Fundamentals of Slide Design
What is Slide Design?
Through the use of different elements, including visuals, colors, typography, style, layout, and transitions, slide design provides a visual representation of the important points of your presentation. It not only complements your research, but can also enhance your presentation. Slide design can impact how much an audience understands and retains the content that you present.
Slide design strategies that thoughtfully consider and prioritize the experience of the audience can result in stronger presentations. Melissa Marshall—an expert in understanding how technical presentations can be transformed—advocates for an innovative approach to slide design. Her well-researched methods have been successful in the scientific community and we recommend her strategy. In an article on how to transform your technical talks, Marshall discusses the science behind the impact of slide design and how the overuse of text on slides while engaging in verbal communication during presentations increases the chances of cognitive overload for audience members. Marshall advocates for an “audience-centered speaker” approach, a technique in which you shift your focus from the speaker to that of the audience.
...mak[e] your slides do something for you that words cannot. You are giving a talk, so the word part is mostly covered by what you are saying...It is much more powerful to make your slides primarily visual so that they convey information in a more memorable, engaging, and understandable way. 
-Melissa Marshall
Audience engagement is an important indicator about the level of success of a presentation. Marshall argues that “a critical insight is to realize that your success as a speaker depends entirely upon your ability to make your audience successful.” In order to prioritize the experience of your audience and how they receive your presentation, Marshall advocates for a design strategy called assertion-evidence design which uses a succinct headline in the slide with the key assertion in the form of a sentence that is accompanied by visual evidence, such as charts, graphs, and flowcharts. This method prioritizes the utilization of strong visuals and minimizes the amount of text on slides. As needed, presenters can provide the audience with a handout of their slides that contain more detailed notes from their presentation as a reference. If you have not used assertion-evidence slides before, it is a good technique to further explore and consider as its approach can enhance a presentation when carried out effectively. Examples of strong assertion-evidence slides and a self-assessment checklist for this design strategy can be found on Create and Assess Your Slides, and a template can be accessed below.
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An Assertion-Evidence Slide Template that includes tips and layout suggestions by Melissa Marshall.
To learn more about creating strong visual representations of your data and the importance of forming a mutual exchange between you and your audience, visit our pages on Data Visualization, along with Consider Your Audience which is part of the section on how to Deliver Authentically.
Watch these short videos by Marshall to further explore the impact of slide design, strategies for fostering audience engagement, and helpful ways to approach the scope and focus of your presentation.
Learn more about the impact of slide design.
Further explore how to analyze your audience.
Consider scope and focus of your slides and talks.
For additional resources to help you think about the organization and framing of your talk visit Deliver Authentically and Prepare for Any Talk.
What Does it Look Like to Design Effective Slides?
There are techniques and tools that can be utilized to strengthen the design of your slides in order to enhance the quality of your presentation. The following section presents one approach. Review this list and explore how each strategy can improve your slide design.
Begin each slide (with exception of title slide) with a strong headline.Incorporate strong visual evidence, such as photographs, drawings, graphs, films, or words and equations arranged visually to support your headlines and credit sources. (Images should be high in resolution with no clip art.)Include clear captions/labels/symbols to make the slides easier to follow.Minimize the use of bullet points.Keep animations, special effects, and sounds to a minimum.Use an appropriate number of slides for the length of the presentation (e.g. typically around one slide per minute).Use slides that have a consistent look and feel.Create slides that are readable from a distance.Include images and language that are inclusive and accessible for all learners.
A more comprehensive slide design checklist and other resources can be found on Create and Assess Your Slides.
Inclusive Slide Design
Creating slides that are inclusive and accessible for different learners is a critical part of the design process. Consider the implications of your design on the viewer’s interpretation, including visual representation, language and color choice. As you engage in this process, explore the role of slide design in creating an inclusive environment that considers multiple perspectives, values, beliefs, identities, disciplines, abilities, experiences, and backgrounds. To learn more about what it means and looks like to design visuals that are inclusive, visit Visual Storytelling as part of the section on Data Visualization and Preferred Terms for Select Population Groups & Communities from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Are You Ready to Create Your Own Slides?
To begin the process of designing your slides or to improve an existing deck, visit Create and Assess Your Slides. Use the provided resources to learn more about helpful design strategies, how to create effective slides and ways to assess them.