Skills A Presentation Designer Must Have
This article will give you a run-down of the 5 essential skills a PowerPoint designer must possess and how crucial they are to creating winning business presentations.
What does a Presentation Designer do?
A presentation designer works closely with a project manager to craft clear and compelling presentations that use visual storytelling to educate, persuade, entertain, and inform audiences about their client’s products and services.
Here are 5 non-negotiable skills presentation designers must have are:
1. They master the art of using images
Most presentation designers understand that they need to design the content around the images. Images help tell a story.
Images are used in many ways within a presentation — from helping to explain complex information to showing off a product to creating a mood or emotional response. In the latter case, designers will often use images of real people and animals because they are easy to relate to and draw our attention. Sometimes, using an image will get your audience to focus on a point and not forget what it was that you wanted them to remember after the presentation.
However, many designers limit themselves by making decisions about what images to include in a presentation based solely on their own creative ideas, without considering how these ideas impact the audience.
It is important to use images that relate to the content of the presentation. While images need to communicate specific messages to your audience, they should not take over the entire experience.
2. They understand the importance of typography and colour
Typography and colour are two of the most important parts of any PowerPoint presentation. Typography is like the spoken word — it’s what’s called a “universal language” of sorts.
On a very basic level, typography is simply text. Typography is a powerful tool because it allows you to convey meaning quickly and effectively. A good presentation designer will consider multiple factors, including typefaces, text sizes, colours, and layout, to develop a visual hierarchy that matches the brand message. They will also consider the emotional impact the typography has on the viewer, including readability and accessibility.
Colour, on the other hand, can make or break a presentation. It can either draw attention to a point you want to emphasize, or it can distract from it.
Great presentation designers use colour to tell stories and evoke emotions in the audience. They use colour to highlight key elements of the message and to give the audience visual cues about what’s going on. Colour can also be used to enhance the experience. For example, adding a blue background or using light pink highlights can make the text seem more readable, and make it easier to navigate the page. Colour can also be used to change moods. When creating a presentation, it’s important to be conscious of how colour impacts the audience. If you know your audience well, you can tailor the colour choices you make to meet their needs and preferences — even while strictly abiding to brand guidelines!