The Ultimate 8-Step Presentation Design Process
Which is the best presentation that you have ever been to? What was that one element that made it stand apart? You would probably think of a presentation with well-designed and impressive slides.
Thus, one key aspect that distinguishes a good from a great one is the presentation design process. If your presentation isn’t well curated, it can instantly take away your audience’s attention and make your efforts go down the drain! While crafting a presentation from scratch seems burdensome, you can always use professionally-designed presentation templates and customise them according to your design aesthetic!
Here are eight steps you can follow in the presentation design process to create a flawless one.
1 – Organise Your Content
The most crucial step in designing a presentation is creating its outline or a draft. It would help you categorise and put information in a well-structured manner.
Imagine sitting through a presentation with ample information, but everything seems messed up on the slides. No matter how great the data is, you would lose interest quickly because the presentation is unorganised and chaotic. To avoid such a situation, it is crucial to organise information effectively and plan the ratio of graphics to text.
2 – Use Your Brand Theme
Branding is perhaps the most crucial part of designing presentations. Let me ask you a question – Think of a brand when I say yellow and red. What comes to your mind immediately? Of course, it is McDonald’s!
Instead of using default colours in your slides, use colours that resonate with your brand. You can also use the same font in your presentations that you use on the company’s flyers, banners, letterheads, etc. This trick will help the audience relate to your company when they see your presentation.
3 – Focus More on Visuals, Less on Text
Visuals and graphics captivate people’s attention and keep them hooked on your slides. Creating a perfect balance of visuals and text can help communicate your message more clearly and easily. However, it entirely depends upon the topic of your presentation.
For instance, if your subject is Fashion, using more images can help explain your ideas more quickly and make your slides look more powerful. If your topic is related to Literature, using more text, quotes, and expressions can be more communicative.
Make sure to use appropriate sizes of visuals and illustrations so that your audience can view them easily. Ensure that the images are high quality and do not get pixelated on a bigger screen.
4 – Harness the Power of Animation
Animation can make your content more dynamic and help your audience remember it longer. While the most common forms of animation are Entrance and Exit, don’t be afraid to get out of the box and use diverse effects. It will make your presentations unique and add more value to your slide design. You can even use animations on text, define its transition speed, and add custom effects. However, do not add too many animations or effects to avoid any possible lags or glitches.
5 – Maintain Consistency Across All Slides
Imagine sitting through a presentation with a different theme on each slide – would it not feel like a Kindergarten assignment and completely strip away your attention? Of course, it would!
Therefore, maintaining a consistent theme is crucial to keep your audience’s eyes hooked, establish decorum, and create a better flow of ideas and stories being shared in the presentation. You can do this by using your company’s style guide or branding kit, and if you do not have one, you can always use pre-designed themes and templates.
6 – Plan Visual Hierarchy Wisely
Visual hierarchy is one of the most overlooked aspects of designing presentations. Simply put, it refers to putting up information, colours, fonts, alignments, highlights, and other elements as per their importance in the presentation.
For instance, if your presentation is about the hierarchy of ministers in India, you would write about the President, the Vice-President, and then the Prime Minister. It will allow you to display data based on its value and make it easier for the audience to comprehend.
7 – Work on Slides Layout
Your slides must be highly tidy, well-structured, and neat. Instead of crafting artistic and abstract design layouts, one must create user-friendly slides that communicate messages easily.
You can use the following tips to ensure a good slide layout:
- Leave ample white space in your slides. It gives more breathing space to the existing visuals and prevents elements on the slides from being crammed.
- Use frames and grids to put images and videos on your slides.
- Use the alignment wisely. Avoid aligning text to the centre; use diverse alignments for different slides.
8 – Draw the Audience’s Attention with Images and Background
Images and beautiful backgrounds are the keys to intriguing your audience and keeping their focus on your slides. While there are limitless options when it comes to adding images to your slide backgrounds, you can pick the right image with the following tips:
- Select an image according to your theme. If your presentation is about India’s political system, you may want to use a picture of the Parliament as the background.
- Make sure that your backdrop image has enough contrast with other elements on the slide. It should not engulf your text but should highlight it.
- Use images of good quality with a higher resolution. It would prevent them from getting pixelated and create a great visual experience for the audience.
Conclusion
While designing the perfect presentation can be time-consuming, it is always worthwhile. An excellent presentation can open doors to new opportunities and help you grow unimaginably. Thus, while crafting your next presentation, ensure you create a clean design and follow the presentation design process above to win your audience’s hearts!
Presentation Design Process FAQs
What is the process of designing a presentation?
When I design presentations, I start by taking a step back and thinking about the message I want to communicate. Once I have a message, I start thinking about the audience.
What are the main things I must consider when designing a presentation?
The main thing you need to consider when designing a presentation is how to make it look good. I like to use a lot of colours, patterns, and textures.
How do I design a template?
There are many ways to design a template. You can start by listing your ideas and then organising them into categories. Next, you can start to design each part of the presentation, such as the title slide, the body slides, the transition slides, and the ending slide.
How do I choose the correct font size?
Make sure that the font size is readable. The size of the text will depend on the size of your computer screen.