Designing a Great Presentation… in Powerpoint?

Shownotes

(1:47) What are you obsessed with this week?

(6:46) Using Powerpoint for design

(12:25) Advice for people trying to do their own graphic design work

(16:06) The power of fonts

(21:16) Using tools like PowerPoint while staying modern

(27:04) Nichole shares tips for business owners who are creating content

(30:56) Wrap Up

(33:15) Rapid Fire

Links

Quotes

“You can do more complicated fonts, but if you’re going to do that, you really need to do it sparingly, and your core fonts need to be very simple.” (19:43)

“That’s the case for keeping all design simple, is that it will stand the test of time much better. If you are going to throw trendy elements into your design, into your branding, make it something that can easily change. Like don’t make your logo super trendy and then have to change your logo. You know, maybe you throw in some trendy elements that can be refreshed in a couple of years.” (20:31)

“The whole point of a presentation is communication. It’s not to be fancy. It’s not to wow people with your artistic skills… If you don’t communicate the message, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is, you have not accomplished your goal.” (22:02)

Designing a Great Presentation in… PowerPoint?

With the rise of technology, graphic design tools are becoming much more available to people who would typically not have access to them. Through platforms such as Canva, small business owners and other novice designers now have the opportunity to control their brand in ways they were not previously able to. While this is a positive opportunity for some people, it presents new ways for many to over-complicate and clutter their brand. Bryan and Loren sat down with Nichole Hamilton to talk about keeping branding simple, the power of the right font, and creating in antiquated platforms like PowerPoint.

Creating with PowerPoint

While PowerPoint and Keynote are often seen as old-fashioned and outmoded, Nichole spoke about her experience at an agency creating presentations for large fortune 500 businesses. Because the presentations that the agency created would need to be edited right up to the time that it was given, it needed to be editable by the business-people who likely did not have backgrounds in design and the technology required to edit complicated formats. The solution to this is to do real, legitimate creative work in PowerPoint, which Nichole explains is not as difficult as you would think. She still uses this format at times, even though she no longer works at the agency that required it. Most of the design and creative work is done outside of PowerPoint, in other programs and applications, and is then imported into PowerPoint for the final presentation. You can also download templates online that allow for truly creative presentations in this nostalgic program.

The Power of Fonts

Talk with any graphic designer, and you won’t make it five minutes into the conversation before you arrive at the beloved, cherished topic of fonts. Designers nerd out about fonts, and for a good reason. They communicate a message just as the words that are written in them do, and it is imperative that these messages are aligned. Many novice designers get over-eager with their fonts, and they use too many, overcomplicating their branding. Nichole has a very straightforward stance with fonts: keep it simple. You will not go wrong with something classic like serif or sans serif. Most importantly, always avoid comic sans!

Advice for Business Owners

As previously mentioned, business owners and novice designers have more opportunities now than ever before to get their hands dirty in branding their company. Nichole’s advice to these people is aligned with her design advice across the board: keep it simple. Stick to a couple fonts, and stick to your brand. Do not depart from your brand colors or look. Most importantly, hire a designer to do your branding, and bring a vision to them. Look at the logos, color palettes, and fonts from branding that you admire and take that to your designer for your concept. While the new ability to create content for a brand can be intimidating for business owners, it does not have to be if you remember to keep it simple and stick to what you know!

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