good design in powerpoint the cain project in engineering and professional communication engineering...
TRANSCRIPT
Good Design in PowerPoint
The Cain Project in Engineering and Professional Communication
ENGINEERING SERIES
Making Use of Design Elements
• Design elements allow reinforcement
• Strategic choices create interest
• Practice develops judgment
– Analyze what you like
– Borrow with what you like
– Use choices coherently
Your Design Options
• Templates
• Design rules
• Colors
• Fonts
• Effects and transitions
• Text
• Graphics
• Special effects
Choosing a Good Template
• What is the mood/image you want to convey?
• Very dark or very light backgrounds work well
• Simple backgrounds work well
To Choose an Existing Template
Select Design Template
Click OK
Step 1:
Select the one you want to use Hit “OK”Step 2:
To Choose an Existing Template
To Design Your Own Template
• Write down words to suggest the image you want your choices to convey– Such as “technical,” “professional,” “strong”
• Choose a background color appropriate for the room and lighting
• Choose a font and colors that – match your image choice – yield strong contrast and legibility
• Follow basic design rules
Palatino or Times New Roman suggests Financial BusinessAccents
Helvetica suggests Process IndustriesAccents
Futura suggests Environmental FirmsAccents
Typical Font and Color Combinations
Basic Design Rules
Rule 1: Use blank space to group or separate items
Rule 2: Use visual balance to please the eye
Rule 3: Create contrast to make objects stand out
Organize with Blank Space
• Blank Space: An empty area• Directs viewer’s eyes• “Pushes” or groups items and separates them from others
Identify groups of items separated by Blank Space in this Web Site
Use Contrast to Group, Emphasize
Contrast by font, color, or size
Contrast occurs when 2 elements are different
Engineering contrast should be functional, not decorative
Choose Colors for Legibility
Well-lit room use light background/ dark text and visuals
Dimly-lit room use dark background/ light text and visuals
Strong light reduces contrast on dark background
Avoid Vibrating Colors
Bright complementary colors that are close to each other in intensity
“vibrate” or reduce legibility
Learn Color Basics at Poynter!
http://www.poynterextra.org/cp/
Choose Easy-to-Read Fonts
Good for print
ESerif (“tail”)
Such as Times New Roman
Good for projecting
ESans Serif
(uniform shaft width)
Such as Arial
Font Aspects Affect Legibility
• Contrast between background and text
• Uniform shaft width
• Size of font
• Type treatment of font
S S32 pts Times Arial
Drop ShadowsDrop ShadowsReduce Legibility
Choose Effects to Support Points
• Avoid slow moving or fancy effects:
– Swivel– Spiral
• Effects should have a point / support your concept
• Don’t overuse special effects
– Crawl in
• Keep effects and transitions consistent
Use Text Properly
• Use keywords and phrases instead of sentences
• Avoid “orphans” – This is an example of an
“orphan”
• Be consistent in your capitalization• Use grammatical parallelism
Design to Match Audience Action
• Your audience...
– Skims each slide
– Looks for critical points, not details
– Needs help reading/seeing text
• So you . . .– Use only essential info
– Guide their eyes with hierarchy, color
– Use big. legible fonts and framing blank space
Displaying Text
Bullets
Short phrases
Grammatical parallelism
Bullets Help Audience
• Skim the slide• See relationships between information points• For example, this is Main Point 1, which
leads to...– Sub-point 1– Sub-point 2(To get back to previous level: use “promote” or “demote”
arrows at top)
To Use Bullets
• Select the “bulleted list” or “two-column list” slide (from the 12 pre-designed slide formats)
• Type a phrase then hit “return”
• Type a second phrase, hit “return” then hit “tab” to indent
• OR use “promote” or “demote” arrows at top to create a bulleted hierarchy
Matching Bullets to Your Image
• Go to “format” and then “bullet”
• Select the style, color, and size of the bullets you’ll use
• OR highlight text you wish to bullet and select the bullet button at top
Text Display Tips
• Use vivid, concise phrases or imperatives
• Write complete sentences only in certain cases:– Hypothesis– Questions
Use Parallelism
• Put similar ideas in similar forms– Same part of speech– Same type of clause or phrase– Complete sentences
• Reinforce with color, type treatment, place on screen
Use Parallelism Equivalence
Parallel:• Use keywords• Avoid wordiness• Opt for bullets
Not Parallel:• Use keywords• Wordiness is bad• You should opt
for bullets
Each verb expresses an action of equivalent importance.
List similar items in the same grammatical form.
VERBS
Revise for Grammatical Parallelism
• Not Parallel:Criteria to Assess Alarm System– Price– Effectiveness– How easily the alarm could be installed
• Parallel:Criteria to Assess Alarm System– Price– Effectiveness– Ease of installation
Parallelism: Your Turn
• Make the following list of sub-points parallel:
• Reliable data collection relies on– Consistent use of techniques (pipetting, making
solutions)– Correctly calibrated equipment, such as balances
and pipettors– Researcher bias is minimized (expecting data to fit
model; conflict of interest)
Displaying Visuals
• Insert needed visuals
• Use color
• Resize appropriately
• Draw attention That was purelygratuitous!
Resize Images: How to . . .
• Click on the visual you wish to resize• Go to “format” and then “object” or
“autoshape”• Select “size”• Change size and scale• OR simply click and
drag the corners of the image
Simplify and Draw Attention
http://www.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/tca-cycle.html
Animating: Tips
• Custom animation allows you to animate text, visuals, or line work
• Custom animation should be used purposefully (and sparingly!)
– Animating should help audience comprehend your message
– Don’t animate solely for aesthetic purposes
Offer Familiar Images First
• Offer figure or image familiar to audience first
• Technical image next
• Water treatment example simplified for government officials
Give Technical Images Next
• Build toward technical understanding
• Sequence: Photo / diagram/ schematic/ cross-sections/other technical drawings
• Technical water treatment example
Present Images Realistically
Don’t distort images
Use Legible Graphics
• Don’t stretch Web images to the point of graininess
• Don’t shrink them to be too small to read
Avoid Overused, General Clip-Art
Make Choices Work Together
• Blank space and balanced items create meaningful organization
• Color, contrast, and point size indicate importance and direct viewers’ attention
• Text reinforces speaker’s voice but should not overload or distract
• Special effects and images indicate relationships and emphasize aspects
Rehearse with a Coach
• To evaluate how well your visual choices work with your spoken presentation
• To make sure images are legible
• To test visual aids under expected room conditions
More resources are available for you
• under “Engineering Communication” at Connexions at http://cnx.org
• at the Cain Project site at http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~cainproj
• in your course Communication Folder in OWLSPACE.
Lead through Excellence in Engineering Communication