Slide design tips: Reduce clutter and increase impact with white space.
White space, or Negative space, gives contrast to your words or images and reduces clutter. In your presentation, it is the area of the slide which is empty. It is not always white, it is just empty space (colours work too).
White space enhances readability and visual clarity, which helps direct your audience’s focus to the important content on your slide.
A common trap for presenters is to try not waste space on their slides. Beware of adding a company logo, contact number, bullet points, text boxes, and other clutter on each slide. Rather keep detail to a minimum. Reduce distraction for your audience – limit the slide content to what will augment your message.
PowerPoint is a visual medium which can successfully augment your message. It should not be your message.
Compare the two slides below.
Notice how hard the cluttered slide is to read, how messy it looks. Often cluttered slides like this are for the presenter, rather than for the audience. A reminder of all they want to cover. Too many bullet points, small images and text boxes are disastrous as the audience will either read what is on the screen, listen or switch off.
The simple slide has no bullet points, has a simple quote and has far greater impact. The presenter can use Presenter’s view to look at their notes, and not turn the audience off with clutter.
Use the principle of white space to make your presentation pop and engage your audience. Less Is More!
Richard Riche
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