A | Presentation Design

Learning (and Un-Learning) Objectives

  • Learn to produce "mostly-visual" presentations with slides and animations timed to your narration.
  • Break out of the habit of relying on bullet points
  • Understand that narrated presentations don't need very much text. (The Redundancy Principle; one of Richard Mayer's Multimedia principles)
  • Mayers principles are only required for summer school, but they are worth a read. Become familiar with all 12 of Richard Mayer's Multimedia principles for effective presentation design.

Mayer's principles are primarily targeted to instructional designers using multimedia. But, they are also very applicable to non-instructional multimedia design projects.

Project Big Picture Goals

For this project it is best to take on a concrete topic that works well with visuals. It is more challenging to present something non-visual, abstract or obtuse. It is a lot more work to make something "invisible" into a visual presentation. If you learn how to "woodshed" a successful visual presentation with concrete images, then you get  better "chops" for delivering abstract presentations.

Woodshed and chops are jazz terms for practice and skills, but they are more nuanced terms that those simple one-word definitions. Check out the links if you are a music fan and are not aware of these terms. I think they apply to any skill that improves with disciplined, repetitive practice.

Samples of Mostly Visual Presentations

Before you get bogged down in all the details of how to do this project, it might be helpful to look at these four presentations from my recitations in Spring 2023. They are very strong on visuals and low on text.

Avoid having any blocks of text

  • Big blocks of text are cognitive load burdens 
  • "minimal" text become an annoying distraction if not carefully integrated with perfect timings.
  • In general, try to keep text to a minimum when you are narrating or recording a narration. Text slides are more like documents to read. That is not the objective of this project.

Don't use bullets except for the overview and summary slide

Presentation does not need to "go-long"

  • Keep it under five and half minutes. If you go shorter than five minutes, be sure to maximize quality. It is actually more work to make something short and very sweet. Long, disorganized, and rambling is the opposite of short and sweet. Five minutes is a good target.
  • Aim for quality over quantity.
  • Minimum of eight slides.
    • No limit on the number of well-timed VISUAL slides or animations that are synchronized carefully to your narration (keep the total narration within the max 5.5 minutes in self-running mode.)
    • Try not to go too much over 5.5 on time, but take some extra seconds to wrap up the presentation. (Don't hack off the presentations to keep it under 5.5 minutes.

Format

  • Your presentation must be delivered as a self-running presentation. All you need to do is submit your PowerPoint in .pptx format with embedded narration. Please do not submit any alternate PowerPoint file type. If you have issues with narration, you can record and output a video. In that situation, submit the video in .mp4 format along with the .ppx Presentation.
  • Your presentation should work as a live presentation. If fact, you probably would do a much better job presenting it live as a result of having done the narration first.

This is a presentation for "out-there", not "in-here"

  • Although you will put some comments in the title page speaker notes for grading purposes, Don't use your narration to talk to me, the professor, about the project. For example, in your narration, don't say, " I chose my template because... That is sort of like an <!--html comment--> not meant for your audience to hear. Don't tie this down to INLS 161 recitation in the title.
  • Your audience is your audience. You will craft this for an audience, consciously or unconsciously. Are you presenting to UX designers, fellow students, general population, or people interested in a particular subject? Have some idea on your audience, but do make it understandable to a general population. Avoid jargon.
  • If you want to use the speaker notes for your narration script, that is fine, but make a distinction between meta-notes and a script. Don't make notes part of your script.

Common Misunderstandings

YOUR HIDDEN SLIDE IS SOMETHING THAT CAN ONLY BE USED DURING A LIVE PRESENTATION. Therefore, it will not be seen during the self-running presentation, but it will be graded. There is no need to refer to the hidden slide in your self-running presentation.

THIS IS A TOOLS CLASS. Use the tools you are directed to use. Failure to use the tools might result in a poor grade even if you are an exceptionally good designer and storyteller. Takeaway: Don't assume that your advanced presentation skills will make up for ignoring the use of the required tools. Read the requirements in the checklist and grade sheet.

Video of Past Session with Bookmarks

This Panopto Video from a past semester has bookmarks, so it is a quick way to get more information on any particular rubric item.

Demo File: printmakers-draft-presentation.pptx This is the slideshow used in the above video recording.

Grade Sheet: TASK-O5 GRADE SHEET for point values.

Carefully following the grading rubric allows you to do very well on this project even if being creative is challenging for you.

Seven Tips When Designing a Billboard are similar to the esthetic of a visual Presentation

I got this info from a web site and gave credit for it, but the web site is no longer active and it has been cloned by others, so not sure that even trying to give credit is possible anymore.

Following a few simple rules like these can make things less complicated. If it works on a billboard, it will work on a slide.

Designing a billboard is visual storytelling. An effective billboard grabs a person’s attention and creates a memorable impression, leaving the reader to think about the ad after they have driven by the billboard.

When designing a billboard keep the following in mind:

  1. Simple Layout – LESS IS MORE – KEEP IT SIMPLE. The most effective messages are always the most simple. Your billboard should be a clear and brief expression of one idea.

  2. Short Copy – Use short simple words with quick and easy comprehension. Limit or eliminate punctuation and edit down to the bare bones of your message. RULE OF THUMB: 7 WORDS OR LESS.

  3. Viewing Time – Does your message communicate effectively within 5-10 seconds? REMEMBER: Your target audience is traveling past your billboard at 65 miles per hour.

  4. Large fonts and text – Your goal is for people to read your message from as far away as possible. Be sure the words are large and the type is clear and easy to read. Bold, straight fonts work best. Avoid thin, ornate fonts. Sans Serif fonts work best. Adequate spacing between letters, words and lines improves visibility. Drop shadows can help readability.

  5. Contrasting Colors – High color contrast is the key to good readability. Colors that work best: black, white and bold, primary colors like red, yellow and blue. Black text on yellow rates the highest in readability. Colors to avoid: brown, earth tones, pastels.

  6. Single Image – Use one large image to attract the reader’s eye to the billboard. For example, a single image of a bottle works better than showing six bottles. Take a small object and make it large (like jewelry) rather than making a large object small (like a house).

  7. Simple Background – Use a simple background that does not interfere with your image, copy or logo. Too much blank space isn’t a good thing. Blank space doesn’t translate well from magazine ads to billboards. Use the blank space and make your fonts, image and logo bigger.

Next: Multi-multi Media