One of the key choices you make when developing your presentation slides is what fonts to use and how to use them. Here are some guidelines to help you use fonts effectively in your next presentation. Font Categories There are three basic categories of fonts: Serif, Sans-Serif and Script. Here is a description of each…
Category: Slide Design
Choosing Colors for Your Presentation Slides
What are the best background and text colors for a PowerPoint presentation? The best colors for slides have high contrast so they are easily seen. Dark backgrounds should have light text and bright accent colors. Light backgrounds should have dark text and bold accent colors. This way the audience can read the text and see…
Make slides easy to see; Issue #267 August 7, 2012
Presentation Tip: Make slides easy to see There is no point using slides if the audience won’t be able to figure out what is on them. While this may sound obvious, I see too many presenters create slides that the audience won’t be able to figure out because of problems with the slide design. You…
Choose a boring font; Issue #260, May 1, 2012
Presentation Tip: Choose a boring font A lot of presentation designers have made comments in the last year or two about what font you should choose for your PowerPoint slides. Almost every designer suggests that you abandon the built-in fonts like Arial or Calibri. Why? They claim that by using a standard font, you won’t…
Why do presenters change the organization’s template?; Issue #214 July 13, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: Why do presenters change the organization’s template? I had a conversation recently with a client who is looking to update their organization’s PowerPoint template. The one they have now is out of date, but of more concern is that everyone seems to be creating their own slide design. The organization’s branding is getting…
How to create a consistent look when many sources are contributing slides to a presentation; Issue #210 May 18, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: How to create a consistent look when many sources are contributing slides to a presentation In a recent workshop, one of the participants raised the challenge they have when assembling slides from different sources in the organization into one presentation. They said that often you can immediately tell that the presentation has been…
Three steps to reformat a presentation with a new slide design; Issue #187 June 16, 2009
PowerPoint Tip: Reformatting a presentation Often in my workshops, someone shares how they struggle when trying to merge slides from different presenters into one presentation or when they have to reformat a presentation using a new slide design. What should be easy turns into a nightmare with content moving all over the place and hours…
How to determine if the font on your slides is big enough; Issue #152 February 5, 2008
PowerPoint Tip: Is Your Font Big Enough? One of the questions that comes up often in my workshops is “How big of a font should I use?” The answer is … It depends. You certainly don’t want to do what I have seen twice in the past 18 months. These two presentations have set the…
How to make slides that are accessible for those with hearing or sight impairments; Issue #151 January 22, 2008
PowerPoint Tip: Making Accessible Slides Last year I worked on a project for my publisher, Prentice Hall, that was interesting and highly informative. The topic was how to make PowerPoint presentations accessible to those who have hearing or sight impairments. It is a requirement on some college campuses and we would all do well to…