No competition.

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An AV guy looks at
P O W E R P O I N T
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Nick Dvoracek
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
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(No Transcript)
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Whats wrong with PowerPoint
and what you can do about it.
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The titles are too damn big
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Title of the slide

• First level paragraph of text
• Second level paragraph of text
• Third level paragraph of text

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So whats wrong with that

• Difference is greater than necessary to
  distinguish title
• Implies title is always the most important part
  of the slide.

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The text is too damn small
especially in lower bullet points
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Title of the slide
44 point

• First level paragraph of text
• Second level paragraph of text
• Third level paragraph of text

32 point
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So whats wrong with that

• 32 pt. is at the lower end of legibility

from the back of the room

• Implies indented levels are less important
  information.

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Special Precautions
44 point
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A little about type
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Type issues
The medium is the massage
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(No Transcript)
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Type issues The medium is the massage

• Go to your room! Footlight
• Go to your room! Helvetica
• Go to your room! Arial Black

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Type issues The medium is the massage

• My, dont you look pretty tonight! Footlight
• My, dont you look pretty tonight! Helvetica
• My, dont you look pretty tonight! Arial black

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Type issues The medium is the massage
Proportional
Monospaced
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Type issues The medium is the massage
Decorative
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Type issues The medium is the massage
Serif
Sans-Serif
Adg
Adg
Helvetica
Times
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From Websters
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From The Oxford English Dictionary
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(No Transcript)
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From Websters
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Type issues The medium is the massage
Serif
Sans-Serif
Adg
Adg
Helvetica
Times
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(No Transcript)
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Type issues The medium is the massage
Serif
Sans-Serif
Adg

Adg
Helvetica
Times
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Type issues The medium is the massage

• Tend to have a technical, impersonal character
• Helvetica (Arial) has gotten somewhat generic

Sans-Serif
Adg
Helvetica
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Type issues The medium is the massage
Serif

• Tend to have a personal, humanistic character
• Small sizes can be hard to read on the screen.

Adg
Times
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Type issues Legibility

• Bigger type is easier to read
• If you need to use smaller type, you probably
  have to much on the slide.
• 36 pt minumum for all text.
• 24 pt. minumum for graphics

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Type issues Legibility

• However - Leave some air.
• Very large type with no spaces in between filling
  the entire space is very oppressive and more
  difficult to read

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Type issues Legibility
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Type issues Legibility

• Normal upper and lower case is easier to read
  than ALL CAPITALS

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Type issues Legibility

• Normal upper and lower case is always easier to
  read than ALL CAPITALS

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Type issues Legibility

• Normal upper and lower case is always easier to
  read than ALL CAPITALS
• Use bold, italics, size, colors for emphasis

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Type issues Legibility

• Upper and lower case words form unique shapes
• All upper case words are all rectangles

Legibility
LEGIBILITY
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Type issues Legibility

• All upper case takes up more room
• without adding legibility

Legibility
LEGIBILITY
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Type issuesCompatibility

• If you are presentating on a different computer,
  it musthave the same fonts installed.
• Arial and Times New Roman are nearly universal on
  Windows
• Helvetica and Times on the Mac

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Type issuesMixing typefaces

• Combine normal, bold, italic, bold italic
  within a typeface freely
• Use to define function
• For emphasis
• Never underline

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Type issues
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Type issuesMixing typefaces

• If you mix typefaces, choose two that contrast
• Arial Black Footlight MT Light
• Not Times and Palatino

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Type issuesCompatibility

• In Windows, you can save TrueType fonts with your
  document.

This can really screw things up when you move to
a Mac
Virtual PC
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• If you need smaller type to fit on a slide
• Use more than one slide
• Repeat the title if necessary
• Duplicate the slide to avoid retyping

Virtual PC
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The strength of presentations
Use to focus
direct attention
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The strength of presentations

• One idea per slide

1 what

• Dont dilute your message

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or
Put as little as you can on each slide!
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Nicholas Negroponte Being digital
.htm, .ppt, .jpg
Slides, overheads
Costly Costly to copy Costly to move
Cheap -D or Ctrl-D Youve got mail!
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The idea is sequencing
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Presentation problems

• Reading
• Making others read
• Showing off

• Hiding
• Pontificating
• Title, point, point, point

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Presentation problems

• Reading
• Making others read
• Showing off

• Hiding
• Pontificating
• Title, point, point, point

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(No Transcript)
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The idea is sequencing
not animation
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• Dont let your presentation compete with your
  message

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• Effects are assigned to
• Slide transitions
• Custom animation

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• Movement effects are attention getting
• if used sparingly

• The default effect is

Fly from left
Virtual PC
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Motion sickness

• Caused by difference between
• visual field
• inner ear perception
• Motion soon becomes repetitive
• Nobody notices anymore
• Until someone throws up

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Everything has the same emphasis
Cant tell whats important
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Title

• Point
• Point
• Point

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• Save flashy transitions and effects for

emphasis

• Gives pacing and dynamics to your presentations

• Gives pacing and dynamics to your presentations

• Gives pacing and dynamics to your presentations

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And while were on the subject of effects
My pet peeve
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You call this a dissolve?
You call this a dissolve?
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You call this a dissolve?
You call this a dissolve?
Oh, well.
Smooth yet unobtrusive
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Backgroundissues
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Background issues Contrast


Use light objects on a dark backgound



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Background issues Contrast
Or dark objects on a light backgound

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Background issues Contrast

• Low contrast is difficult to read
• Even with strongly contrasting colors

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The big picture
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Background issues Contrast
Dark objects on a light backgound

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Background issues Contrast


Use light objects on a dark backgound



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(No Transcript)
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Dont put things on screen youre not talking
about
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Dont leave things on screen youre not talking
about
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Seventeen templates
One hundred bazillion users
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Modify the master slide

• Custom animation can be applied to the master
  slide
• Save your own template

Virtual PC
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(No Transcript)
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Its too text oriented
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Show me!
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Use
diagrams
models
maps
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Pictures
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(No Transcript)
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Charts
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The defaults for data graphs are goofy
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The charting authority
Edward Tufte The visual display of quantitative
information
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The charting authority

• Emphasize the data ink
• The line, bars, pie
• Eliminate chart junk
• Excessive labeling of axes, grids, borders, clip
  art

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Chart Simplification
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Chart Simplification
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Chart Simplification
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Chart Simplification
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Chart Simplification
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Chart Simplification
Quarter
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Save your own chart template

• Adjust a chart for your preferences
• Save it as a custom chart type
• or
• Save it as a template
• Open it and change the data
• Copy the slide your new presentation

Virtual PC
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The power of computer graphics is at your
fingertips
Power
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Less is more
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To learn how

• Handouts available at
• http//idea.uwosh.edu/nick/handouts.htm