One of the best places to get ideas for presentation themes and designs is slideshare.net. It literally has thousands of presentations that you can view and in many cases download.

Many of these presentations have been designed by professional designers and these presentations can give you a lot of inspiration for your next presentation project. Many of the presentations can actually convey a simple message just by the images and few words that are contained in the slides.

So, below I have listed my top five favorite presentations on slideshare.net.

프레젠테이션 테마와 디자인에 대한 아이디어를 얻을 수 있는 최적의 리소스 중 하나가 바로 slideshare.net 입니다. 이 웹싸이트는 글자 그대로 여러분들이 볼 수 있는 프레젠테이션이 수 천개에 달하고 다운로드도 받으실 수 있는 곳입니다.

이 곳의 프레젠테이션들은 전문 디자이너에 의해 제작된 것들이 많아, 다음에 있을 여러분의 프레젠테이션 프로젝트에 많은 영감과 아이디어를 제공해 줄 것입니다. 또, 이 곳에서는 이미지와 몇 몇 단어들로 구성된 슬라이드 만으로 간단한 메시지를 전달해 줄 수 있는 프레젠테이션들이 꽤 많이 있습니다.

이 곳의 프레젠테이션들은 전문 디자이너에 의해 제작된 것들이 많아, 다음에 있을 여러분의 프레젠테이션 프로젝트에 많은 영감과 아이디어를 제공해 줄 것입니다. 또, 이 곳에서는 이미지와 몇 몇 단어들로 구성된 슬라이드 만으로 간단한 메시지를 전달해 줄 수 있는 프레젠테이션들이 꽤 많이 있습니다.

Lead By Example by Ryan Fashing

One of the things I notice a lot is the number of presentations that use a white background in their slides. This poses a number of problems because it is another way an audience can see that the presenter has not thought very much about their slide design or even their audience.

White is a default background, it is also very bright and can be tiring to the eye. It also looks quite amateurish. Taking the time to think a little about the overall ‘feel’ of your presentation can really show your audience that you care, not only about your presentation, but also about your audience’s comfort.

Take a look at the slide examples below:

The white background looks OK, but it also looks like it is a slide on a projector. However, if you look at the slide with the black background it now looks much more professional and it does not show a ‘white box’. The focus of your audience attention is naturally going to focus on the words on the slide as there is nothing else to look at.

Making this simple, but effective change can make a very big difference to the overall look and feel of your presentation.

Over the last few days, there has been much comment of the slide that was featured in the New York Times newspaper regarding the slide that Gen. Stanley A McChrystal, leader of the American and NATO forces in Afghanistan was shown when took over the leadership in Afghanistan.

Gen. McChrystal was heard to comment “when we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war”.

There are far too many problems with this slide to go in to here, but here is my take on the whole debate:

PowerPoint and Keynote are tools that can be used to enhance our presentations, and can both be useful in conveying our message in a stronger and more friendly manner than by words alone. However, over the years our presentation software has become the main focus of our presentation, and that is where we are going wrong. PowerPoint and Keynote were never developed to be the main focus of the presentation. They were developed to help the presenter.

The above slide is creating news now, but I have sat through hundreds of presentation with slides similar to this one. Presentations where the text was too small and there was far too much detail in the slides. This never enhances our message, this always confuses our message and our audience will just turn off.

During the Battle of Britain in World War II, there was no PowerPoint or Keynote software, and so the British airforce used a table, with models for aircraft and a map to follow the war. This not only simplified a very complex battle, it also enabled the leaders of the war to fully understand what was happening in a clear and accurate way.

While today we may not have access to tables with maps and models, we do have access to white boards and flip charts. When we are faced with describing a very complex situation, the use of flip charts and white boards can make the explanation much easier for our audience. We must always remember, that when it comes to presenting, PowerPoint and Keynote are just one kind of tool from many different kinds. The key to a good presentation is simplicity, not detail.

There is a lot of comment on this article. For more insights and opinions please see:

Nancy Duarte of the Slide:ology blog

Guy Kawasaki on the Holy Kaw blog

저는 소위 “컨셉 광고”라고 불리는 스타일의 광고를 완전 좋아합니다. 이런 광고들은, 그저 단순한 사진 하나도로 매우 파워풀한 메세지를 전달하기 때문이죠.

너무 바쁜 일상을 살아가고 있는 오늘날의 사람들 대부분은, 게시판이나 잡지에 있는 광고조차 볼 겨를이 없어 그냥 지나치곤 합니다. 그러나 이런 파워풀한 이미지들은 보는이들로 하여금 잠시 하던일을 멈추고 생각하게끔 만들어 줍니다. 위에 보이는 이미지는 “World Wildlife Fund” 에서 제작한 것으로, 메세지가 간결하면서도 명확합니다. 이미지 하나만으로도, 텍스트의 부연설명이 필요 없을 만큼 메세지를 정말 잘 전달하고 있습니다.

우리는 이런 광고들로부터 슬라이드 디자인에 관한 많은 것을 배울 수 있습니다. 메세지를 전달하기 위해 꼭 많은 텍스트가 필요하지 않다는 것을 바로 이런 광고들이 보여주고 있는 것입니다. 그렇다면 훌륭한 프레젠테이션을 위해 우리에게 필요한것은 무엇일까요? 그것은 바로 전달하고자 하는 메세지와 상응하는 간단하면서도 명확한 이미지입니다.

좀 더 많은 컨셉 광고의 이미지들을 원하신다면, 아래의 싸이트를 한번 방문해 보시기 바랍니다.

Flickr’s concept ad group

The graphic design blog

Last Friday afternoon I went out to take some pictures of the wonderful cherry blossom in my local park (Olympic Park, SE Seoul). While I was taking these pictures, I had in my mind how I could use these images as slides in future presentations. This thinking changed the way I took the photographs as I had to think about leaving space in the images for text.

And that is a very important point. If you do presentations regularly, collecting a file of photos can really help you to create some amazing slides, that have a real feel to them. As you can see from the above slide, the cherry blossom is placed on the right side of the image leaving plenty of space on the left for text. This image is now placed in my “Stock Photos” file on my computer, so in future, I have a great image, with no worries about copyright or usage.

In a previous post I mentioned about creating a “Stock Photo” folder, and the creation of this folder can really help you when your creative juices are not flowing particularly fast. These images can give you inspiration, as well as some amazing images for your files.

As a postscript to this. Professional photographer Thomas Hawke, has an amazing photo stream over at Flickr.com. Thomas is an unusual photographer as most of the images he has made available on his Flickr stream are on the “Creative Commons” licence, so you are free to use these images for your presentations (subject to certain limitations)

Planning ahead by creating a stock photo album on your computer can not only save you some time, it can also give you some amazing inspiration. So start creating today.

There seems to be some kind of unwritten rule that makes most presenters type their text in a straight line. I do not know where it comes from, but if you only think in straight lines, then you are going to find it hard to design some exciting and interesting slides.

There is nothing in any rules that says you must keep all your text in straight lines. You can let yourself go and have some fun by slanting or tilting you text in your slide.

When using images, tilting your text can really make your slide come alive. But, you need to make sure that the tilt fits in with the image. I would suggest that you play around and see what looks best when you place the text in to your slide.

By using the horizon in the middle of the picture, I was able to place the main text in this slide on a natural slant that fits perfectly with the image.

Always remember that you have the power to place you text anywhere you like in the slide, the only rule I would suggest you follow is that the text and image balance each other, and you can use your own eye to see this balance.

So remember, you do not have to keep your text in straight lines, you can tilt it, you can even make your text vertical. The most important thing is that you have some fun and keep the balance.

대부분의 프레젠테이션을 살펴보면, 슬라이드 텍스트를 수평으로 정형하는것이 발표자들 사이에서 일종의 불문율처럼 보여집니다. 저도 언제 어디서부터 이런 규칙이 생겼는지는 잘 모르지만, 만약 여러분이 텍스트 디자인을 항상 수평으로만 생각하신다면, 무언가 재미있고 흥미로운 슬라이드를 디자인하기가 어렵다고 느끼시게 될 겁니다.

모든 슬라이드 텍스트를 반드시 수평으로 정렬해야 한다는 규칙은 세상 어디에도 없습니다. 여러분 모두, 세상에 있지도 않은 그런 규칙에서 벗어나, 텍스트를 기울여도 보고 비스듬하게도 만들어 보면서 슬라이드 디자인을 즐겨보시기 바랍니다.

슬라이드에 이미지를 삽입하실 때, 텍스트를 비스듬하게 놓으시면 여러분의 슬라이드를 더욱 더 생동감 넘치게 만들 수 있습니다. 하지만 기울인 텍스트와 이미지가 서로 조화를 이루는지 확인 해 보셔야 합니다. 이미지와 함께 텍스트를 이곳 저곳 놓아보시면서 슬라이드에 가장 잘 어울리는 부분을 찾아보시기 바랍니다.

위의 그림 중간에 보이는 수평선을 응용해, 그 수평선을 따라 메인 텍스트를 자연스럽게 기울여 이미지와 퍼펙트하게 어울리는 슬라이드를 만들어 보았습니다.

슬라이드의 주인은 바로 여러분 자신입니다. 슬라이드 안의 텍스트는 여러분이 원하시는 곳 어디에든 넣을 수 있다는 것을 항상 기억하시기 바랍니다. 한가지 여러분이 따라 주셔야 할 점은, 여러분 자신의 시각으로 텍스트와 이미지 사이의 조화를 찾아보시고, 이 둘이 서로 발란스를 이루도록 해야 한다는 것입니다.

그러므로 기억하세요! 텍스트를 꼭 수평으로 유지해야할 필요가 없습니다. 텍스트를 기울일 수도 있고, 수직으로 만들수도 있는 것입니다. 가장 중요한 것은 텍스트와 이미지의 발란스를 유지하고, 텍스트를 이곳 저곳 놓아보면서 디자인을 마음껏 즐기는 것입니다.

One of the biggest drawbacks from the mini revolution going on in the world of presenting is that people are forgetting to keep a harmonious theme to their slides. By this I mean that the slides in a presentation are not always containing a theme.

Rapidly differing slide designs in a presentation often causes confusion and can be tiring to the eyes. It can also confuse your message. Below is an example of a presentation that does not contain a theme.

The above slide deck contains many differing slide designs and does not have a consistent theme. It causes confusion and is likely to be disorganised and lack a consistent story.

The above slide deck has a consistent theme, it is pleasing to the eyes and it sets a tone. By using a simple black background, two text colours and a consistent font. There is harmony in the whole deck. Another feature of the above slide deck is that all the images are in black and white, this cements the harmony.

Harmony in your slides is a key element of a great presentation. Just as with your story, your words and your message, there has to be consistency. Without consistency, you create confusion and your message is lost.

SLIDE CREATION QUICK TIPS

1. Use a maximum of 2 fonts (preferably from the same family)

2. Use a maximum of two colours for your fonts – one for highlighting or headlines and one for your main text.

3. Ideally use only 1 background colour

4. Try to keep your images similar. – Do not mix up black and white pictures with colour ones

Finally, below is a set of slides that has an awesome theme. I just love the harmony between the slides.

Via: Online Schools

I love the typeface “Helvetica” I love its simplicity, its clarity and the way it always looks modern. Anyone who has been a member of any of my audiences will know that most of my presentations are filled with slides using Helvetica.

One of the problems you may experience when you present in English is that you are probably not aware of of the many different fonts out there. I wrote recently on the different fonts I use and why and in what circumstances I use them, but when it comes to a straight forward presentation, where the goal is to present information in a simple, memorable way, then Helvetica wins all the time.

Helvetica, in my opinion, looks best black on white (as in the image above), but it also looks great white on black.

Helvetica is such an iconic font, that they even made a movie about it. Here’s the trailer for the movie

Here are some tips when using Helvetica:

• Keep words to a minimum (Helvetica looks great with only a few words)

• Combine big letters with small ones (see above illustration)

• Use simple colours with simple backgrounds

• Spread letters out in your big sized words

• Use the whole Helvetica family

So next time you are thinking about your presentation. I say … go with Helvetica

One of the many questions I am asked is where to get inspiration for your slide designs. And the answer I always give is “look around you”

We are surrounded by billboards. posters and designs. Cities are awash with colour and ideas and inspiration are all around us. We can use these amazing surroundings for ideas for colour, design styles and so much more.

Below are a few examples I have captured on my travels around Seoul in the last few months:

From these examples, I have found simplicity, colour and text design style ideas. I often use these ideas in my own presentation files.

If it is possible, get in the habit of carrying a camera around with you, or if your mobile phone has a camera use that. You never know when a poster might be the missing link for a presentation you are about to do.