1. PRESENTATION DESIGN
CRASH
COURSEthe beginner’s guide to creating beautiful,
impactful and thoughtful presentations.

2. HI!
I WRITE ABOUT MARKETING/BRANDING FOR HONIGMAN
MEDIA AND IDEON
AND TEACH DIGITAL MARKETING AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY
I’M JOE
GELMAN

3. STORYTELLING RHETORIC DESIGN
1 2 3
3 ELEMENTS OF GREAT PRESENTATIONS

4. STORYTELLING
1

5. STORIES
HUMAN BEINGS ARE NATURALLY RECEPTIVE TO

6. GREAT STORY
FROM A YOUNG AGE, WE LOVE A

7. HARDWIRED
THE HUMAN BRAIN IS
TO CRAVE STORIES
read the article →

8. “SHARED
FICTIONS
“HUMANITY’S ASTOUNDING ABILITY TO
COOPERATE IS DUE TO OUR ABILITY TO BELIEVE IN
watch the talk →
– Dr. Yuval Harari

9. IN THE REAL-WORLD THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS…
MONEY BORDERS LAWS

10. IN THE REAL-WORLD THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS…
MONEY BORDERS LAWS
THE STORIES
WE TELL OURSELVES LIE AT THE HEART
OF OUR SHARED IDENTITIES

11. IF IDEAS ARE LIKE VIRUSES
STORIES ARE HOW WE MAKE THEM
CONTAGIOUS

12. ALL MARKETERS ARE
STORYTELLERS
buy the book →
…
IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THEN THAT

13. ALL GREAT BRANDS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN
GREAT STORIES

14. GREAT PRESENTATION SKILLS CAN HELP
TELL YOUR STORY

15. HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR STORIES
MORE EFFECTIVE?

16. YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR
SHAPE

17. “BASIC
SHAPES
“ALL GREAT STORIES THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF
WRITING HAVE ALL SHARED ROUGHLY THE SAME
watch the talk →
–Kurt Vonnegut

18. START END
GOOD
BAD
Recognize this story?

19. SIMILARLY, GREAT PRESENTATIONS ARE
MADE BY JUXTAPOSING
GOOD vs. BAD

20. “ALL GREAT
PRESENTATIONS
SHARE
“AFTER LOOKING AT HUNDREDS OF
PRESENTATIONS I FOUND THE SAME BASIC SHAPE
watch the talk →
–Nancy Duarte

21. PROGRESS IS RELATIVE…

22. COMPARE THE WORLD AS IT IS
WITH WHAT IT COULD BE

23. I LOOKED AT A LIST OF THE MOST FAMOUS
FIRST LINES IN LITERATURE AND FOUND
THAT GREAT AUTHORS
DO THIS TOO!

24. “All happy families are alike; each unhappy
family is unhappy in its own way.”
– ANNA KARENINA
leo tolstoy

25. “It was a bright, cold day in April, and the
clocks were striking thirteen.”
– 1984
george orwell

26. THIS CONTRAST WILL MAKE
YOUR MISSION CONVINCING

27. 2RHETORIC

28. “The purpose of design is to
Inform and Delight”
–Milton Glaser

29. “The purpose of presentation design is to
Inform, Delight & Persuade”

30. RHETORICAL TRIANGLE
ARISTOTLE DEVISED A SYSTEM CALLED THE

31. RHETORICAL TRIANGLE
PATHOS
LOGOSETHOS

32. RHETORICAL TRIANGLE
EMOTION
LOGICTRUST

33. GREAT PRESENTATIONS NEED
ALL THREE OF THESE ELEMENTS
TO BE THROUGHLY CONVINCING

34. Would this ad make you
want a Big Mac?

35. LOGIC ALONE WILL NEVER
CONVINCE ANYONE!

36. IF IT DID, NO ONE
WOULD SMOKE

37. THE TRUTH OF THE RHETORICAL
TRIANGLE IS WHY ANTI-SMOKE
ADS LOOK LIKE THIS

38. • BULLETS
• KILL
• ATTENTION

39. NOT JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE
VISUALLY UNEXCITING…

40. …BUT ALSO BECAUSE THEY
MISS 2/3 KEY APPEALS

41. GREAT STORYTELLING WILL
APPEAL TO EMOTION

42. AND GREAT DESIGN WILL
CONVEY TRUST

43. 3DESIGN

44. FIRST THINGS FIRST, LET’S
COVER THE BASICS

45. COMPOSITION

46. NOTICE THE POINTS OF INTEREST
WHERE THE LINES INTERSECT
The Last Supper Leonardo DaVinci

47. THIS FRAMEWORK IS CALLED THE RULE OF THIRDS
AND IT’S A GREAT WAY TO MAP OUT YOUR SLIDES

48. LOOK! I PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH!

49. MULTIPLY THE IMPACT OF YOUR POINTS OF INTEREST, BY GIVING THEM
PLENTY OF BREATHING ROOM

50. MULTIPLY THE IMPACT OF YOUR POINTS OF INTEREST, BY GIVING THEM
PLENTY OF BREATHING ROOM
ALL THESE UNOCCUPIED SQUARES
THIS IS REFERRED TO AS
NEGATIVE SPACE

51. COLOR

52. THIS IS THE COLOR WHEEL.
IT’S A CONVENIENT WAY
FOR ARTISTS AND
DESIGNERS TO DIAGRAM
THE RELATIONSHIPS OF
COLORS AND TO IDENTIFY
HARMONIOUS PAIRINGS
Fun Fact: The color wheel was first
introduced by Isaac Newton in 1672
THE COLOR WHEEL

53. ANALOGOUS

54. THIS WORKS

55. COMPLEMENTARY

56. THIS WORKS

57. IN FACT, I USED A COMPLIMENTARY COLOR SCHEME FOR THIS PRESENTATION

58. CONTRAST

59. AS VISUAL CREATURES, HUMAN BEINGS ARE
PATTERN-RECOGNITION MACHINES

60. SO WHEN A PATTERN IS BROKEN WE TAKE NOTICE:
IT STANDS OUT BETTER

61. THE MORE WAYS YOU CAN CONTRAST
THE BIGGER THE IMPACT WILL BE

62. THE DUTCH MASTER
JOHANNES VERMEER
INTUITIVELY UNDERSTOOD
THE POWER OF
CONTRAST.
JUST LOOK AT THE DRAMA
THE INTENSE LIGHTING OF
THE FACE ACHIEVES BY
BEING SET AGAINST A
DARK BACKGROUND

63. I RAN A PHOTOSHOP
FILTER THAT
AVERAGED THE
COLORS AND IT’S
CLEAR JUST HOW
BRIGHT THE FACE IS.

64. BUT LOOK AT HOW
MUCH DARKER THIS
COLOR LOOKS IN
ISOLATION.
THE CONTRAST OF
THE BACKGROUND IS
WHAT MADE IT
IMPACTFUL.
Looks much darker now, no?

65. TYPOGRAPHY

66. Serif

67. Sans Serif

68. QUALITY SERIFS
Times New Roman
Bodoni
Georgia
Garamond

69. QUALITY SANS SERIFS
Avenir
Futura
Helvetica
Gill Sans

70. Garamond 60pt goes great with Helvetica. Since
Helvetica is very rigid and Garamond is
calligraphic the contrast works nicely. Notice
how neither one distracts from the other; instead
the two fonts complement each other
wonderfully.
HELVETICA 120pt

71. Once you’ve set your type using a harmonious
grouping of timeless fonts, accentuating this
contrast with a nice complimentary color
scheme simply sets your work over the top.
HELVETICA 120pt

72. YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED THAT I DIDN’T USE
THE TYPEFACES I RECOMMENDED

73. NEUE HAAS UNICA
Iowan Old Style
IN CASE YOU WERE CURIOUS, HERE ARE THE
TYPEFACES I ACTUALLY USED

74. “Learn the rules like a professional, so
you can break them like an artist.”
–Pablo Picasso

75. SIMPLICITYSIMPLICITYSIMPLICITY

76. MOST CRAPPY SLIDES SUCCUMB TO
DATA OVERLOAD

77. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO DATA VISUALIZATION
STRIP ALL UNNECESSARY DETAIL

78. “The best design is as little
design as possible.”
–Dieter Rams

79. FOR TEXT, FOLLOW GUY KAWASAKI’S
6/60 RULE

80. NO MORE THAN SIX WORDS PER SLIDE
NO LOWER THAN 60 POINT FONT*
*I only broke this rule because I’m not giving the talk in person. Again,
break rules only once you know ‘em well.

81. WHEN IN DOUBT
TAKE IT OUT!

82. LOOK AT HOW DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED THIS SLIDE WAS
ONCE IT WAS SIMPLIFIED
SOURCE: Presentation Zen Garr Reynolds

83. Follow Write Me Connect
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