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Slide Design Primer...The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
"Whatever the subject matter, certain principles govern the
selection or production of materials that will communicate effectively"
- The Encyclopaedia of Photography.
The most important considerations are the following:
Relevancy
- The image must be related directly to the matter being covered at
the moment.
- An audience cannot grasp aural information and puzzle out the
significance of visual material simultaneously.
- A blank screen is preferable to one with an image of only margin
importance.
Simplicity
- Too much information at one time overloads the audience's ability to
understand.
- Aural and visual material must make the same point simultaneously,
not different points.
- In written visual material, five lines of reading matter is the
maximum. Lists and tables of greater length should have the key items
highlighted, or otherwise made distinctive.
- Pictorial elements also require simplicity, both in number of
elements and in tonality or colour.
Clarity
- Shape, colour and size all affect visibility, or legibility.
- Bold, regular shapes (e.g. sans-serif letters; stylised shapes in
diagrams) that contrast well with the background can be seen at a good
distance if they are large enough.
- Standard guidelines call for a projected area height no smaller than
12.5% the maximum viewing distance and a projected element or letter
height no smaller than 4% the height of the projected area.
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