The following design guidelines were written by Lana Johnson, Instructional Technology Project Manager at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and are included with her permission. While PowerPoint's templates help you create presentations quickly and easily, if you need a unique and very professional looking presentation, consult a Graphic Designer in your campus communication design department. Their expertise in design and layout will help make your presentation outstanding. Graphic Tips for Producing Slides, Computer Screen Shows, Video, and Transparencies by Lana K. Johnson Following are some guidelines to help you prepare professional-quality visuals. Keep presentation graphics as simple and clean as possible.
Legibility takes precedence over everything else in a presentation.
Your visuals are speaker support pieces only. Keep things consistent. If using a program such as PowerPoint, use one template design per presentation. Decide what typeface, color palette, size of graphics, and layout you will use for the entire presentation before you begin creating your visuals and stick with it. Poorly designed visuals interfere with the communication of your ideas.