and importance of the
  problem or question
• Brief review of relevant research(separate
  chapter in theses)
• Indication of the need for the current
  study(e.g., gaps or flaws in prior research)
• Introduction of current research
• Purpose (objectives)
• Methods (summary statement)
• Specific research questions / hypotheses
• Overview / hint of key findings optional

12
AFTER editing for concisenessResearch article
introduction

• State the problem and its importance
• Briefly review relevant research
• Indicate the need for your study
• Briefly introduce your research
• Purpose, methods, research questions
• Overview of findings optional

13
Select a readable font

• Sans serif fonts are recommended for slides
• Serif fonts (32 pt) Sans serif (32 pt)
• Times New Roman Arial
• Book Antiqua Tahoma
• Bell MT Verdana
• Consider these before after examples

14
SERIF text in Times Roman, 24 pointResearch
article introduction

• State the problem and its importance
• Briefly review relevant research
• Indicate the need for your study
• Briefly introduce your research
• Purpose, methods, research questions
• Overview of findings optional

15
SANS SERIF text in 24-pt Arial, title in 36 pt
TahomaResearch article introduction

• State the problem and its importance
• Briefly review relevant research
• Indicate the need for your study
• Briefly introduce your research
• Purpose, methods, research questions
• Overview of findings optional

16
Choose a readable font size

• What size is most readable from the back row?
• This line is in 24 point size, the recommended
  minimum
• This line is in 28 point font
• This line is in 32 point font
• This line is in 36 point, as is the title
• This line is in 40 point font
• This line is in 44 point font

17
BEFORE text in Arial, 24 pointResearch article
introduction

• State the problem and its importance
• Briefly review relevant research
• Indicate the need for your study
• Briefly introduce your research
• Purpose, methods, research questions
• Overview of findings optional

18
AFTER text in 36-pt Arial ( 28-pt bulleted
sub-points)Research article introduction

• State the problem and its importance
• Briefly review relevant research
• Indicate the need for your study
• Briefly introduce your research
• Purpose, methods, research questions
• Overview of findings optional

19
Limit the use of animation

• Animation can
• distract and annoy your audience
• slow the pace of the presentation
• appear unprofessional if overdone

Use animation sparingly
20
Some final advice

• Edit your presentation for concisenessuse as
  few slides as you can
• Use FORMAT gt LINE SPACING to edit spacing of
  slide content
• Use Autoshapes to add arrows, boxes, etc.
• Become familiar with PowerPoint tools like the
  pointer and presentation timer