平面設(shè)計(jì)技巧英文版-graphic-design-tips

GraphicDesignTips

forPowerPointsandOnlineCoursesSouthCarolinaStateFirefighters’AssociationDevelopedbyMargiStoneCooperOklahomaStateUniversityRevisedMay1,2012PresentationTopicsThispresentationdiscusses:TitlesforopeningscreensTextandtypographyColorsandfontsCharts,graphics,andspecialeffectsOverallformatTitleSlidesandOpeningScreensRevealthemainideaofthepresentation.Bebrief,butaccurate.Includethenameofthepresenterand/ortheorganization.Thistitleisvagueanddoesnottellwhatthepresentationisabout.Whatisgoingtobesaidaboutfirehydrants?FireHydrantsThistitleismorespecific.Theaudienceknowsexactlywhatthepresentationisabout.HowtoFlowTestaFireHydrantTextandTypographyThinkaboutthe…AmountoftextoneachslidePlacementoftextFontsizeFontstyleLetterandwordarrangementWordingandspellingInaPowerPointPresentation…Eachscreenshould:NotdistractfromthemessageBeeasytoreadBelimitedtoabout6linesof6to8wordsComparethisPowerPointscreenwiththemultimediacoursescreenonthenextpage.InanOnlineCourse…

Screensforonlinemultimediacoursescan,ofcourse,bemuchmoretext-heavythanPowerPointslides.Whendevelopingcontentforamultimediacourse,limitthenumberofwordsto150perscreen.WhetherformultimediacoursesorPowerPoints,eachscreenshouldfocusonyourmessageandbeeasytoread.Youraudienceshouldnothavetouseadictionarytounderstandyourmessage—usesimplelanguage.Also,listyourmainideaswithbulletsornumbers. Inmostcases,textshouldbesetflushleftwitha“ragged”rightmargin.Forcedjustification(wherebothoutermarginsofthetextarestraight)causesirregularwordspacing,whichmakestextdifficulttoread.Addingmorethanonespaceafterthepunctuationattheendofasentencealsocancausespacingirregularities.Inanymedia(includingaprinteddocument),limitlinelengthtonomorethanabout125characters,andkeepheadlines,subheads,andbodyfontsconsistentthroughoutthecourseorpresentation.PlacementofBulletedStatementsAlignbulletedstatementsontheleftmargin,likethis.Nevercenterbullets;itmakesthemhardtoread.Avoidsettingtextflushright,becausethisforcesthereadertohavetohuntforthebeginningofthenextline.AvoidAwkwardLineBreaksPrepositionalphrasesshouldremainononeline.Avoidbreakinghyphenatedwords.Avoid“dangling”words(or“widows”).Keepthoughtsandsubjectstogetherononeline.

GoodExamplesofBadLineBreaksProofreadyourmessagebeforesendingit.Waituntillateinthedaytochecke-mail.Neverforwardrumorsoroldwives’tales–thesecauseharmandwastetime.WordingandSpellingAvoidunintentionalmeaning: Spidershideunderleavesandbark.Watchoutfortypos,especiallythosethatareproperwords: ThePrecedentspokebeforeCongress. Usesimplelanguage:Trytheword“use”insteadof“utilize.”AvoidHugeFontsFontsthataretoolargemakethelinelengthtooshortandhurtlegibility:

Apitottubemeasuresflowpressure.

ChoosingFontStylesLimittheuseofitalicstoindividualwordsorshortphrases.Statementsinallitalicscanbedifficulttoread.Likewise,itisoftenhardtoreadartisticfonts;usethemsparingly.TypefaceSelectionAvoidmixingtypefaceswithinaword,phrase,sentence,orparagraph.Thin-stroke,seriflettersoftendon’tshowupaswellasthick-strokegothicletters.Usetypefacesconsistently.LetterCaseSENTENCESINALLCAPITALLETTERSLACKSHAPEANDCANSLOWAREADER.DON’Tusecapitallettersforemphasis.Usebothupper-andlowercaseletters.AvoidStackingLettersandWordsFireHydrantsMustBeOpenedSlowlyO H SP Y LE D ON R W A L N Y T SRotatingtexton-endispreferred.GeneralGuidelinesforUsingColorUsenomorethan5colorsperslide.Toomanycolorsmakesreadingdifficultanddistractsthefromyourmessage.Keepthecolorschemeconsistent.Donotvarycolorswithinaword.Backgroundandforegroundcolorsshouldcontrastwell.Thisslideshowsaverybaduseofcolor.

Theaudiencewillhaveadifficulttimetryingtoreadthescreenofyourcourseorpresentation.Onlyuse

differentcolorstohighlightkeypointswhen

necessary.Alternatingcolorcombinationswillmakeyouraudiencesearchforyourmainpoints.PoorColorChoicesColorinSentencesandPhrasesSomecolorsstandoutagainstabackground;somedon’t.Don’talternatecolorswithina

word.Avoid

alternating

textcolors

within

a

phrase.But,subtlychangingthecolorofakeywordorphrasecanhelpdrawattention.Backgroundvs.TextColors“Value”istherelativelightnessordarknessofacolor.Colorsmaybedifferent,buttheycanhavesimilarvalues.Choosebackgroundandtextcolorsthatcontrastinvalue.ExamplesofPoorContrast

Redandgreendonotcontrastwell;thesecolorstendto“reverberate.”

Redandroyalbluedonotcontrastwellbecausetheyaresimilarinvalue. Darkcolorssuchasblackagainstdarkbluealsodonotproducegoodcontrast.GoodColorContrastWhiteandBlueRedandWhitePeriodicallystepbackfromthecomputertoensureyoucanreadyourscreenswithoutstraining.Remember,ifyou’recreatingslidesthatwillbeprojected,overheadlightsareusuallydimmed,butmeetingroomsareseldomverydark,whichmakesgoodcontrastespeciallyimportant.BlackandWhiteYellowandBlueBlackandYellowGreenandWhiteDarkonLight?OrViceVersa?

Therearenohardandfastrulesfordesigningtheoveralllookandfeelofanonlinemoduleorcourse.Acoupleofdecadesagowhenmultimediacourseswerefirstdeveloped,designersoverwhelminglychoselight-coloredfontsondarkbackgrounds.Backthen,itwasthoughtwasthatlightbackgroundsanddarktypewouldcauseeyestrain,muchliketryingtoreadtheprintingonalitlightbulbforhoursonend.Butyearsofexperiencehastoldusthatisnotthecase. Nowadays,manydesignerschoosedarkbackgroundstoincreasetheenergyefficiencyofthecomputerdisplay,sinceinrequiresmorepowertoprojectawhitescreenanditproducesmoreheat.Whileenergy-consciousdesignersmayadvocatethat“blackisthenewgreen,”thefactisthatitdependsonthedeviceyourusing.Forexample,withnewliquid-crystaldisplays,whitescreenstendtoconsumelessenergythanblackscreens. TheBottomline?Makesurethere’splentyofcontrastbetweenyourbackgroundandtextandyou’llbefine.Avoid“Busy”BackgroundsHeavilytexturedandgeometricbackgroundscanobscurethetext.Useminimaltexturesandbackgrounddesigns.Photosmaybeusedwithcare.Useplainbackgroundswhencarefulreadingisrequired.Considerplacingtextinacolorboxifyoumustuseaphotographasabackground.Somephotobackgrounds

canobscuretext.UsingChartsandGraphicsIncludeenoughinformationsoyouraudienceunderstandsthechart.Avoidoverloadingachartwithinformation.Usegraphicsthatarerelevanttothetopicbeingpresented.Avoidusingpoorqualitygraphicsorfillerart.AdequatelyLabelGraphics

Thisgraphiscleanandsimple.Butisitadequatelylabeledtoconveythemeaning? (No,ofcourse.)Avoid“InformationOverload”

Thebarsonthisgraphareimpossibletodistinguish.

Again,thisgraphisnotclearlylabeled.UseRelevantGraphicsAnnualReporttotheExecutiveBoardJanuary2013Theabovegraphicdoesnottieinwiththesubject.OverallFormatLimittheuseofspecialeffects.Formatthepresentationwiththeaudienceandthesubjectinmind.Beconsistentwiththedesign.LearnhowtotakeadvantageofthepowerfulgraphicdesigncapabilitiesofPowerPoint!Usespecialeffectsonlywhenappropriate.Specialeffects