If you say slide design you immediately think about how a presentation looks. But there’s a lot more to design than just nice formatting. Creating a slide deck and making it a really effective presentation is actually a lot like designing a building and making it an effective space. BrightCarbon’s Shay takes you through some really helpful tips to create effective presentations using some excellent expertise straight out of architecture school.

1. Advice from ARCHITECTURE
PRESENTATION DESIGN:
SCHOOL

2. Architecture is often seen as a practice
that is purely about buildings.

3. In fact, an architect designs more
than just how a building looks,

4. they design how people will act, how
people will move and how they will live.

5. They do this by understanding how
people read space.

6. By understanding how people
understand space, you can lead
them in a direction you choose.

7. ? ? ? ?
However, a lack of order and
hierarchy leaves people lost
and confused.

8. Imagine this building represents a
slide, and each section as a piece
of information.

9. ?
?
?
?
Where should the audience look?
Where do they start?
Which is most important?

10. Tip 1:
“Good drawings are
drawn hierarchically”

11. Without order, your content will
be fighting for the audience’s
attention.

12. Hierarchy will make your slides
easy to absorb,

13. and you can subconsciously
lead your audience through your
presentation.

14. By building from primary to secondary
elements, you’re much more likely to
create slides that are easy to digest.
Click here for more on
designing hierarchically.

15. Tip 2:
“Our experience of an
architectural space is
strongly influenced by
how we arrive in it”

16. In architecture, context is hugely
important in design decisions.

17. Spaces can be similar in nature or
noticeably different.

18. Architecture deals with a change in
space by confronting us with a
threshold,

19. be this a door, a step, or even just a
change in floor texture.

20. The nature of the threshold can tell
us about how different the new
space will be.
? ? ?

21. In a slide deck you make the choice
as to how distinct new information
needs to be.

22. Introducing new information onto
the same slide could suggest
you’re adding to your point…

23. You can go to a new slide to move
your content forward…

24. …Or start using a new visual style
to show you’re moving to a new
section.

25. How we move from slide to slide
will determine the rhythm and
progression of a presentation.

26. Tip 3:
“Always design a thing by considering
it in its next larger context – a chair
in a room, a room in a house, a house
in an environment, an environment in
a city plan”
Eliel Saarinen –
Finnish Architect

27. Exposure Enclosure
Architecture plays with the idea
of creating hard or soft divides
between spaces.

28. Exposure Enclosure
These divides between spaces
will determine how closely linked
they feel.

29. Full enclosure creates a strong
threshold causing spaces to be
experienced as independent.

30. A strong boundary in a presentation
would be useful to signify a new
section or chapter…

31. Adding a chapter slide, or changing
the colour scheme would distinguish
the two sections nicely.

32. A gentle boundary separates spaces,
but still lets them be experienced
together visually.

33. A soft boundaries are useful in a
presentation when you want relating
information to stand apart.

34. For example, a conclusion box in a
different colour, or a simple line to
divide content.

35. Tip 4:
“Any aesthetic quality is
usually enhanced by the
presence of a counterpoint.”
Matthew Frederick
– Architect, Author

36. Moving from dark to light spaces,
or from large to small maximises
these spaces’ perceived qualities.

37. This technique is used in
architecture to keep people engaged
in the building’s experience.

38. Finding a way of introducing
information in a similarly exciting way
can keep your audience engaged.

39. For contrast, you could move from
slides with full-page images into a
simple white slide with one key point.

40. Revealing and screening is also a
design tool used in architecture to
engage and create anticipation.

41. Creating a point in a presentation to
which the audience knows they’re
heading will keep their attention.
?

42. Using the idea of denial and reward
in your presentations will pique the
interests of your audience.
Why is
number 5
different?
1 2 3 4 5

43. After setting out the path, reveal
information as you move forward to
build anticipation.
Why is
number 5
different?
It must be
important…
1 2 3 4 5

44. By not giving everything away in
one go, you stop the audience
skipping ahead…
Why is
number 5
different?
I want to
know…
It must be
important…
1 2 3 4 5

45. … allowing you to explain your point
clearly and in the correct order.
Why is
number 5
different?
I want to
know…
It must be
important…
I REALLY
want to
know…
1 2 3 4 5

46. When you finally introduce your
punchline, the audience’s minds will
be prepared to take note!
Why is
number 5
different?
I want to
know…
It must be
important…
I REALLY
want to
know…
Everything
becomes
clear!
1 2 3 4 5

47. Hierarchy Sequence Context Contrast
Be sure to remember these FOUR KEY TIPS
when building your next presentation.
The resulting slides should be much more
effective and engaging!

48. For more
PRESENTATION ADVICE,
Click here or visit BrightCarbon.com