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The 80/20 Rule for Designing Really, Really, Really Ridiculously Good Looking Presentations
Eugene Cheng
March 31, 2021 · 11 min read
Summary
We recently emailed our 8,000 subscribers to ask them what their primary concern was with presentation design, be it for SlideShare, business meetings or startup pitches. There were two main responses:- Designing presentations takes up too much time, but I can’t afford a brand agency
- No matter how hard I try, my presentations turn out really ugly
Sounds familiar?
Over the past 3 years, we’ve published over 24 presentations on SlideShare that have over 3 million combined views, consulted with Fortune 500 companies and helped startups raise millions in venture funding through riveting investor pitch decks. With all these under our belt, we’ve come up with a pretty rock solid process of designing slides that sell that we teach in our presentation skills courses. The distinction here is that we’re able to do it really quickly too. In this post, I’m going to show you the bare minimum it takes to make your presentations really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking. via GIPHY via GIPHYPicking colors ain’t rocket science
You don’t need to work at Pantone to figure out colors for your presentation. Less is often more, as rainbow hues can be confusing and distract your audience from your main point. More experienced designers or creatives tend to use plenty of colors in the different mediums they work on; and rightly so, because they’re masters at it and other mediums require more attention to detail.
Don’t stress over layouts
As you build up your layout plethora, I’d suggest that you start with these basic ways that work even if you have no prior experience in design. It’s easy to apply, virtually beginner-proof and looks excellent.
Rule of thirds
This is a technique that photographers use to compose their image and decide where they place their ‘subject’. Instead of shooting a bird squarely in the center, the focal point of the image subject is placed about a third of the space from the left or right edge. More on the Rule of Thirds here. This has been empirically proven to be ‘more interesting’ to the eye. The asymmetry is more refreshing than always center-aligning your elements.


- Layer a darker or lighter shade shape over it,
- Reduce its opacity
- and Overlay your text above.
- Blur the photo if you’d like ( optional )

Typography: KISS
Again, to create a memorable presentation, you don’t need to be a typeface ninja. We suggest choosing a simple, bold sans-serif font like Montserrat or Bebas Neue and using a tool like TypeGenius.com to choose a pairing font for you. Creative Market also offers a unique catalog of fonts to look at. With time, you’ll have built up your own arsenal of go-to fonts to choose from.
- not more than 2-3 fonts per presentation to avoid drowning your audience with the crazy amount of combinations. If you’re not sure what you’re doing, don’t try to be too funky. Play it safe before you endeavour for more.
- Make sure that the fonts are legible! Remember, if people are going to have to read the words, it’s up to you to make their lives easier, don’t pick obscure looking fonts that are difficult to make out, especially when you’re delivering the presentation to an older crowd.
- NEVER USE Comic Sans, unless for comedic relief. Some design enthusiasts may disagree, but I’d say it’s much easier to go wrong with it than right. In most settings (unless you’re presenting to pre-schoolers) Comic Sans would be inappropriate
Graphics: Invest to Impress


Design for the medium


Aim for ‘done’, not perfection
Imagine this, you have a looming presentation deadline and all you’ve done in the past hour is create a couple of nice-looking slides and you won’t be able to deliver the presentation on time. This happens more often than you think. The reason is simple: You’re too much of a perfectionist! I know what you’re thinking. That’s a good thing, right? Wrong! Striving to get your presentation built as a whole first is going to save you more time in the long run because you’ll stop fiddling on PowerPoint and start finishing your presentation! Write the Story First

Learn presentation secrets
Creating presentations that wow your audiences online and offline doesn’t need to be difficult. By keeping the simple rules above in mind, you can create presentations that get you results without breaking the bank, stressing yourself out or expending days on end. If you want to really learn the other 80% of presentation design secrets from some of the best authors on SlideShare- we are hosting a free 4-day virtual summit from March 9th through 14th where you’ll learn how to create presentations, better, faster and reach more people. Sign up for free HERE.
Eugene Cheng is the co-founder and creative lead of HighSpark (formerly Slide Comet, a strategic presentation consultancy that offers powerpoint presentation training to Fortune 500 companies like: Panasonic, Dentsu, Nike. A self-confessed presentation obsessive, he relishes in building compelling visual content for his agency’s channel and his personal channel on SlideShare and is also a Keynote Author (top 1% of SlideShare).
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