Design as a visual concept and its approach is changing and evolving. Take a look at the top brand like Microsoft, Apple, and Google five years ago and today. Noticed any difference? They hovered to a more minimalistic design in their products. Just like most things in life, the design is very much a personal choice. But have you ever wondered how this concept of minimalist PowerPoint design can be applied to your next presentation?
In this article, DeckRobot is going to share thoughts on minimalism in presentation design, and why you should try it in your next presentation.
In our era of short attention spans and constant distractions, designers and presenters have to use techniques that allow communicating as succinctly as possible. Minimalism is all about shedding the excess and the unnecessary in your designs. Instead of using a variety of shapes and colors on a slide, you only pick one or two which truly embodies the message you want to impart. Minimalism is all about going back to the basics and employing simplicity at its finest. Minimalism is becoming more mainstream nowadays. Minimalism in the design world is all about functionality. With a minimalistic approach, all other elements which do not contribute to the functionality are scrapped and removed from the design.
According to the article that Nielsen Norman Group published which is similar and relevant to presentation design the main characteristics for presentation design you should approach these techniques:
The content of the slide: Planning the slide content is very important when trying to achieve a minimalist visual presentation. This means that you should include only the most important point and take away on your slide and deliver the rest through your speech. It will be awkward if you have to pause in the middle of your presentation just to give the audience time to read your slide. They will get bored and shut down right away.
The layout of the content: After you have planned out your content you should start drafting the layout and organizing your slide using grid and guides in PowerPoint. This will keep your slide organized and give a harmonious feel.
Space (white-space): Space is an important part of minimalism. Don’t think about the white space as an empty space, on a slide. It is as important as your other elements like text or image. Each design element and your content must have enough room to stand on its own, it is important. This also helps the audience to digest the information of your slides while you deliver your speech.
Contrast: Always consider contrast. Contrast ensures our eyes are drawn to something that is different, something that stands out from its environment. Contrast drives attention, and it’s one design principle that makes almost any of the other principles work. You can use contrast in your slides to help direct people’s eyes to a certain place. There are different types of contrast such as the contrast of size, shape, shade, color, proximity.
Color: Color and contrast are closely related and often misunderstood that contrast is only in color. No doubt that contrast can be easily achieved through color. In a minimalistic approach, it does not mean that you have to resort to a black and white presentation, that would be boring. Instead, let your brand colors guide you and balance your color palette.
Typography/Fonts: The effectiveness of delivering your message is also dependent on the typeface used in your slide. Just as important as your speech, this is also true with the typeface on your slide, both should complement each other. So choose wisely if not already specified in your brand guideline.
Tip: the DeckRobot plugin is an easy PowerPoint plugin for users that helps to reduce manual work while preparing Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. Using the plugin allows you to save up to 40% of your working time. The plugin helps you to create appealing presentations that match the company brand book guidelines with a focus on the quality of the content. Users can easily adjust all the visual elements in each slide of their presentation like fixing headers, footers, background, logo, font, color pallet according to the chosen corporate guidelines. Maintain consistency by aligning any complex object on the slide or even adapt any icon that you like to the corporate-approved format and much more.
We hope you like this article and already have some ideas for your next presentation with a minimalistic design approach. Just remember that it is also important to step back, relax and review your slide deck. Have you got everything you need on your slides? Do you like what you see? If yes then you are all set up.
