pocketspeak4e

Keep the Design Simple

Printed Page 161

Visuals that try to communicate too many messages will quickly overwhelm the audience. Audience members have only a few moments to view an aid, so present one major idea per aid. Use these guidelines to convey your points effectively on a slide:

Follow the six-by-six rule; use no more than six words in a line and no more than six lines on one slide.
Word your text in active verb form and parallel grammatical structure (see Chapter 16 on language).
Create concise titles that tell viewers what to look for and that reinforce your message.
Allow plenty of white space, or “visual breathing room” for viewers.²

Beware of “Chartjunk”

Certain kinds of information—especially statistical data and sequences of action—are best understood through visual reasoning. However, avoid what design expert Edward Tufte coined as “chartjunk”—slides jammed with too many graphs, charts, and meaningless design elements that obscure rather than illuminate information. Tufte counsels using fewer rather than more slides and only those design elements that truly enhance meaning.³