|
Your
job as a presentation designer is to make ideas into visual
images. For your
presentations to work, the visual images must convey exactly
what you want to say and require the least possible effort on
the part of your audience to “get it”. The difference between a visual that works and one that fails
is good design.
To appreciate of how good design adds to the quality of
our lives, it helps to look at some examples of truly bad design
that we all deal with on an everyday basis.
Bad design abounds, and everyday our lives are a little
less pleasant for it.
The really unfortunate thing about poorly designed
objects is that countless unpleasant times might have been
spared if only the designer had thought through his or her
approach a little more thoroughly.
The line between good and bad design is often fine.
It can be no more than positioning a button in a spot not
easily accessed by mistake; a label placed where it could
actually be seen before the wrong action is taken; a multi-step
process where you don’t have to get to step seven before you
realize you did step three wrong; or a lever or handle shaped
more like the movement it wants you to make
When you acquire a more developed sensitivity to design,
you begin to look at all things with questions such as, “Might
it have been better to do it this way?”, or “What
would it have taken to make it work like this?”
Then take a look at the last presentation you delivered.
Do you suppose there were elements that caused even
temporary confusion? And
then when you explained the element, did they say, “Oh I get
it - but why didn’t you just say it this way?”?
All
bad designs cause the expenditure of more effort to produce the
same result. The
more effort it takes to absorb
your message the less energy is available for processing
the message itself. Effort
causes discomfort. In
the presentation environment, that can mean disaster because
-for the very same reason- discomfort leads to disassociation
from the message. That’s
why professional trainers make certain the learning environment
is as comfortable as possible - fresh water, good seats,
frequent breaks. “The
mind can only absorb what the buttocks can endure” is old but
still relevant. Bad
presentation design is a pain in the ass, and it stops message
uptake just as quickly.
Now let’s step back from presentations for a few
moments.
Think about the various devices - electrical, mechanical,
architectural, digital, whatever – that you use or come in
contact with on a daily or weekly basis.
Keep in mind that anything manufactured for human
consumption was first designed by a human.
You know that some humans are more talented than others.
If you’re like most people, you have probably been
annoyed or frustrated with a device than was designed by one
from the less talented group.
Next time you use your hair-dryer, notice whether the
high-low switch works the way you would expect, or to affect a
High setting you need to push the switch to its Lower position.
Can you get water into and coffee out of your drip-style
coffee-maker without dripping any of either?
Where does your refrigerator spew more ice – into your
glass or onto the floor? Can
your friends operate your microwave without your showing them
how?
Discussing
how design affects our everyday lives is purposeful in getting
you to think very hard about how your presentation designs
affect the people you subject them too, and why it is
worth the effort to do them well.
And although it is kind and thoughtful to design in ways
that enhance, rather than detract from, the quality of your
audience’s experience, the bottom line is simple: good design
goes down easier. You
need every opportunity to get your audience on your side, and
you must allow nothing in your control to discomfort the people
you’re trying to persuade.
As Edward Tufte says, “audiences are fragile; respect
them”.
One last sad truth about bad design is that so many people
who are frustrated by things that don’t work think it’s their
fault! When people
don’t understand what they’re told, or audiences don’t
understand what they see on the screen, they often blame
themselves – they believe that they’re either stupid or slow
or perhaps they simply learn in other ways.
Ask yourself: Do your presentations
have a less-than-evident “operating system?”
Before someone can get your message (the function of your
presentation) do they first have to learn and comprehend your
design?
Your
main goal when designing a presentation should be to keep your
audience’s attention on your idea, your pitch, your
proposal---your message. They
should never be distracted by, or even really aware of, your
design. Dazzling
them with bells and whistles will help them remember the bells
and whistles, not your
message. You need
to make your message the star so that nothing takes their minds
away from it.
Your
audience has gone to some effort to let you speak your piece.
Thank them for showing up by rewarding them with good
design.
|
