1. A REALLY BAD POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
Guided practice #2 instructor’s copy

2. Create a new slide:
Reduce text to 5 – 6 bullet points
No more than 6 words per bullet point
Use slide design with light colored background and dark colored font
There is nothing worse than trying to read a Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation that has too much text crammed into one tiny space. It is like trying to read the fine print in a used car contract. When there is too much text on a page, the reader is visually confused and has trouble tracking across the page. Keep your fonts at least twenty-two points in size and break your text up into summarizing bullets. You do not need to tell the whole story in one slide. Another big mistake is to stretch the text box to the edges so that you can add even more text. That is the reason why newspapers use short columns. It is easier to read across short distances than all the way across a page. Add to that some other types of visual clutter like a background and you will not be able to read the text at all. Well I think you get the point.

3. Too much text Too much text is visually confusing
Follow the 6 x 6 rule
Use at least 22 point font
Choose a light, solid background
Type with a dark font

4. TOO MUCH VISUAL CLUTTER
Create a new slide that is less visually cluttered:
Remove images
Remove texture fill
Reduce text to four or less bullet points with six words or less in each
Use images sparingly and if they help with the message
TOO MUCH VISUAL CLUTTER
Text and images are important elements of a presentation. But too much is too much. The eye has to know where to go to follow the text and contemplate the images. Too many images combined with a colorful background are very confusing to the mind and eye.

5. Clutter
Avoid too much text and too many images

6. Clutter
Too much is confusing to the mind and eye

7. Clutter
Work towards a simple, clean look

8. Clutter
Use images if they help with the design of your message