- Comparison Slide Layout Examples
- Slide Layout Design
- Comparison Slide Layout Powerpoint
- Free Slide Layout For Powerpoint
The predefined layouts include a Title slide to begin with, a general Title and Content layout, a side-by-side Comparison layout, and a Picture-with-Caption layout. 29 seconds For more information about slide layouts, see What is a slide layout? Dec 10, 2017 How to make Creative Comparison Slides in PowerPoint Learn to create an interesting slide to showcase your pros and cons. Make your slides more visual with this simple and easy to follow diagram.
A PowerPoint slide with a text box for the title and a content box: the default when you add a new slide to an existing presentation. Comparison Slide Layout. A PowerPoint slide with two content boxes to compare. Similarly, if you want to take advantage of the rule of three, splitting the slide into three equally sized sections is an easy way to build layouts for a variety of purposes. Since team slides generally showcase professional experiences of founders or teams. Dec 03, 2012 The design used for this comparison table layout is very basic, but useful and effective. To compare tables in PowerPoint you can use the default comparison layout that will add two textboxes in the slide. However, if you need to compare tables, then you can replace the default text boxes. Slide Layout. Slide Layouts are slides that have placeholders on them that you can use to add content. A placeholder is a box with a dotted outline, used for the placement of your slide content. For example, there is a layout called comparison that has placeholders for a title and two text boxes side by side.
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By Garr Reynolds
#1: Keep it simple
PowerPoint uses slides with a horizontal, or Landscape, orientation. The software was designed as a convenient way to display graphical information that would support the speaker and supplement the presentation. The slides themselves were never meant to be the star of the show. (The star, of course, is your audience.) People came to hear you and be moved or informed (or both) by you and your message. Don't let your message and your ability to tell a story get derailed by slides that are unnecessarily complicated, busy, or full of what Edward Tufte calls 'chart junk.' Nothing in your slide should be superfluous, ever.
Your slides should have plenty of white space, or negative space. Do not feel compelled to fill empty areas on your slide with your logo or other unnecessary graphics or text boxes that do not contribute to better understanding. The less clutter you have on your slide, the more powerful your visual message will become.
#2 Limit bullet points and text
Your presentation is for the benefit of the audience. But boring an audience with bullet point after bullet point is of little benefit to them. Which brings us to the issue of text. The best slides may have no text at all. This may sound insane given the dependency of text slides today, but the best PowerPoint slides will be virtually meaningless without the narration (that is you). Remember, the slides are meant to support the narration of the speaker, not make the speaker superfluous.
Many people often say something like this: 'Sorry I missed your presentation. I hear it was great. Can you just send me your PowerPoint slides?' But if they are good slides, they will be of little use without you. Instead of a copy of your PowerPoint slides, it is far better to prepare a written document that highlights your content from the presentation and expands on that content. Audiences are much better served receiving a detailed, written handout as a takeaway from the presentation, rather than a mere copy of your PowerPoint slides. If you have a detailed handout or publication for the audience to be passed out after your talk, you need not feel compelled to fill your PowerPoint slides with a great deal of text.
We'll talk more about this in the delivery section below, but as long as we are talking about text, please remember to never, ever turn your back on the audience and read text from the slide word for word.
This slide is not unusual, but it is not a visual aid, it is more like an eye chart. |
Try to avoid text-heavy (and sleep inducing) slides like this one. |
Aim for something like this simple slide above. |
And this is even better. |
#3: Limit transitions and builds (animation)
Use object builds and slide transitions judiciously. Object builds (also called animations), such as bullet points, should not be animated on every slide. Some animation is a good thing, but stick to the most subtle and professional (similar to what you might see on the evening TV news broadcast). A simple Wipe Left-to-Right (from the Animations menu) is good for a bullet point, but a Move or Fly, for example, is too tedious and slow (and yet, is used in many presentations today). Listeners will get bored quickly if they are asked to endure slide after slide of animation. For transitions between slides, use no more than two or three types of transition effects and do not place transition effects between all slides.
#4: Use high quality graphics
Use high quality graphics, including photographs. You can take your own high quality photographs with your digital camera, purchase professional stock photography, or use the plethora of high quality images available online. (But be cautious of copyright issues.) Never simply stretch a small, low-resolution photo to make it fit your layout—doing so will degrade the resolution even further.
Avoid using PowerPoint Clip Art or other cartoonish line art. Again, if it is included in the software, your audience has seen it a million times before. It may have been interesting in 1993, but today the inclusion of such clip art often undermines the professionalism of the presenter. There are exceptions, of course, and not all PowerPoint art is dreadful, but use it carefully and judiciously.
I often use images of people in my slides, as photography of people tends to help the audience connect with the slide on a more emotional level. If the photographic image is secondary in importance, then I decrease the opacity and add a Gaussian Blur or motion filter in Photoshop. If the photographic image is the primary area I want the audience to notice (such as a picture of a product), then the image can be more pronounced and little (or no) text is needed.
Try to avoid cheesy clip art like this. |
This edited stock photograph is more effective and professional. |
In this title slide, the image is primary. |
In this slide from the same presentation, the image is secondary and pushed to the back by editing it first in Photoshop. |
#5: Have a visual theme but avoid using PowerPoint templates
You clearly need a consistent visual theme throughout your presentation, but most templates included in PowerPoint have been seen by your audience countless times (and besides, the templates are not all that great to begin with). Your audience expects a unique presentation with new (at least to them) content; otherwise, why would they be attending your talk? No audience will be excited about a cookie-cutter presentation, and we must therefore shy away from any supporting visuals, such as the ubiquitous PowerPoint Design Template, that suggests your presentation is formulaic or prepackaged.
You can make your own background templates, which will be more tailored to your needs. You can then save the PowerPoint file as a Design Template (.pot) and the new template will appear among your standard Microsoft templates for your future use. You can also purchase professional templates online.
#6: Use appropriate charts
Always be asking yourself, 'How much detail do I need?' Presenters are usually guilty of including too much data in their onscreen charts. There are several ways to display your data in graphic form; here are a few things to keep in mind:
Pie charts. Used to show percentages. Limit the slices to 4-6 and contrast the most important slice either with color or by exploding the slice.
Vertical bar charts. Used to show changes in quantity over time. Best if you limit the bars to 4-8.
Horizontal bar charts. Used to compare quantities. For example, comparing sales figures among the four regions of the company.
Line charts. Used to demonstrate trends. For example, here is a simple line chart showing that our sales have gone up every year. The trend is good. The arrow comes in later to underscore the point: Our future looks good!
In general, tables are well suited for side-by-side comparisons of quantitative data.
However, tables can lack impact on a visceral level. If you want to show how your contributions are significantly higher than two other parties, for example, it would be best to show that in the form of a bar chart (below). But if you're trying to downplay the fact that your contributions are lower than others, a table will display that information in a less dramatic or emotional way.
#7: Use color well
Color evokes feelings. Color is emotional. The right color can help persuade and motivate. Studies show that color usage can increase interest and improve learning comprehension and retention.
You do not need to be an expert in color theory, but it's good for business professionals to know at least a bit on the subject. Colors can be divided into two general categories: cool (such as blue and green) and warm (such as orange and red). Cool colors work best for backgrounds, as they appear to recede away from us into the background. Warm colors generally work best for objects in the foreground (such as text) because they appear to be coming at us. It is no surprise, then, that the most ubiquitous PowerPoint slide color scheme includes a blue background with yellow text. You do not need to feel compelled to use this color scheme, although you may choose to use a variation of those colors.
If you will be presenting in a dark room (such as a large hall), a dark background (dark blue, gray, etc.) with white or light text will work fine. But if you plan to keep most of the lights on (which is highly advisable), a white background with black or dark text works much better. In rooms with a good deal of ambient light, a screen image with a dark background and light text tends to washout, but dark text on a light background will maintain its visual intensity a bit better.
Learn more:
- PresentationPro.com has some great Flash tutorials, including one on color.
- Go to the CreativePro.com to learn more about color.
- Dummies.com has a good short article on how to use the Color Schemes in PowerPoint.
#8: Choose your fonts well
Comparison Slide Layout Examples
Fonts communicate subtle messages in and of themselves, which is why you should choose fonts deliberately. Use the same font set throughout your entire slide presentation and use no more than two complementary fonts (e.g., Arial and Arial Bold). Make sure you know the difference between a serif font (e.g., Times New Roman) and a sans-serif font (e.g., Helvetica or Arial).
Serif fonts were designed to be used in documents filled with lots of text. They're said to be easier to read at small point sizes, but for onscreen presentations, the serifs tend to get lost due to the relatively low resolution of projectors. Sans- serif fonts are generally best for PowerPoint presentations, but try to avoid the ubiquitous Helvetica. I often choose to use Gill Sans, as it is somewhere in between a serif and a sans-serif font and is professional yet friendly and 'conversational.' Regardless of what font you choose, make sure the text can be read from the back of the room.
Times |
Arial black; Arial |
#9: Use video or audio
Use video and audio when appropriate. Using video clips to show concrete examples promotes active cognitive processing, which is the natural way people learn. You can use video clips within PowerPoint without ever leaving the application or tuning on a VCR. Using a video clip not only will illustrate your point better, it will also serve as a change of pace, thereby increasing the interest of your audience.
You can use audio clips (such as interviews) as well. But avoid using the cheesy sound effects that are included in PowerPoint (such as the sound of a horn or applause when transitioning slides). The use of superfluous sound effects attached to animations is a sure way to lose credibility with your audience.
#10: Spend time in the slider sorter
According to the Segmentation Principle of multimedia learning theory, people comprehend better when information is presented in small chunks or segments. By getting out of the Slide view and into the Slide Sorter view, you can see how the logical flow of your presentation is progressing. In this view, you may decide to break up one slide into, say, two or three slides so that your presentation has a more natural and logical flow or process. You'll also be able to capture more of the gestalt of your entire presentation from the point of view of your audience. You will be able to notice more extraneous pieces of visual data that can be removed to increase visual clarity and improve communication.
The Slide Sorter view in PowerPoint |
Garr Reynolds is currently Associate Professor of Management at Kansai Gaidai University, where he teaches Marketing, Global Marketing, and Multimedia Presentation Design. Garr is active in the Japanese community and can often be found presenting on subjects concerning design, branding, and effective corporate communications. In addition to his Web site, he maintains a blog, Presentation Zen, which offers insights into professional presentation design.
You’ve got that big meeting coming up tomorrow, but all you have are some really terrible looking reference slides and an empty page on PowerPoint with “Click to Add Title” staring you in the face.
There have been numerous articles published online about how you can start upping your presentation design game. Most of them offer you some presentation ideas, but when you’re rushing to put something together quickly, can you really afford to spend time fiddling with presentation software?
At my company HighSpark, we develop presentations on a daily basis and we’ve found a way to significantly reduce the guesswork required to put together solid presentations.
One of the ways is by reusing proven presentation layouts that work.
Here are five presentation layout ideas that we’ve used time and time again to build awesome presentation slides in record time. Check out these presentation templates to use our layouts easily.
1. Presentation layout following the rule of three
The “rule of three” has been widely used in many mediums of communication to increase memorability and engage audiences. Similarly, if you want to take advantage of the rule of three, splitting the slide into three equally sized sections is an easy way to build layouts for a variety of purposes.
Team slides
Since team slides generally showcase professional experiences of founders or teams. Splitting your slide into thirds will leave just enough space for a headshot, as well as bio information for each of the team members.
This three-part layout is also commonly used for pitch deck designs, where startups showcase their core founding team and advisors.
Remember you don’t want a boring pitch deck design to cost you opportunities!
This layout is also used when showing the steps in a process or timeline:
Big pointers
There will be instances where you have big distinctions as headlines that you’ll need to display on your presentation. These points are usually followed by additional evidence or information to support your stance.
For example, a “pointer” in this case could be: “China: The Next Big Economy”, followed by a statistic supporting that point.
When showcasing a few different statistics, it can be challenging to decide on a layout that will make data more interesting. If you’re using charts or icons to represent your data visually, having the visuals up top, accompanied by text below, is an easy way to make data more interesting.
So you get the gist. By using a simple three-part presentation layout, you’ll be able to organize content in a variety of ways, limited only by your imagination.
2. Left image, right text presentation layout
As dictated by the Picture Superiority Effect, pictures are more likely to be remembered than words. Pictures command attention more quickly. If you use more visuals than text in your presentation, your audience will be six times more likely to recall what you were talking about.
Having your pictures on the left side of your slide offers a comfortable eye-flow for your audience. Images have inherent meanings associated to them (if I asked you to think of a chicken, you’d probably think of a bird and not the letters “C-H-I-C-K-E-N”).
Using larger images lets you reduce the amount of words on your slide, especially if you’re telling a story.
There is no hard and fast rule for how big the proportions need to be, but what I’ve found works really well is to:
- Make the words on your slide as concise as possible
- Size the text to a minimum 12-point font and above
- Take a look at how much space you have left for your image, then pick the most ideal image
Some of the best types of images to use for presentation design are…
Images with faces
Using faces in your presentation helps to build trust with your audience. We’re “hardwired” to recognize human faces since birth, and that’s why they’re widely used in marketing content. For instance, having a “hero-character” helps viewers to imagine themselves in the character’s position.
For example, this character: “Neel” is used to demonstrate the need for a financial management platform.
The startup using this presentation is creating financial solutions for a very specific group of people: middle-class Indians. Using this image of “Neel”, the audience can very quickly understand the segment the company is trying to serve.
Using faces also helps you frame text, especially if the person is “looking” in the right direction. Our eyes naturally gravitate towards where the human figure in the image is looking towards.
Images with large whitespace
In the field of design, whitespace is used to reference how empty space is used for functional and aesthetic purposes. Certain images are more pleasing to the eye because of the space around them. It’s the reason why you find certain paragraphs of text on a website hard to read, because of the lack of space between the lines.
Having more white space means that you’ll have more room to play around with text, icons and other information that you might need to include on the slide.
Generally, if you pick an image with a lot of empty space, placing text at any of the intersecting “power points” that follow the Rule of Thirds will ensure an aesthetically pleasing slide overall.
One of the most famous examples of someone using white space with only text is Steve Jobs and his famous WWDC presentations.
You’ll notice that there’s a lot space in the slide–this draws your attention to the headline and avoids inundating the audience with visuals.
Images with a clear focus
Using images that are too busy will hinder your viewers from honing in on the information or visuals that matter. Picking images that have blurred backgrounds or a sharp focus on a specific subject can help to reduce noise.
3. Presentation layout with full bleed and whitespace
When you’re using evocative full bleed images to tell stories, as seen in presentations by orators like Elon Musk and TED speakers, you may want to include a few words to give the image context.
Elon Musk used full bleed images of pollution and satellite images of the Earth during his PowerWall presentation. This helped to bring attention back to himself and also highlighted the very real problems that they seek to solve with their products.
This shot from a TED presentation also demonstrates how you can tell stories using images and a little bit of text for context.
There are three simple ways to include words on full bleed images…
Split your slide into nine parts
Split your slide into nine equal parts. Place any elements of focus at any of the four points where the lines intersect. This is a photography technique that applies to presentations too.
Frame text with a shape
If there isn’t enough contrast between the background and your text, consider using shapes to frame the text. This way, your audiences can still read the text and be able to see the image of interest as well.
Use empty space
If your full bleed image has empty space, it’s the perfect area to place your text without too much guesswork.
When picking font colours, a trick to pick something that’ll look good is:
- Having adequate contrast with the background
- Picking colours directly from the image itself!
For example, the picture you see below is of a mountain with quite a bit of whitespace above the photograph.
So, assuming we’re putting our text where the clouds are, we just have to pick a color that is darker than the background (in this case, the background is white).
Instead of just randomly selecting a color, we’ll select the turquoise color of the moss that is on the mountain in the picture, as well as the grey of the mountain itself.
The result is that you’ll have a very consistent-looking slide with colors that work well together.
4. Horizontal split presentation layout
By splitting your slide equally using horizontal bars, you can instantly see a usable layout for your information. It doesn’t take much guessing to know where you can place content in these cases. Just fit it to the grid you made.
This is similar to the three-part layout but allows for a different kind of representation of information.
Here are some examples of how a horizontal split can be used:
This presentation layout idea works great when you have:
- An image representing each of your points
- A heading for each point, when there are no more than four points (otherwise there won’t be enough space on the slide)
- Body text that might be a little too dense to put into a vertical grid layout
For example, you could use this layout in a team slide within an investor pitch deck, where you simply have too much information about the founders to force into a tight space.
Slide Layout Design
Learn how to customize this presentation:
A horizontal split layout can also be used as an alternative to bullet points when you are listing benefits of a product, or spelling out a timeline of execution:
5. Centred callout presentation layout
There will be instances where you need a big callout (a specific and short message). For example, it’s great to have big callouts for “thank you” slides when ending a presentation.
A great way to do this is to either pick a background image with contrasting space or to add the color contrast on your own using gradients.
When picking font colors for your callout, always ask yourself:
- Will people be able to see it?
- Is there adequate contrast?
How to pick fonts for your callouts
There are many different font types. There’s sans-serif fonts (fonts with no line embellishments, i.e. Arial, Helvetica), serif fonts (fonts with line embellishments, i.e. Times New Roman), and scripts (hand-written cursive or fanciful typefaces).
These fonts all communicate different personalities based on your audience. Naturally, you wouldn’t use Comic Sans when presenting to an executive audience, would you?
Fancy fonts that are harder to read have been shown to promote better recollection. If you only have a few words on your slide, using a script can help to bolster this effect.
However, to be on the safe side, if you’re not sure whether you can keep your words brief, it’s better to stick to more legible fonts where people can easily make out the letters.
Recap
When faced with a blank slide, keep in mind these distinctions so that you’ll put together functional, aesthetic slides:
- Think about how much content you need on your slide. That will limit or expand your layout options. If you have three big points, use a horizontal or vertical layout split, it’s easy and fuss-free.
- If you have the prerogative to keep your presentation brief, use larger images for callouts, to take advantage of the “picture superiority effect” for better audience attention and recollection.
- When picking images for your slides, try to pick ones with more whitespace and, if humans are concerned, ones with faces. This gives you more layout options as well as helps to build rapport with your audience.
- Always ensure there is adequate contrast between your text and the background. If there isn’t, either add a shape or gradient to make the words legible.
- When laying out elements or text, be deliberate. Use the rule of thirds and try not to choose too many fonts.
Comparison Slide Layout Powerpoint
There you have it! If you ever find yourself stuck with layouts when preparing a presentation, refer back to this article and start moving from there. Any questions? Do leave a comment!