Principles of
PowerPoint Design
Tips on how to think like a designer
Manipulating Typography
John Consultant
Presentation Skills
Fallon

“foot” Serif
“without”
VS
Sans Serif
For selecting the “right” font… consider
readability, aesthetics and style

X - Height
The x – height is the
distance from the
bottom of the lower
ascender
case “x” to the top.
X - height
x
Experimental baseline
descender
The visual distinctiveness of a font is judged by it’s
x – height and the height of its ascenders and
descenders

Font Weight
regular bold bold italic
italic condensed light
Working with one font family creates a more
cohesive look… Find a font family that contains
several different weight variations to allow for
more design flexibility

Appearance On Screen
Gill Sans Georgia
Lucinda Sans Impact
Helvitica Verdana
Trebucket Tahoma
Test the fonts you use to see how they look on the
computer screen and the projector

Style
Ancient
Broadway
Frightening
Personal
Base your font selection on what the presentation
is about

Global Quick Change
From Home ribbon… click on Design…
go to “Font” to change the font
combination to what you want
If you globally change your
fonts, make sure to check for
changes in line breaks

Create New Theme Fonts
1. From Home ribbon… click on
Design… go to Font to change the font
combination to what you want
2. Click on “Create New Theme Fonts”
at the bottom of the menu.
Your new font theme will be
available for every presentation
you create

Adjust Character Spacing
1. Select the text you want
to alter
2. Right click and select
“Font”
3. Choose “Character
Spacing”
4. Adjust as necessary
Character Spacing is also known as “tracking” and
is used to improve the appearance of words

Adjust Paragraph Spacing
1. Select the text you want
to alter
2. Right click and select
“Paragraph”
3. Adjust as necessary
This can be done in the Slide Master to have
continuity throughout the presentation

Finding Fonts Online
www.chank.com
www.fonthead.com
www.myfonts.com
www.126.com
www.adobe.com/type/index.html
www.girlswhowearglasses.com
Try “Googling” for fonts, you’ll never know what
you’ll find.
There are also books available concerning Fonts