About This Presentation
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PowerPoint Design
James Beil
Office of Academic Innovation and Effectiveness
PowerPoint
Design
James Beil
Office of Innovation
and Effectiveness
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Text!
Choose the right font – SANS SERIF fonts are much easier to read than SERIF fonts. Some recommended sans serif fonts include: Tahoma, Arial, Trebuchet, and
Verdana. Using sans serif fonts increase the readability of the text as well as increasing visual appeal (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011; Earnest, 2011).
Pick the right size – the smallest font size is 18pt. Even 18 is hard to read sometimes. Generally, you want your title to be around 44pt and your bullets to be 32pt. If
you find that all of your information will not fit on a slide using these guidelines, you probably have too much text on that slide (Earnest, 2011).
Use simple bullet points – As the amount of text on the screen increases, so does “searching time” and errors. Reducing a sentence to a bullet point is a great way to
minimize these errors (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011).
Limit the amount of text per slide – A Maximum of 6 bullet points, 7 words per bullet, and 40 words per page. Going over these limitations can make the slide seem
cluttered, unclear, and visually displeasing (Earnest, 2011).
Use abbreviations and symbols where possible – Using abbreviations and symbols will help to cut down the word count and clutter on the screen. For example, use
MLK instead of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Earnest, 2011).
Reduce sentences to key words – PowerPoint is not a teleprompter, it is a visual medium. Reducing even short sentences to key words will cut clutter on the slide
(Earnest, 2011; Garner & Alley, 2011).
Minimize highlights, bolds, italics, and caps – Only use these embellishments to really drive home a point or to draw attention (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman,
2011).
Use an affirmative and active voice – People more easily understand active statements than passive statements and have more trouble processing negatives rather
than positives (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011).
Eliminate orphans – When your text pushes a single word on to the next line, this is called an orphan. Orphans eat up space and can make slides harder to follow
(Earnest, 2011).
Choose the right font – SANS SERIF fonts are much easier to read than SERIF fonts. Some recommended sans serif fonts include: Tahoma, Arial, Trebuchet, and
Verdana. Using sans serif fonts increase the readability of the text as well as increasing visual appeal (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011; Earnest, 2011).
Pick the right size – the smallest font size is 18pt. Even 18 is hard to read sometimes. Generally, you want your title to be around 44pt and your bullets to be 32pt. If
you find that all of your information will not fit on a slide using these guidelines, you probably have too much text on that slide (Earnest, 2011).
Use simple bullet points – As the amount of text on the screen increases, so does “searching time” and errors. Reducing a sentence to a bullet point is a great way to
minimize these errors (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011).
Limit the amount of text per slide – A Maximum of 6 bullet points, 7 words per bullet, and 40 words per page. Going over these limitations can make the slide seem
cluttered, unclear, and visually displeasing (Earnest, 2011).
Use abbreviations and symbols where possible – Using abbreviations and symbols will help to cut down the word count and clutter on the screen. For example, use
MLK instead of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Earnest, 2011).
Reduce sentences to key words – PowerPoint is not a teleprompter, it is a visual medium. Reducing even short sentences to key words will cut clutter on the slide
(Earnest, 2011; Garner & Alley, 2011).
Minimize highlights, bolds, italics, and caps – Only use these embellishments to really drive home a point or to draw attention (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman,
2011).
Use an affirmative and active voice – People more easily understand active statements than passive statements and have more trouble processing negatives rather
than positives (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011).
Eliminate orphans – When your text pushes a single word on to the next line, this is called an orphan. Orphans eat up space and can make slides harder to follow
(Earnest, 2011).
Text
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Sans serif fonts
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18pt or larger
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Simple bullet points
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6 bullet points
7 words per bullet
40 words per page
Sans Serif
Sans Serif
Sans Serif
Sans Serif
Sans Serif
Sans Serif
18pt
16pt
Serif
Serif
Serif
Serif
Serif
Serif
Earnest, 2011
Garner & Alley, 2011
Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011
Text (cont.)
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Abbreviations and symbols
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Only Key words
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Embellishments
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Use minimal
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Voice
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Orphans
Earnest, 2011
Garner & Alley, 2011
Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011
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Visuals!
Choose the right template for a good foundation – Since plain white slides are least preferred by students, it is important to consider using a template to enhance learning. If you are
building a PowerPoint from the bottom up, a template can set the framework for a professional and effective presentation. However, there are some templates, especially older
templates, that fall short on delivering a professional and effective presentation. Furthermore, remember to avoid backgrounds that could potentially hurt the audience’s eyes [bright
lime green] (Apperson, Laws, & Scepansky, 2008; Earnest, 2011).
BAD templates: Soaring, Whirlpool, High Voltage, Marble, Fireball, and Blue Diagonal.
Good bright templates: Bold Stripes, Network, Profile, Echo, Eclipse, Layers, and Level.
Good dark templates: Circuit and Refined (Earnest, 2011).
Choose the right template for the right occasion – Not all templates will work for every presentation. The projector and the amount of light in the room can influence what template to
choose. For example, dark templates are best utilized when the room is very brightly lit, the screen has lights shining directly on it, or the colors of the pictures/logos clash with bright
colors. Bright templates, on the other hand, are best presented in dim settings (Apperson, Laws, & Scepansky, 2008; Earnest, 2011).
Use high contrast text colors – If using a dark background, use bright text coloring. Also, avoid red-greed complements; most common color blindness (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman,
2011; Earnest, 2011).
Be consistent– whatever your design, be as consistent as possible throughout the slides. For example, if you decide to move the title to the upper-left portion of the slide on one slide,
move it there for every other slide. This helps reduce “searching” for information on the slides. Also, if you capitalize the first letter of every bullet on one slide, do so for the rest of the
slides. This helps to draw attention to the beginning of each bullet-point; then you could deviate from this pattern to emphasize an important point (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman,
2011)
Use Images – By using relevant and illustrative images in conjunction with text, your audience will learn more (Garner & Alley, 2011).
Choose images wisely – Ask yourself:
Does this image enhance the information on this slide?
Does this image fit my color scheme? (not essential but preferred)
How big is this image? (Minimum 800X400 for backgrounds, 400X200 for in-slide images)
How well does this image fit into my slides? (is it too long? Too tall?)
How big is the image’s file size? (too many large images can crash PowerPoint)
(Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011)
(Garner & Alley, 2011)
(Z. Schaefer, personal communication, September 19, 2014)
(J. Beil, personal communication, September 19, 2014)
Choose clip-art wisely – In general, pictures are preferred over clip-art. However, if you still want to use clip-art, just remember that older clip-art was poorly drawn and rendered and
does not fit with today’s technological advances. Using a clip-art graphic from before Windows 7 is probably not a good idea. However, old clip-art can sometimes be used ironically to
grab the audience’s attention and to get a cheap laugh. Http://office.microsoft.com has free clip-art and images (Earnest, 2011).
Size pictures with text appropriately – Remember that pictures are useless if they are not large enough to interpret. This is especially important if the image has text. Remember the
text rules when sizing images with text and make the text in the picture at VERY least 18pt (Earnest, 2011).
Avoid the void – Above we’ve highlighted the importance on cutting back the amount of text on a slide; now the caveat to those rules. Use your space wisely. If you have followed the
guidelines above, there should be a great deal of space left on your slides. Don’t waste this space. Some suggestions for balancing your slides and “avoiding the void:”
Increase your text size
(Z. Schaefer, personal communication, September 19, 2014)
Increase the size of your images
(J. Beil, personal communication, September 19, 2014)
Add an Image
Move elements on slide to better balance the slide
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Visuals! Continued!!
Size pictures appropriately – Use caution when increasing the size of an image. All too often are images oversized and appear grainy when projected. Also, stretching images too far
vertically or horizontally can skew the perspective. Finally, enlarge your picture enough so that your audience can actually see what is happening in the picture (Earnest, 2011).
Create your own margins – Sometimes projectors will not project the entire slide on the screen; cutting off potentially important information. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep the
outer boundaries of the slide blank (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011).
Use a maximum of 5 to 6 colors or shapes on graphs and charts – This is primarily to help the audience quickly process the information (Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011).
Place relevant information near the relevant image – Visually establishing connections between concepts will help eliminate “searching” and increase understanding (Garner & Alley,
2011).
Create borders and shadows – If an image does not already have a border or the background of the picture does not blend with your slide’s background, you need to add a border and a
shadow to make the image look more professional (Earnest, 2011).
Spread your bullets – Visually balance your bullet points on the slide to increase readability (Earnest, 2011).
Make it easy on yourself – In order to help yourself remember to cite your sources, as a part of being consistent in slide design, put your citations in the same space on every slide and do
NOT animate them. This will leave the citations on the screen for the maximum amount of time and make it easy for you to find them when you want to cite them.
Visuals
 The
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right template
Good foundation
Right Situation
 High
Contrast Text
 Consistency
 Easy
Citations
Earnest, 2011
Garner & Alley, 2011
Apperson, Laws, & Scepansky, 2008
Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011
Visuals (cont.)
 Images
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Choose wisely
 Clip-art
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Use photos instead
 Sizing
 The
Pictures
void
Earnest, 2011
Garner & Alley, 2011
Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011
Visuals (cont.)
 Margins
 Graphs
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and charts
6 colors/shapes max.
 Borders
 Visual
and shadows
Balance
Earnest, 2011
Garner & Alley, 2011
Durso, Pop, Burnett, & Stearman, 2011
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Animations!
Avoid splitting relevant text and images – Your audience can benefit when related text and images are presented at the same time. This helps to highlight the relationship between the
text (Garner & Alley, 2011).
Present key points individually– Presenting key points individually helps keep students engaged in the presentation. You can do so by setting the animations to come in one bullet at a
time; if each bullet is a different idea. This helps to break the chunk of time students spend copying slides into smaller, less overwhelming, and more manageable chunks (Apperson,
Laws, & Scepansky, 2008).
Avoid using too many animations – Animations should be used to enhance the presentation, not distract from the information. Using too many animations can quickly overwhelm an
audience.
Be consistent – Use the same simple animations throughout the presentation to keep a professional look.
Keep it simple – Complex series of animations can be used to help explain and highlight graphs, charts, and images. However, in general, they are just there to bring the text on the
screen. Remember that just because the option is there to make the text swirl all around the screen, you do not need to use it.
Remember to double-check – Animation sequences can easily get mixed up. Remember to preview your animations before finalizing each slide.
Apply slide transitions – Slide transitions are often forgot about in most presentations. Truly, they can be distracting when done wrong. However, by using the same guidelines as the inslide animations, slide transitions can provide much of the same positives as in-slide animations. Remember, be consistent, keep it simple, and double-check.
Save animations for last – Animations can be great tools to enhance a PowerPoint, however they are truly non-essential, in most cases, to enhancing the presentation. Also, the
following point will further illustrate why setting animations should be the last thing you do to a PowerPoint presentation.
Prepare for the worst – Animations require additional resources from the computer. If the computer you are using is already slow or you don’t know FOR SURE how well a computer
performs, it is a good idea to make two versions of every presentation; one with your animations and one with no animations. If you saved your animations for last, just save the first
copy with no animations, add your animations, and then save the animated presentation under a new file name.
Practice – Having two versions of your PowerPoint is great, but it won’t save you if you don’t preview your presentation on the computer you are presenting from.
Animations
 Text
w/ images
 Points
individually
 Over-animated
 Keep
it simple
 Double-check
Garner & Alley, 2011
Apperson, Laws, & Scepansky, 2008
Animations (cont.)
 Slide
transitions
 Animations
 Practice
last
and Prepare
Garner & Alley, 2011
Apperson, Laws, & Scepansky, 2008
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Videos!
Insert (Embedding) videos when possible – It is not efficient to stop the full-screen presentation, pull up
the web browser, search for your video, and then FINALLY hit “play.” Embedding a video in a
presentation eliminates a lot of wasted time; all you need to do is click within the presentation.
However, embedding videos can be tricky. You need to have the video saved somewhere on the
computer you are using, a flash drive, or a CD. If you save the video to a computer at home and insert it
into the presentation, it will show up, but not when you present. Why? PowerPoint assigned a location
to retrieve the video. So if you save your video to a flash drive, shared drive, or CD, make sure that you
use that flash drive, CD, or have access to the shared drive when you present.
Prepare for the worst – Just like the animations, videos take up a considerable chunk of the computer’s
resources. Therefore, it is important to have a backup plan for videos as well. If you have an embedded
video, make sure that it will work on the computer you are presenting from. If it doesn’t work within
the presentation, or you are streaming directly from the web, you should have your video(s) pulled up
on a web browser, loaded, and at the correct start time. This is especially important as most online
videos require you to watch an advertisement before the video begins. These advertisements can take
upwards of 20 seconds from your presentation. Having your video ready before you begin presenting
also means you won’t be searching through other videos with similar names. Finally, previewing your
videos before your presentation will let you know if the computer is actually able to play the videos, if
you need to adjust the sound levels for the video, and whether or not you should play the video in fullscreen mode or not.
Sounds!
• Use sounds to highlight key points – Using sounds can highlight key points and,
when used sparingly and purposefully, can capture/recapture the audience’s
attention (Apperson, Laws, & Scepansky, 2008).
• Resist overusing sound – Using sounds in your presentation can be used to grab the
audience’s attention, regain their attention, and highlight important information.
However, overusing sounds will completely nullify these advantages. If every bullet
on your slide comes in with a “BANG” then you are probably overusing sounds in
your presentation.
• Embedding sounds – Just like videos, if you embed a sound, you’ll need to make
sure that you embedded that sound correctly. Embedding a sound follows the
same rules as embedding a video.
• Prepare for the worst – Just like animations and videos, sounds take up computer
resources and it is important to preview your sounds before beginning your
presentation. Previewing your sounds will let you know if the sounds are working,
if the computer can handle processing the sounds, and whether or not you need to
adjust the volume.
Videos and Sound
 Embed
when possible
 Prepare
 Preview
 Highlight
Apperson, Laws, & Scepansky, 2008
Final Thoughts
 Control
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Text
Visuals
 Consistency
 Preparation
 Purpose
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If you need to break or bend a rule here or
there to fit your needs, it’s up to you. 
References
Apperson, J. M., Laws, E. L., & Scepansky, J. A. (2008). An
assessment of student preferences for PowerPoint presentation
structure in undergraduate courses. Computers & Education,
50(1), 148-153.
Durso, F. T., Pop, V. L., Burnett, J. S., & Stearman, E. J. (2011).
Evidence-Based Human Factors Guidelines for PowerPoint
Presentations. Ergonomics in Design: The Quarterly of Human
Factors Applications, 19(3), 4-8.
Earnest, B. (2011). Save Our Slides: PowerPoint Design That
Works. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co.
Garner, J. K., & Alley, M. (2011). PowerPoint in the Psychology
Classroom: lessons from multimedia learning research.
Psychology Learning & Teaching, 10(2), 95-106.