The preparation of a presentation's visuals is work of design, and unless a scientist has some basic knowledge in the discipline of graphic design, he or she should not prepare visuals. Now, the ruling culture of Powerpoint forces most presenters to prepare a "presentation", so it would be unreasonable to ask scientist not to prepare slides for their presentations. What I'm asking is that you prepare your visuals with a basic element of graphic design taste. Bullet point list are to presentation visuals, what junk food is to a person's diet.
Take a look a this presentation I found at slideshare.net
and compare it to this one I also found at slideshare.net
Do I get my point across? You need to think like a designer when preparing your presentation slides.
So where to start on the discipline of graphic design? If I were to discuss the three more pressing issues that scientist should focus their attention on, I would suggest
- White Space (also known as negative space)
- Color theory
I would also recommend Robin Williams' book (the graphic designer, not the actor) The Non-Designer's Design Book. It is just what the title says. It won't turn you into a graphical designer, but will change the way you look at a page.