A lot of work goes into creating, well-designed PowerPoint slides. Unfortunately, many of
the millions of slides that are created every day aren't engaging the audience at all. In fact, many are hard
to read and understand. But there are a few really important and easy to implement tips that
can really make a difference in your slide design. Let's check them out. (upbeat music) (icon pops) Before we get started, a
brief thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring today's video. Skillshare is a learning platform with lots of great classes. I have a special link for you
that gives you two months, free premium access. You're going to find it in
the description of this video, and I'll be chatting more
about them towards the end. Now let's get started
with my slide design tips. Number one, visualize your data. Presenting numbers and
data can be a challenge. For one, it's probably not
the most exciting topic. And second, if you put a
lot of data on your slide, the audience is going to
be busy reading the slide instead of paying attention to you. Here's an example, a slide like this, encourages the audience to
read and try to make sense of the data. Their attention is going
to be on the slide, not on what you're saying. Instead, you could present it like this. Already from the title of the slide the audience can get the
critical information. The supporting charts makes it easier to interpret the slide. The important thing here
is that you guide the eyes to the most important topics
and avoid distractions on the slide. Which brings me to my next tip. Number two, use white
space and don't clutter. White or negative space
refers to the empty space in between your content on the slide. Sometimes we feel the urge to make use of every little space available
to us on the slide. We plaster it with information
and visual elements, but more, isn't necessarily always better. If you throw too much on the screen, you get a cluttered
page that's unattractive and difficult to read. People get frustrated when
information bombards them, you're going to lose their attention. So don't do that. White space is also important because it creates separation
between the objects on your slide and it focuses
the eyes and the message you want to get across. It also makes text easier to read. And also for the viewer it's
calming letting them breathe. And don't get me wrong, white space doesn't have to be white. White space can also be any solid color or even a blurred background. It just means that there
is no other content or design element. Apple, is a master when it
comes to applying this concept. It creates the feeling of luxury and puts the product in focus. So when designing PowerPoint slides, don't create slides like this, which results in visual overload, the viewers eyes will
be all over the place. Instead, remember a few key rules. Keep the slide background clean. Company logos and other
corporate identity elements don't have to be on every single slide. White space principles also
apply to your text on the slide. Use a font size that's big
enough with generous spacing. If you can't fit all your texts this way, it's probably too much text. So it comes down to less is more. Give the elements on your
slide, some breathing room. This way the eyes land
straight on the main message and the slide is going
to have a greater impact. Number three, apply instant design ideas. Design ideas is a new
feature in Microsoft 365, that's powered by Microsoft's
AI or intelligence services. You can find it on the Home tab, which as we know is the prime real estate in any Office product. So what does it do? Let's say we have this
rather uninspiring slide about some timeline. And we want to make it
more visually appealing. If you click on Design Ideas up here, it will make several suggestions. Like this one. Or this one is nice too. And immediately by just clicking a button, you have a much improved
version of the slide. Or, if you work with
images in your slides, design ideas can convert
these uncropped pictures, into a neatly organized
slide automatically for you. Like this one. It also doesn't seem to like
bullet points that much. So if it sees a slide like this, it will suggest a more
visual version of the slide. You can exchange the icons
or colors as you like, but if the shape or color is a
part of the slide background, you can't adjust it. If you have poor design skills like me, or if you're just in a hurry, then design ideas can definitely
give you a good start. Number four, use Scalable Vector Graphics. The next tip is about the
images in your presentations. When you use raster images like
JPGs or PNGs in your slides, be careful when resizing them. Take a look at this Excel logo here, it looks fine in the current size. I can scale it down without problems, but when I scale it up, it's
going to become pixelated. Scaling down is okay, scaling up is not. Not if you have these images. But, if you use SVGs, which is short for
Scalable Vector Graphics, you can scale up without pixelation. SVGs can be resized from small to large without losing quality
because they consist of mathematical lines and
fills instead of pixels. They are also much smaller in size. For example, the icons option
in the insert tab are SVGs and recent versions of PowerPoint allows you to edit these graphics. You can use the eyedropper
tool to change the fill, or you can even disassemble
the SVG image by converting it to an Office shape. This way you can change the
fill of individual parts of the image. So whenever you can,
choose vector graphics over raster images. You can scale them up
without loss of resolution and they are smaller in size as well. Number five, apply the rule of thirds. In photography and cinematography, there is a basic
guideline about how a shot should be composed. It's called the rule of thirds. This also applies to PowerPoint slides. Let me show you how. Here, we have a slide with
an image and some text. Let's see how we can improve it. The rule of thirds
basically divides the canvas into three horizontal rows
and three vertical columns. The lines intersect at these four points. Guess what these are called? PowerPoints. What are the odds? The rule says that the
key elements of this slide should be pleased to run these PowerPoints or along the lines. So let's position the image
like this with the head on this PowerPoint and the texts boxes along the horizontal lines like this. Let's compare them side by side. What do you think? Most people will prefer to second version, it's just more visually appealing. An easy way to apply the
rule of thirds in PowerPoint, is by using the guides. Just go to the View tab and
check the box next to guides. You can add an additional
horizontal and vertical guide to create the grid. Give the rule of thirds a try
and check it out for yourself. So these are my tips when it comes to PowerPoint slide design. I hope you found them helpful. If you're interested in design in general, and you'd like to explore other areas such as logo design, or brand identity, or just the core principles
of visual design, check out the graphic design
classes on Skillshare. I personally enjoy the
Graphic Design Basics course by Ellen Lupton. It's short and concise, and
you get a good understanding together with many
examples of the five basic design principles. Aside from this class,
you're going to find classes on many other topics in Skillshare, which in case you're not familiar is an online learning community with thousands of great classes. Topics range from
freelancing, entrepreneurship, technical skills like Office
skills and a lot more. Joining Skillshare is
also really affordable. An annual subscription
is less than $10 a month and premium membership
gives you unlimited access so you can learn more about
any topic that interests you. And because Skillshare
is sponsoring this video, I have a special link for
you in the description. The first 1000 of my
subscribers to click the link are going to get a two month
free trial of premium membership so you can explore new skills
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I'll see you in the next video (upbeat music)
