When you’re making lofty statements about serious topics, ya better make darn sure your slides are backing you up.
Before
Problem 1: No. Just…no.
This slide presents the ideas of a sacred trust and the destruction the entire workplace from the workers to the business itself. But visually it’s just another bullet-point slide.
Problem 2: Clipart
The “jobs in the shredder” graphic has practically nothing to do with the text. As an image, it’s undramatic and cartoonish.
Problem 3: Too much text
The overly wordy title runs beyond the background graphic, rendering it partially illegible. The title also touches on two big ideas; ideally, we should be presenting just one idea per slide.
After
Solution 1: Better colors and typography
To give the sense that a bad manager can be very destructive, I used the color red in the design. Red connotes heat and rage! The words “any” and “DESTROY” are called out in a contrasting gold color, which calls attention to them.
Solution 2: Added photo
There is no question that this guy is angry! He’s aggressively stabbing his finger at us yelling in our faces. Yikes! This photo of an angry manager really gets the audience thinking about bad bosses they may have had.
Solution 3: Split into multiple slides and added animation
The first slide is all about destruction. The things the bad manager can destroy appear one after the other, each in its own shape. Notice that I haven’t changed the bullet text itself, just the way it’s shown. I used the Fracture transition to show the damage he’s caused. The final slide, in a serene aqua tone, appears with the Ripple transition, signifying the opposite of destruction and allowing the presenter to make a contrast between the two ideas.
In conclusion…
Dramatic text calls for dramatic slide design. Go big or go home!
[button link=”https://www.lauramfoley.com/gallery-2/” color=”orange” target=”_self” size=”small” title=”Back to Gallery”]Back to Gallery[/button]
[divider style=”shadow”]
Submit your own slide for a Makeover!
If you subscribe to the Cheating Death by PowerPoint newsletter you can receive a free Slide makeover! Here’s the deal: In exchange for permission to use your slide in the newsletter and on this website for promotional purposes, you’ll get the redesigned PowerPoint slide file to use in any way you like. So not only do you get access to a step-by-step video on how the slide was redesigned and the source file, you learn the reasons behind all of the changes!
You’ll also get a free eBook, Cheating Death by PowerPoint: Essential PowerPoint Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices, which includes loads of advice on how to improve the way you work with PowerPoint!
[button link=”https://list.robly.com/subscribe?a=c4115aa351a8e513f6e3b7af8ffaf943″ color=”default” target=”_blank” size=”small”]Subscribe to the Cheating Death by PowerPoint newsletter[/button]
[divider style=”shadow”]
[button link=”#top” color=”gray” target=”_self” size=”small” title=”Back to top”]Back to top[/button]