Presentation Design 101

Presentation Zen has a great analysis of a presentation given by the CEO of Whole Foods.

Excerpt:

Mackey's presentation in Berkeley is a wonderful example of a presentation by an intelligent, personable, and passionate leader that easily could have been insanely great but was not. "[Mackey] raced through the slides like a Ph.D. student presenting his dissertation," said the UC Berkeley reporter in the audience. It was not a disaster by any means, based largely on Mackey's sincerity and the courage it took just to show up at all, but it's a shame the presentation itself was not better planned and delivered given the importance of the topic and the profile of the speaker. Frankly, when you're trying to change the world, there is no excuse for being dull.

How could it have been better?
There are so many ways in which John Mackey could improve his presentation. Here are just three:

• It's a story. This topic screams "Story" yet there was no story that I could follow. There were bits and pieces (some of it interesting) and way too much history and data-without-purpose.

• Make it shorter. Cut the presentation part of the evening to 20-25 minutes and spend more time discussing on stage with the host, taking questions from the audience, etc. This is when the evening really got interesting.

• Make it visual. There are no boring topics, but this topic is especially interesting and provocative. There is no reason in the world to make this dull visually or otherwise, but he did. (Although the movie he showed in the middle was shocking and provocative.)

Logo Tips

In working on logo designs for my company over the years, I've learned alot about making logos that both function well and look good.

Of course you want something unique. Do some research on existing logos and symbols. Don't make the mistake that Quark did a couple years back.

It's important to keep the design legible at both small and large sizes. A good idea is to make samples for letterhead, posters, business cards, web link buttons, etc. and see how well the design holds up. Sometimes this means sacrificing details that might turn to mush when the image is scaled down. You could also make separate versions for different uses, but it's hard to enforce that if you have different sales & marketing people making their own creative decisions.

Large companies have a "Logo Police" department that watch over usage. Smaller ones don't have that, which can be a good thing (more creative expression) but on the average is bad (poor consistency). Lack of consistency a bigger error than having a bad design. It's an expression of the company's character. People either don't care, or they don't understand how application of design affects perception. This also affects how easily your trademarks can be defended. The more consistent you've been, the better case you'll have.

Don't try to do it all yourself. I'm a good sketcher, but not the best at making finished designs. In the last round of logos we tried to make decent Windows icons, but they didn't look so hot. This time we hired an excellent designer who made our logos look just as good (or better) as anyone else's icons.

I like embedding multiple meanings into things. Like the "hidden arrow" in the FedEx logo.

Color choices are important, but realize that your logo will have to work in black and white, photocopied or faxed (or both!). If you understand color theory, you can use this tool to pick color palettes for your designs.

I'll also come up with other graphical elements (backdrops, dividers, boxes) that fit with the logo's style. From this "design kit" you can make mouse pads, banners, return address labels, etc. This also keeps others from making their own design and choosing incompatible colors or styles.