Making-Original-Products-presentationzen

Keeping the principle of Signal vs.
Noise in mind, it's easy to see that
the various and hard-to-read fonts,
unnecessary lines, and decorative
elements on the slide on the left
make for a lot of noise. By removing
those elements and making a better
headline, the signal is enhanced.
The slide on the left is a rather
typical PowerPoint slide of
yesteryear. The slide on the right
strips away the nonessential,
revealing a very simple point that
will be understood in an instant.
Then people can spend their time
discussing what the data mean
rather than being distracted by a
decorative data slide.
The slide on the left uses too many
colors, a tiny graphic, and poor use
of type, including underlined text.
On the right the visual has more
impact, the colors are toned way
down, and the mix of English and
Japanese is presented in a cleaner,
more harmonious fashion.
The slide on the left looks
amateurish and does not match
the feeling of the Japanese proverb.
The slide on the right makes good
use of empty space, the shade of
brown for the quotation marks is the
same as the fur of the monkey, and
the English and Japanese work in
better harmony by having them set
in different sizes. The monkey is also
moving in the direction of the type.
(Images on this page and opposite page
from iStockphoto.com.)
Chapter 6 Presentation Design: Principles and Techniques
183