The document is a presentation on effective design principles by Laura Wong, emphasizing simplicity, the importance of limiting fonts and colors, and enhancing contrast and readability. It provides actionable tips such as using motifs to create a cohesive theme, making effective use of visuals, and ensuring readability through font choice. Additional resources for color schemes and fonts are included, along with Laura's contact information for further questions.

1. Presentation Design 202
Prepared by Laura Wong

2. Laura Wong
• Self-taught graphic designer
• 1st place in CMABC Case Competition
(2011), 1st place in Manitoba International
Marketing Competition (2013), 3rd place in
Brazil Case Competition (2014)
• TA for COMM 202 and works full time for
the Vancouver Canucks

3. Learning Outcome

4. Design P!inciples
§ Keep it simple
A selection of
1

5. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Keep it simple
• Limit fonts and colours
• Say no to gradients, glows, borders
• As few words as possible – every character
must count!
• Use visual representations where possible
• Simplify graphs and data (remove unnecessary
axes, labels, background colours, lines)

6. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Keep it simple
Who
should
I
give
my
extra
concert
6cket
to?
Mom
Roommate
Boyfriend
Best
friend

7. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Keep it simple
Who
should
I
give
my
extra
concert
6cket
to?
Mom
Roommate
Boyfriend
Best
friend

8. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Keep it simple
Who
should
I
give
my
extra
concert
6cket
to?
Mom
Roommate
Boyfriend
Best
friend

9. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Keep it simple
Who
should
I
give
my
extra
concert
6cket
to?
Mom
Roommate
Boyfriend
Best
friend

10. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Keep it simple
Who
should
I
give
my
extra
concert
6cket
to?
Mom
Roommate
Best
friend

11. A selection of
Design P!inciples
§ Keep it simple
1
§ Limit fonts & colours
2

12. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Limit fonts and colours
• Find colours that work well together (use a
colour scheme)
• 2-3 colours; designate 1 for emphasis
• 1, maybe 2 fonts à don’t want to visually
overwhelm viewer or create visual confusion

13. A selection of
Design P!inciples
§ Keep it simple
1
§ Limit fonts & colours
2
§ Consider contrast &
readability
3

14. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Contrast & readability
• Clashing colours
– Safe background colours: Black, white, grey
(avoid actual colours)
• Font size: 30pt minimum
• Sans serif vs serif fonts
– Sans serif fonts (Arial, Helvetica) are easier to read
for large chunks of text
– Generally use serif fonts for titles

15. A selection of
Design P!inciples
1 § Keep it simple
§ Use motifs
§ Limit fonts & colours
2
§ Consider contrast &
readability
3
4

16. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Motifs
• Motifs = objects/shapes/patterns that form a
theme throughout your presentation
• Can appear in your title slide, in your tracker,
numbering, bullet points, emphasis
• Shapes, colours, symbols, or patterns of
using style/formatting to emphasize text

17. A selection of
Design P!inciples
§ Keep it simple
§ Limit fonts & colours
§ Consider contrast &
readability
§ Use motifs
§ Create emphasis
1
2
3
4
5

18. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Emphasis
• Can be done through colour, font size,
bolding, spacing, CAPS
• For graphs/data: highlight key points using
colour
• Don’t overdo it or it will lose its effect!

19. A selection of
Design P!inciples
§ Keep it simple
§ Limit fonts & colours
§ Consider contrast &
readability
§ Use motifs
§ Create emphasis
§ Visuals vs. words
1
2
3
4
5
6

20. DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Visuals vs. Words
• Use symbols or fonts (such as Wingdings/
Webdings) to visually represent words
• Use simple images (not clipart!) to convey an
idea faster than words can

21. DEMO:
Slide Master
• Learn the keyboard shortcut!
• When you open up the Slide Master, do NOT
edit the top “daddy” slide unless you want
something to show up on EVERY slide
• When creating a tracker, duplicate the slide
multiple times and change the colour of the
tracker on each of the slides
• When you exit the slide master, you can use your
templates by [Home tab > Layout > Title and
Content (or whatever slide you used)]

22. DEMO:
Smart Art
• Use smart art to save time
• Can use it to make a quick tracker
• Not really that “smart”… difficult to format
and rearrange/position to your liking

23. DEMO:
Alignment & distribution
• If you have 3+ shapes and want to space
them evenly, go to [Home tab > Format >
Arrange > Align or Distribute > Distribute
horizontally/vertically]
• Use the same path above to align shapes/
text boxes to the same line
• When moving shapes around, a dotted line
may appear to help you center/align objects
in relation to each other

24. DEMO:
Colour schemes
• Once you have chosen a colour
scheme (see resources), go to
[Themes tab > Theme Options >
Colors > Create Theme Colors]
• To input your colour scheme,
double click on one of the Accent
boxes – you will need the RGB
code of each colour
• Click Apply to All – this colour
scheme will now always be
available when you open
PowerPoint!

25. Laura’s Parting Tips
§ Save as a PDF
§ Use a colour scheme
§ Match the colour scheme to company’s logo/colours
§ Fonts: Helvetica/Arial, Myriad Pro
§ No gratuitous pictures/clipart
§ KEEP IT SIMPLE!

26. Colour schemes:
§ Colourlovers.com
§ Adobe Kuler
Fonts:
§ Fontsquirrel.com
§ Dafont
§ Myfonts.com
§ Exljbris.com
Resources
Symbols:
§ Insert – Symbol
§ Entypo
§ Wingdings/Webdings

27. Contact Me
Questions about PowerPoint? Design? Marketing?
Email me anytime J
Laura@alumni.ubc.ca!
!
Also, feel free to add me on LinkedIn (just add a note that
you attended the workshop!)
www.linked.com/in/lothwe!