Pick a background color Avoid bright colors Medium Tones Dark tones OK Blues, black and white work best Avoid angry or excited colors like red and yellow

Avoid pictures for background unless muted or used only for first slide.

Backgrounds make things too busy

Bluesy templates – yikes! Azure Blue diagonal Lock & key Soaring

Bright on dark Dark on bright Use high contrast colors GOOD GOOD GOOD Bright on dark Dark on bright EVIL EVIL EVIL

Why high-contrast? Your PC screen is hi-res everything looks great don’t trust it! big displays “wash out” colors always TEST on final equipment alter template’s defaults as needed

See for yourself Which line is easier to read?

Be font savvy Arial Arial Black Futura Tahoma Times New Roman New York Sans serif good Arial Arial Black Futura Tahoma Serif bad Times New Roman New York Courier

Less visual complexity Which is easier to read? Less visual complexity Stronger lines Once upon a time there lived a yellow bear named Pooh. He had a cat named Tigger and a law degree from Texas Tech. He was allergic to chocolate. Once upon a time there lived a yellow bear named Pooh. He had a cat named Tigger and a law degree from Texas Tech. He was allergic to chocolate.

Don’t waste bullets use no more than 6 in a list

Observe the limit 25 More looks busy words per slide max

Avoid death by cheese… Weird sound effects Most transitions Flying text Strange animations Bad clip-art

Clip-art Hall of Shame

Content is King! Single phrases Short lists Questions for students Quotes Photographs Video

Design Tips for PowerPoint 1st –– Backgrounds – Templates Best fonts Bullets –– 6 is max Content is king! Words on a slide –– 25 or less Images –– key Content and layout provided by Professor Keri Stephens