How to create a visually inspiring (slide) presentation. Six rules to follow.

Obviously, if your content is not inspiring, this won’t help you at all. Let’s assume you’ve got something to say and an audience that needs or wants to hear it. Follow these rules when composing your slides:

  1. Each slide should contain one point or idea. Imagery, if any, should support or reinforce the ideas on the slide. 
  2. Be very selective about what you will allow to take up real-estate on your slides. Does your logo really need to be on every slide? Really? Seriously, why?
  3. Use one or two typefaces consistently throughout the deck, and set the point size to 30 or larger.
  4. Use color consistently. Except for when you’re applying number 5 (below). 
  5. Be unexpected. If most of your slides have a white background, every once in a while make one of them a colored background to make a point stand out or to signal a shift into another area of your talk. 
  6. Be engaging. If you follow the rules above, you probably don’t have to try very hard to do this.

There’s certainly more that can be said about creating an effective slide show, but this gives you a quick set of rules to get you started.

Was this helpful? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below or via email.

Are you boring your audience? 3 ways to freshen up your marketing while staying on brand.

This question came from a client of mine. I’ve modified the question to be less specific to their particular dilemma so you can see how these ideas can be applied to your situation.

Q: Our advertisements are boring, and customers are ignoring them. My co-worker wants to use lots of colors and fonts to make our promotional posters stand out more than the one-font, one-color template we’ve been using. I’m worried this will take us off-brand. What do you think?

My first thought is this: your co-worker’s solution to the problem is only one of many possible solutions. And it has the potential to create a disconnected visual experience for your customer (taking you off-brand). Here’s what I’d like you to consider: there are solutions to the “boring” problem within the limits of one color and one typeface. 

In order to stand out from all the other signage and messages in your environment you need to create visual drama. Here are 3 ways to bring some drama into your visual pieces:

  1. High contrast color: you don’t need more colors. Black & white is high contrast. Try using one brand color with black or white for a simple and high-contrast palette.
  2. High contrast typography: Less is more with ads and marketing materials that need to grab attention fast. Make your top-level statement huge. Make all the supporting language subordinate, while being large enough to read. 
  3. White space: No distractions. Get their attention, then get to the point. If you don’t have access to great art to include in your poster or sign, don’t worry about it. You can create a lot of visual interest with type alone. White space provides visual rest - letting your message stand out even more. 

Brainstorm options within your limits and you’ll be surprised at the possibilities. 

Top 4 Recent Finds Online

Here’s a short list of fun, interesting or useful (free) things I’ve found online recently:

Vizify: Your bio online and organized in a visually pleasing way. 

Trello: Awesome organizational tool. I use it to manage my projects and track progress. 

Sparkwise: Super cool web-based DIY data visualiztion.

Inbox Zero: This has been around for a while, but it’s new to me. I just watched the video and now my inbox is empty. All the time. (Because I’m an email ninja, not because people have stopped emailing.) It’s sweet - you should try it if you struggle to manage your email and find it overwhelming.

Frequently Asked Questions

Dear Readers,

Below are a few FAQs that I get from time to time. These are rather broad. I think you may have some very specific questions for me and I want to hear from you. Please email me your questions or give me a call and let’s chat about what’s on your mind.

Cheers!

Marbry

What do you charge for (fill in the blank design category, such as logo, website or brochure)?

Each design problem is unique and requires a tailored solution. Until we talk about your project details I really have no idea what will be involved in arriving at a successful solution for you. So if you want to know what your next project will cost schedule that meeting with your designer today.

What is a design brief?

It’s a document we create together that contains pertinent information about you or your organization and your project goals. 

“The  brief works as both a project management tool and a design directive. Possibly the most important function of the brief is that it aligns all the stakeholders, helping minimize the chances of going down dead ends. 

The brief is created in collaboration with the client. By working together on the brief, the client and designer have an opportunity to work out issues and clarify any potential misunderstandings regarding direction.

The brief answers all the strategic questions a designer needs to know to do meaningful work.” - David Holston, The Strategic Designer: tools and techniques for managing the design process

The brief contains a project overview (what are you trying to achieve?), defines the problem (why are we doing this?), includes specific goals, defines the audience & communication strategy (why do they care about this?), states how success will be measured (I want my boss to be happy, or I need to get 200 subscribers) and of course includes a timeline and budget. This isn’t an exhaustive list of the contents of a brief, and each brief will be unique to the project.

What I’ve been working on: Email Marketing Campaign Client: Northwest Energy Education Institute (NEEI) Problem: Existing email marketing efforts were cumbersome to create, lacked a professional look that integrated with their online presence, lacked sharing links and did not make use of analytics. Solution: Design an html-based newsletter template to match the look and feel of the NEEI website. Results: The new design is instantly recognizable as a NEEI communication. Creating, editing and sending campaigns is now simple for anyone on the design or client side. Captured analytics will make it possible to refine future issues to meet the interests of subscribers. Social sharing links and forward button make it easy for subscribers to share NEEI content with others. High-res

What I’ve been working on: Email Marketing Campaign

Client: Northwest Energy Education Institute (NEEI)

Problem: Existing email marketing efforts were cumbersome to create, lacked a professional look that integrated with their online presence, lacked sharing links and did not make use of analytics.

Solution: Design an html-based newsletter template to match the look and feel of the NEEI website.

Results: The new design is instantly recognizable as a NEEI communication. Creating, editing and sending campaigns is now simple for anyone on the design or client side. Captured analytics will make it possible to refine future issues to meet the interests of subscribers. Social sharing links and forward button make it easy for subscribers to share NEEI content with others.

Changes at Moore Impact Design

Spring has been a time of reflection & change for Moore Impact Design. Unfortunately my changes are your changes, but luckily their impact will be small on your end. Here’s a list of the changes:

Name change: the dba name “Moore Impact Design” is no longer relevant. Going forward I will use my name only and that is what you’ll see on the website. The new url is: http://marbrywalker.com. The old url will redirect you to the new url. (Easy! You don’t even have to remember to update the url in your contact manager.)

Email change: my new email address is: hello (at) marbrywalker (dot) com. The old address will remain active until the end of the year. (Updating an email address… that’s not so bad, is it?)

Blog: I now have one, and intend to populate it with wildly interesting and mind-blowing design-related content. And cows. (Easier! You don’t even have to ever look at this if you don’t want to. But the cows alone are probably going to make it worth your while if you do.)

Twitter: I try to keep up. Follow me if you like. (Follow. Don’t follow. So many choices!)

Website: the design & copy has been updated. Take a look. Let me know if you have any questions. Your feedback is welcome. (Or not! It’s up to you. I’m all about making YOU happy.)