Visual Communication That Works! (PDF)

“Power corrupts.

PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.”

Edward Tufte

1Sunday, March 6, 2011Youʼre brave to come out to a PowerPoint presentation of a Sunday morning! Iʼm sure youʼve heard of “Death by PowerPoint.” There are millions of victims of “cognitive asphyxiation,” a disease that strikes without warning, is debilitating, and is contagious. More often than not, the very victims of the disease perpetrate it on others—as soon as they can. This is what Edward Tufte says about PowerPoint. . . .[read]. Tufte is probably the leading expert on the visual display of quantitative information—incidentally, the title of his famous book on the subject. Edward Tufte despises PowerPoint.

“Rather than supplementing a presentation

[PowerPoint] has become a substitute for it.”

Edward Tufte

2Sunday, March 6, 2011Hereʼs another quote from him [read]. . . Now why is that? There are two reasons. First, people are hard-pressed for time or theyʼve procrastinated or theyʼre simply lazy. And PowerPoint aids and abets that way of working. It provides templates, decorations, and clip art. It does the work for you so you donʼt have to think. And the second reason is many people donʼt understand what a presentation is for. So Tufte is right.

REPORT

Document

Slideument

3Sunday, March 6, 2011Many people think that if they use presentational software, like PowerPoint or Keynote, to create a report, theyʼve created a presentation. But they havenʼt! A document in PowerPoint is a slideument. As Nancy Duarte says. “Reports should be distributed; presentations should be presented.”

Informational Factual Hierarchical

CONVEYS INFORMATION

report

4Sunday, March 6, 2011So whatʼs in a report? Reports are informational, factual, and hierarchical. They are for conveying information. They are exhaustive, precise, and take time to examine. They are for text-heavy material and for that they do the job very well.

Words

Numbers Images

5Sunday, March 6, 2011But the three elements weʼve got to work with are words, numbers, and images. Thatʼs all. And here we have this marvelous medium of presentation software that makes possible the visual play of all three elements—and we load it up with bullet points and line after line of text!

We learn better from words

and pictures together

than from words or pictures

alone.

6Sunday, March 6, 2011But research shows that we learn better from words and pictures together than from either words or pictures alone. Visual and verbal data are processed in different parts of the brain—so they donʼt compete with each other. [Cook, M. P. “Visual Representations in Science Education: The Influence of Prior Knowledge and Cognitive Load Theory on Instructional Design Principles.” Science Education, 90(6) 1073-1091, 2006.].

We are hardwired

for understanding

images.

Garr Reynolds

7Sunday, March 6, 2011Our visual systems and our brains instinctively and instantly process and act upon images. . .

The image gives rise to thought.

Paul Ricoeur

8Sunday, March 6, 2011For visual learners the image gives rise to the thought. For others, those with a more verbal learning style. . .

from thought to image. . . .

9Sunday, March 6, 2011—the creative spark might jump from thought to image.

from idea to story. . .

10Sunday, March 6, 2011However we learn, the goal is to move from idea to story. . .

story

Dramatic Emotive Experience

11Sunday, March 6, 2011And what is a story? A story is dramatic, with rising and falling action. Itʼs emotive, evocative, and it creates an experience. But many people are afraid to use the power of story when they build their presentations. It takes time and energy and reflection. So they hit the default button and load the slides with bullet points.

report story

presentation

12Sunday, March 6, 2011The good news is that presentations fall somewhere between a report and a story. It takes the best from each and creates a new form.

Presentation

Simplifies MotivatesEngages

13Sunday, March 6, 2011It alternates between facts and storytelling. It simplifies, clarifies, interprets, and illuminates. It engages the audience and motivates it to take action. So the question is not ʻHave you stopped killing people with PowerPoint yet?” but rather, “Why not use its power to really tell your story?” And thatʼs what weʼre going to do today.

What’s yourstory?

14Sunday, March 6, 2011So. . . . whatʼs your story?

In the hands of an honest and humble mentora presentationcan become a storythat changes people and their worlds.

15Sunday, March 6, 2011This is the secret I want to share with you today. . . [read]. The alternative is that we maintain the status quo and continue killing people with PowerPoint.

Imagining the story

Building your presentation

Designing your slides

16Sunday, March 6, 2011So letʼs begin by looking at. . . Imagining the story, which involves finding your message, building your presentation (researching, outlining, and structuring), and designing your slides (composing words, numbers, and images on the slide).

Visual Communication

the message

the formthe structure

17Sunday, March 6, 2011Another way to say this is that all visual communication has three elements: the message, the structure, and the form.

“The tragedy of the world is that thosewho are imaginativehave but slightexperience,and those who areexperienced havefeeble imaginations. . . .The task of a universityis to weld togetherimagination and experience.”

Alfred North Whitehead

18Sunday, March 6, 2011Imagining the story. How important is that? Here is a quote from Alfred North Whitehead, a 20th century British philosopher, mathematician, and educator [read]. . . This is what you and I are called to do as educators. I come from a tradition and a culture in which we did not get a job but rather received a “call.” My grandfather was called to be a teacher and a college dean out on the prairies of Alberta. It was a vocation, from Latin, vocare, to call. First used in the 1500s as a spiritual calling. I like that. Even in todayʼs scrabbling job market we can still have a calling—and we can answer it. Thatʼs what you folks do day in and day out—answer the call to make learning accessible for all. And that takes courage and imagination. How do you get that across to people?

“Education with inert ideasis not only useless. . . .

it is harmful.”

Alfred North Whitehead

19Sunday, March 6, 2011For Whitehead, ideas were the particles of energy that moved and shaped the world. Inert ideas were those which were merely received into the mind without being used or tested or put in new situations. So here we have a wonderful opportunity to raise ideas, throw them into new contexts, and communicate with passion, reason, and character.

20Sunday, March 6, 2011Children are great at this! They have rich, vibrant, uninhibited imaginations. Theyʼre not afraid to experiment. They donʼt try to edit themselves. They say whatʼs on their minds. This is my stepdaughter, Eden, with her mother, Joy, my wife.

21Sunday, March 6, 2011Sheʼs constantly on the move, a natural-born runner. . .

22Sunday, March 6, 2011She was trying to remember the word for the day before today and she couldnʼt quite get it. But this is what she came up with. . .

Lasterday

23Sunday, March 6, 2011It makes perfect sense, doesnʼt it? Simple, direct, itʼs a combination of two familiar words placed in a new configuration. Children arenʼt afraid to just have a go at the new thing. Somewhere along the arc of education we lose that—or it gets pounded out of us. But we can find it again! How do we do that?

24Sunday, March 6, 2011Cast your net wide for ideas. Keep a notebook for jotting down great things people say or that you read. Then sit down and begin researching. Work from your central idea. Develop the steps toward your goal. Get coffee.

“Most ideas you can dopretty darn well

with a stick in the sand.”Alan Kay

25Sunday, March 6, 2011Work the idea down to its simplest, clearest form.

26Sunday, March 6, 2011Stay analog rather than digital. Use a notepad for brainstorming and then use Post-It Notes. Its quicker and more versatile than trying to work in PowerPoint. And itʼs more tactile—you can touch your ideas and move them around.

27Sunday, March 6, 2011Post-It notes are bright, theyʼre small, and they can be moved easily. Keep it simple. If you canʼt get one idea on a note itʼs probably too complicated. Find a wall and slap them up. . .

28Sunday, March 6, 2011Then begin to work in KeyNote or PowerPoint. Follow your outline and draw together the words and images.

AIDAAttention

Interest

Desire

Action

29Sunday, March 6, 2011A structure that persuasive speakers often use is this: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Grab their attention, focus the interest, create a desire for change, and provide a way to act on the desire.

Apathy Interest

Chaos Clarity

Passivity Action

30Sunday, March 6, 2011We try to move the audience from apathy to interest, from chaos to clarity, from passivity to action. And this is where the arc of the story can move people.

Beginning Middle End

31Sunday, March 6, 2011All good stories — and presentations — have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Beginning Middle End

situation complication resolution

32Sunday, March 6, 2011A simple way to describe the structure of a story is situation, complication, and resolution. (Duarte, Resonate, 29)

Beginning Middle End

situation complication resolution

what is what could be the reward

33Sunday, March 6, 2011We describe the way things are, the way they could be, and the reward at the end of the journey (Duarte, Resonate, 29). Thatʼs the basic structure. But there are two critical points that we also need to introduce.

Beginning Middle End

situation complication resolution

what is what could be the rewardgap

Call toAdventure

Call toAction

34Sunday, March 6, 2011The first is the gap between the way things are and the way they could be. Thatʼs the first turning point, the call to adventure, as Nancy Duarte calls it. And the second turning point comes after weʼve answered the objections, worked them through their resistance to change, showed the reasons to change, and arrive at the call to action.

ACTION

35Sunday, March 6, 2011This is the threshold weʼre asking our audience to cross at this second turning point. We ask them to take action. Why should they do this?

ThemInfluence

The world

36Sunday, March 6, 2011What are the benefits to them, to the people they influence, and to the world? Does it meet their basic needs? Does it provide a feeling of security? Maybe it gives them a good return on their investment of time and energy in your message. Perhaps it will strengthen their relationships with others. Identify the reward! Years ago. . .[Summer of 72 in Coventry]

“More important to culture

than social fabric is

the necessity of imagination.”

James Hillman

37Sunday, March 6, 2011

Imagining the story

Building your presentation

Designing your slides

38Sunday, March 6, 2011Having found our story and discovered our message we begin to organize it and give it a structure. As we found with stories, there is a natural flow and organization to stories that everyone recognizes, even if they canʼt always explain it.

39Sunday, March 6, 2011We look for patterns in a presentation, something that will let us know weʼre headed to a destination.

40Sunday, March 6, 2011We look for a path, a way, as we listen and compare and evaluate.

41Sunday, March 6, 2011Thatʼs why when we discover the heart of our story, the essential idea we want to get across, itʼs important to take the time to organize the flow.

Topical42Sunday, March 6, 2011

So think back to Public Speaking class when your teacher gave you some common patterns to use when organizing your presentation. The most common used in presentations is the topical approach, where you cluster similar themes under a common umbrella.

43Sunday, March 6, 2011These structures have a flow that works well in a story format. The Chronological sequence works in a time progression, either forward or backward.

Sequential

44Sunday, March 6, 2011A sequential approach works best for a process or a step-by-step sequence. . .

Spatial

45Sunday, March 6, 2011The Spatial arrangement clusters elements together as they relate in physical space. . .

46Sunday, March 6, 2011

Climatic

47Sunday, March 6, 2011Then thereʼs the climatic, which arranges elements in order of importance, usually, from least to greatest

Problem-solution

Compare-contrast

Cause-effect

Advantage-disadvantage

48Sunday, March 6, 2011Persuasive presentations often use these four which have contrast built into them.

Imagining the story

Building your presentation

Designing your slides

49Sunday, March 6, 2011Once youʼve generated your ideas, filtered out the best ones, focused the message, and organized the structure, its time to turn your words into pictures and design your slides.

Simplicity

Empty Space

Contrast

50Sunday, March 6, 2011Iʼm going to give you three design principles that will work for any presentation. Simplicity. . . the use of empty space. . . and contrast—of all different kinds. But first some facts about perception!

Fact #1

We do not attend to everything we see

51Sunday, March 6, 2011Our perception is selective. We donʼt see everything we look at. I see a sign when I drive up to Stevenson University near Baltimore. . . . On my way to work I pass by a Motel 6 with a big LED sign with 49 on it. . . . .I thought it was the temperature until one day when I knew it was 26 degrees it finally registered with me: it wasnʼt the temperature, it was the price! My brain saw the numbers and my mind filled in the rest. Sometimes we donʼt see what is there but what we want to see.

Fact #2

We see what we expect to see

52Sunday, March 6, 2011Our eyes are drawn to familiar patterns and shapes. And once we register that familiar shape our brains say, Right! Got that. . . On to the next thing. So we may miss a lot of detail because weʼre just not looking for it. Iʼll show you what I mean. . .

53Sunday, March 6, 2011A rose is a rose is a rose. . . isnʼt it? Do you see anything else here? If you look carefully thereʼs an image of a dolphin worked into the whorl of the rose.

Fact #3

Our working memory is extremely limited

54Sunday, March 6, 2011Not only do we not remember what we donʼt attend to, but in order to see something we have to look at it directly because we have only a limited number of receptors in our retinas. So what this means is that what we put up on the screen must be identifiable. It must aid our very limited working memory or itʼs no good to us.

WYSIWYG

55Sunday, March 6, 2011Remember this? What you see is what you get? It referred to the graphical user interface (GUI) that made interacting with a computer screen visually intuitive.

WYSIWYG

56Sunday, March 6, 2011What would happen if we flipped it around? Not that way?

WYSIWYG

57Sunday, March 6, 2011Not that way either!

WYGIWYS

58Sunday, March 6, 2011Thatʼs better! What you get is what you see. . . So whatever we can do to help our audiences really see and understand will make our messages stick.

Simplify

59Sunday, March 6, 2011So the first design principle I want to share with you is to simplify.

60Sunday, March 6, 2011Weʼre in a visual culture that constantly showers us with images. Cutting through the clutter helps to reduce our attention deficit, raise our interest, and step up our comprehension.

High Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

less noise more signal=

61Sunday, March 6, 2011One way to create simplicity is through the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). The goal is to have the highest signal-to-noise ratio possible. The stronger the signal the weaker the noise; the less noise the clearer the signal. Noise is anything that detracts or distorts the signal. So cut the non-essentials from the background.

0 15 30 45 60Percentages

33

15

21

41

52

2007 Obesity Rates by Country

Australia Japan Thailand Germany United States

62Sunday, March 6, 2011Hereʼs a chart with all the bells and whistles—full 3-D images, a grid of numbers, shadows, reflections, a fancy piece of work. And confusing. Lots of noise, not much signal. And this is the default option. This is what Tufte is talking about: increasing the clutter without adding to our understanding.

0 15 30 45 60

52%

41%

21%

15%

33%

2007 Obesity Rates by Country

United States

Germany

Thailand

Japan

Australia

63Sunday, March 6, 2011Weʼve simplified it by using 2-D bars, dropping the grid, highlighting the title and bringing out the numbers. A lot more signal, a lot less noise. . . But thereʼs still something confusing about this slide. What is it? Thereʼs no discernible order. It doesnʼt descend from greater to lesser nor is it alphabetical by country. We try to find a pattern that makes sense and we canʼt. And that introduces subtle noise into the slide.

0 15 30 45 60

52%

41%

21%

15%

33%

2007 Obesity Rates by Country

Japan

United States

Germany

Thailand

Australia

64Sunday, March 6, 2011Here is more clarity, more signal, less noise. We want to highlight Japanʼs low rate of obesity: why not descend from greater to lesser and bring the low rate to our attention by using color and shading to distinguish between the best and the others? High signal, lower noise. . .

Japan15 %

Lowest Obesity Rate, 2007

65Sunday, March 6, 2011Finally, if we want to emphasize Japanʼs advantage, we can highlight just the number and make that the transition into HOW and WHY Japan has such low obesity rates.

66Sunday, March 6, 2011Numbers that simply numb. Thereʼs nothing here to draw our attention, everything is of equal value and thus nothing is of value. Edward Tufte says that a table like this has everything we need—but it doesnʼt work in a slide presentation. Heʼs absolutely right! Tables are for examining, comparing, drawing inferences, taking the time we need. Up on a slide we canʼt do any of that. So. . . .

52%

67Sunday, March 6, 2011At the very least we can pop the number we want out of the background. The table becomes a visual backdrop for the number that weʼre focusing on.

52% of new office buildings

That’s 85 ‘see-throughs’

in Washington, DC are empty.

68Sunday, March 6, 2011Hereʼs an even better way. We create a visual that uses contrasts of size, shading, and color.

million$100lost annually. . .

in leases/rentals

69Sunday, March 6, 2011And as we do so we create a story by lifting the essentials out of the clutter, reducing the noise and raising the signal. Our first general principle in action — simplify.

empty space creates meaning

70Sunday, March 6, 2011Our second general principle is the use of empty space, also called negative space or white space. The urge to fill all the space on a slide with information may be overwhelming—but resist! Empty space in a design is not “nothing.” Itʼs a “something” that gives your slides elegance and power. Think of it as your conscious canvas for the imagination. The main problem with PowerPoint is that the default templates make it easy to produce death-dealing slides. Donʼt use them! Just begin with a blank slide. All weʼve got, after all, are words, numbers, and images. Three elements arranged creatively on a blank canvas.

49,415stress-relatedhospitalizations:Australia, 2001-2002

71Sunday, March 6, 2011

94%of Americanswon’t buy a car from a bankrupt automaker.

72Sunday, March 6, 2011An example of the use of white space and contrast through color. This fact is taken from Harperʼs Index, Harpers Magazine. February, 2009, 13.

“It was made by someone capable of believing that an angel might come and sit on it.”

Shaker furniture

73Sunday, March 6, 2011

reboot yourself

74Sunday, March 6, 2011

Simplicity

Empty Space

75Sunday, March 6, 2011So with two general principles in mind—simplicity and the use of empty space, letʼs turn to our last one—contrast.

Contrast

76Sunday, March 6, 2011Drawing contrasts is one of the most effective design principles we can use. We notice contrasts even when we miss details or see patterns that arenʼt there.

CONTRAST

FlowProximity

Arrangingthe Elements

Alignment

Hierarchy

77Sunday, March 6, 2011These are the major elements in slide composition and design. Weʼre focusing on contrast today. Contrast simply means difference. And we notice differences, even the smallest ones. Contrast is one of the most powerful design elements because almost anything can be contrasted with something else.

ContrastSizeShapeShadeColorProximity

78Sunday, March 6, 2011So . . . here are some of the ways we can draw contrast in our slides.

ContrastSizeShapeShadeColorProximity

79Sunday, March 6, 2011

ContrastSizeShapeShadeColorProximity

80Sunday, March 6, 2011

ContrastSizeShapeShadeColorProximity

81Sunday, March 6, 2011

ContrastSizeShapeShadeColorProximity

82Sunday, March 6, 2011

. . . . is an act of communication

. . . . a deep understanding of the person

with whom the designer is

communicating.

Garr Reynolds

Design

83Sunday, March 6, 2011And another using color, size, and shade.

Design

is about humans creating great worksthat help or improve the livesof other humans.

Garr Reynolds

84Sunday, March 6, 2011Hereʼs an example of contrast using size and shade.

85Sunday, March 6, 2011When you build your next presentation imagine yourself moving from a wide shot of all your ideas. . . .

86Sunday, March 6, 2011and then in for the closeup as you find your big idea. . .

87Sunday, March 6, 2011Or you can move from the forest. . .

88Sunday, March 6, 2011to the tree. . . .

89Sunday, March 6, 2011to the leaf.

In the hands of an honest and humble mentora presentationcan become a storythat changes people and their worlds.

90Sunday, March 6, 2011This the Big Idea I want you to carry with you today [read]. This is your canvas! What will you paint today? Thank you very much. . .

Entelechy Product ions (2011)

91Sunday, March 6, 2011

References

Reynolds, Garr (2008). PresentationZen. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.

Reynolds, Garr (2010). PresentationZen Design. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.

Duarte, Nancy (2008). Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly.

Duarte, Nancy (2010). Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Few, Stephen (2004). Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten.Oakland, CA: Analytics Press.

Reynolds, Garr (2011). The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or WithoutSlides. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.

Tufte, Edward (2001). The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.2nd ed. Cheshire, CT: The Graphics Press.

Tufte, Edward (2003). “PowerPoint is Evil” Wired Magazine, September 2009.

Whitehead, Alfred North (1929). The Aims of Education. New York: The Free Press.

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