What is an effective PowerPoint template? In this session we will be covering topics that run the gamut of the design process, from understanding your users wants, to best executing aesthetic choices effectively in PowerPoint. From color themes to complete template systems, we will walk through several high-level topics to ensure that your templates are fully utilized and adopted successfully.

• Theme, template, and guidelines, oh my!
• Understanding your users
• Migrating the legacy

As the world is increasingly obsessed with data, we will look at some of the creative possibilities of charting within the presentation space with a touch of Storytelling. We will also dig into the elements that delineate a chart from a graphic and their effectiveness given the right context.

Stylize graphs to maximize their impact using design fundamentals and imply visual meaning while maintaining maximum editability.

• Deeper stylization capabilities using charts in PPT
• Graph visual styles effective at communicating information

Business people who are taught PowerPoint/Keynote skills rarely look at the beautiful world of typography, with all of it’s history and influence. As graphic designers we adore type and recognize that it can make or break the effectiveness of a communication piece.

Standard typographic features such as leading and kerning are staples to InDesign, but how do we use them in programs like PowerPoint? And what new typographic opportunities (and challenges) might we have to think about when the typography moves? How can we create builds that integrate with type to engage audiences and peak their interests?

During this session we’ll look at all the controls, and share some ideas to boost your signal when presenting content with type, including:

• Learn how to adjust type for improved legibility
• Create emphasis and order without defaulting to bullets
• Integrating with themes in your presentation
• Use slide master’s parent type format to improve design for common users
• Awesome use-cases to introduce typography in presentation design
• Making type move for visual impact

Have you ever attended a massive keynote at an Adobe event and wonder what went into designing the graphics for that 200 foot wide screen? Curious about what makes presentations so different from other areas of design? This session will cover that and much more.

We will take a walk through all that is presentation design, and assess the stigma that surrounds this field. We will cover fundamentals and building blocks of successful working relationships with content writers, and how to overcome hurdles in the design process whether it be for a large keynote or a small intimate audience.

This session will focus on finding the Zen of Presentations and leave you with a new perspective on this area of design.

• Effective storytelling… even when the story isn’t sexy
• Working with event branding and carrying a consistent visual style
• Understanding multi-screen situations and how they relate to smaller single screen scenarios.
• Quick tips on image selection, type scale, color, and patterns