BOOK AND SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Williams, Robin. The non-designer's presentation book: principles for effective presentation design.Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2009. 168 pp. ISBN 978-0-321-65621-6 $22.49 .
I imagine that pretty well every reader of this journal will have set through lectures or conference presentations where the quality of the PowerPoint presentation has been absolutely dreadful: a type fount so small as to be unreadable from the front row, the lecturer's notes given in their entirely, or jazzy add-ons that simply confuse. This is the book that might bring about some change in that scenario and lead the lecturer or teacher to the understanding that, even if you are not a media designer, you can still learn some basic principles of design that will improve things.
Robin Williams is a designer whose best known work is probably the Non-designer's design book, now in its third edition, and whose aim in life appears to be to encourage non-designers to become sufficiently proficient at least to produce work that doesn't offend too many design principles! Here, she takes on the task of showing us how to design effective presentations, carefully distinguishing between the presentation and the ordinary class lecture.
The book is in four sections: section I - If you have to give a presentation, deals with basic points, such as distinguishing between a good presentation and a bad one, choice of software, and getting yourself organized to prepare and give the presentation. Section II - Four principles of conceptual presentation design, moves on to the meat of the design problem, the conceptual basis, reviewing the concepts of clarity (make sure that your words say what you intend to mean), relevance (e.g., don't use clip art just for the sake of it, make sure it is relevant to the text and the message), animation (how to use it and how not to overuse it), and plot (remember that you are telling a story). Personally, I would have put that last principle first, since I think it controls the rest.
Section III - Four principles of visual presentation design, deals with contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. Contrasting blocks of colour and contrasting typefaces can be used to emphasise different parts of the slide, to associate them with the emphasis given by the presenter; over-used, of course, they can produce incoherence and confusion, so contrast is to be used carefully. Repetition means ensuring that the the set of slides, as a whole, have a similar (but not identical) appearance - each slide clearly belongs to the same set. This is often achieved by using a template or a logo giving information on the organization to which the presenter belongs. Varying the layout can be used to give emphasis to the information on a particular slide in the set or to a block of information on a slide. Alignment enables a smooth movement from one slide to the next, without any obvious 'jump' on the screen. Again, a template can ensure this, but, if we use a template we must be careful not to adjust areas on the slide, unless we actually want the new information on a slide to 'jump out' at the viewer. Proximity enables us to show the relationship between different elements on a slide, it ensures a smooth movement from one point to another. It's OK to have white space on the slide, but that space must be organized by the proximity of the important elements, and should not simply be an accident.
Section IV - Final thoughts on presentation design consists of one chapter - Learn your software, which is something we probably all forget. We use what we know of in the package and make do. It's often said that people use about 20% of the features of a word-processing package and it may be little more for presentation software, but knowing the real capabilities can deliver dividends in the design of presentations.
This is a very welcome introduction to design principles applied to presentations, it is well-written and beautifully and appropriately illustrated. Every lecturer should be given a copy at the beginning of his or her career!
