“Who knows PowerPoint?” is a question that will often lead to Designers scurrying under their desks. Powerpoint is not considered a serious design tool and when asked to use it, it’s like using stone knives and bearskins compared to the more precise, evolved tools that we’re accustomed to. While I look forward to the day when we move beyond PowerPoint, the fact of the matter is it is still the chosen tool of corporate presentations and a needed skill-set for any creative. I’ve created dozens of PowerPoint presentations for clients over the years and they’re generally a difficult task. A lot of back & forth and they generally come with late nights prior to a big presentation to stakeholders.
For this particular task, I was asked to create a template that an entire department could easily use on their own but provide enough flexibility and customization to distinguish the content of different department of an In-house Marcom group. Important considerations are using the limited cross-compatible fonts that Windows users have access to and using features like master slides, sections, automated page numbering and table of contents features. The files have to be editable and use native effects. I settled on the font “Segoe UI” which has a clean cut reminiscent of Arial but with a bit more personality and enough weights to create some hierarchy. I used a triangular pixel mosaic pattern which I thought was appropriate for a tech-driven content but abstract enough to not feel too canned. In the end, my ambitions were noble, but I learned you can give a non-designer the tools … but you still can’t teach them fundamental design!
- Presentation Graphics