Power Point

[Guest]

when doing Power Point, does the Font Size need to be the same on all slides
to make a professional presentation?

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

As a general rule, the more consistency, the more professional it will
look. However, that is only a general rule, so there are plenty of good
reasons to not be 100% consistent.
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Guest]

is there a place to get those reasons?

 

[Guest]

Is there any helpful resources out there with a guide of those reasons?
Thanks for your help

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

My favorite resource for graphical design issues like this is
Interactivity by Design by Kristof and Satran, but it is fairly old and
probably out of print. As I recall, Robin Williams (the technical writer,
not the comedian) also has a good book related to this subject, but I
don't recall it's name off the top of my head.
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Is there any helpful resources out there with a guide of those reasons?

A list of rules for when to break the rules? <g>
There's something very Steven Wright about that. I like it.
But I don't know where you'd find such a thing.

Look at it this way: You want the presentation to support your message, not BE
the message. The less it calls attention to itself, the better. Consistency
helps achieve that.

Inconsistent elements (change in text size/boldness/font/color, graphics,
background color, pretty much anything) are a kind of visual gunshot, something
that alerts the viewer to a change of some kind. That can be quite effective;
maybe you change the background color to emphasize that you're transitioning
from one topic to another. Or bold key words that you want readers to
remember.

The idea, simply, is to use the change to support your message, not for its own
sake.

Change things for no reason and it leaves the viewer wondering WHY you changed
it. That not only steals away some portion of the attention they'd otherwise
be paying your message but eventually numbs them to the effect of deliberate
changes.

I think my two cents has run out.

 

[Echo S]

My favorite resource for graphical design issues like this is
Interactivity by Design by Kristof and Satran, but it is fairly old and
probably out of print. As I recall, Robin Williams (the technical writer,
not the comedian) also has a good book related to this subject, but I
don't recall it's name off the top of my head.

The Robin Williams book is called The Non-Designer's Design Book. I just
read it a few weeks ago, and in fact was going to recommend it to the
original poster!

Great minds and all that.

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

The Robin Williams book is called The Non-Designer's Design Book. I
just read it a few weeks ago, and in fact was going to recommend it to
the original poster!

Great minds and all that.

Yes! That's the one. I know it is on my bookshelf somewhere, but I can't
seem to find it. I'm glad you came up with the name.
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Guest]

Probably a bit late this, but there's an anally retentive fact sheet I wrote
for our web site:
http://www.facilitate-uk.com/pdf/GoodslidedesignUSApril2005.pdf

Alan

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Probably a bit late this, but there's an anally retentive fact sheet I wrote
for our web site:
http://www.facilitate-uk.com/pdf/GoodslidedesignUSApril2005.pdf

And late in responding here, but just the same, I wanted to thank you for
posting that. Would you mind if I link to that from the PPT FAQ?