Presentation Design
"This week we began studying presentation design. I had no idea..."
- That PowerPoint Design should be considered an ART form! I've certainly been on the receiving end of too many death-by-PowerPoint presentations, and this week's readings and videos gave me not only the vocabulary to accurately describe the design crimes that many of those nearly unbearable sessions committed ("too much info," "you're giving a presentation, not RECITATION," "use strong and relevant visuals, not crappy ones," and plenty of others that meshed nicely with my own oft-muttered complaint, "dear God, did you HAVE TO play with every single PowerPoint bell, whistle and button?") but the affirmation that yes, PowerPoint CAN be an effective message delivery and support tool!
- That most designers who utilize PowerPoint are fairly critical of the "standard" templates that are built into it and suggest NOT using them.
- That just like Nancy Willard's and Tomie dePaola's book, Simple Pictures are Best, simple designs are best for viewers and presenters:
- That if your creative soul *needs* something a step up from simple but miles away from gaudy, there are plenty of PowerPoint (and Google Slide) templates out there, and many are free!
- That presentations are able to be memorable for all of the right reasons, by effectively connecting with audience members, holding their attention, engaging them with humor, and making it possible for them to remember the actual message even after they've left the building.
I've used PowerPoint to create content for my kindergartners, much of it PDF pages to support ELA and Math concepts, for several years now. Tricks of the trade for making appealing pages for five and six-year-olds aren't well aligned with producing effective slides for older, or even adult audiences. I'll have to make sure that I don't fall back on the purposely cutesy layouts, fonts and imagery that work with young audiences when I'm producing presentations for colleagues!
In what other ways do you use PowerPoint?
By the same token, I think high school and college teachers sometimes forget that our older students are inundated with "black and white" information. My students love coming into my classroom which I decorate like an elementary one. They love the colors and shapes and fun that elementary school provided them. As with so many things, I think we have to have a happy medium.
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