Strengths
Large Visuals, Little Text
The foremost strength of Blog Growth’s deck “How to Build Your Brand Like a Pro” is their consistent use of large visuals and minimal text. They use large images throughout the deck that covey their main points masterfully. These are the kinds of decks that are truly revolutionizing the typical Death by PowerPoint presentation.
We also like how they delegate text to one slide, and then immediately follow it with a corresponding image that supports that text. The images get the point across without being too serious or literal. And one of our designers points out: “Incorporating humor, metaphors, and culturally well-know subjects into the imagery helps the deck seem relatable and interesting from slide to slide.”
The images Blog Growth chose relate to the text very well, but one of our designers points out that the images don’t have a similar style, so they look somewhat generic and stocky. Check out this blog post for some tips on how to avoid the stocky look.
Type Choice
We liked Blog Growth’s choice of fonts in the deck, and they did well to stick to using the same couple of fonts throughout. The fonts add personality and lightheartedness to the deck. They did a good job using blue as an accent color for the type, helping the viewer know where to look and what is the most important information on the slide.
One of our designers thinks the use of the two heavy, decorative fonts is a little overwhelming and would have recommended using a thinner weight serif font. With that said, we do admire the juxtaposition between serif and san serif font throughout the deck. Overall, they compliment each other nicely.
Weaknesses
Organization
While we like the deck’s brevity and narrow focus, it could have benefitted from a better organization. The way it’s organized now is a little haphazard and it lacks consistency. There are only two main objectives, Brand Makes You and Build Your Brand, which lends imbalance to the deck. We recommend sticking with the rule of threes when it comes to organizing your presentation. People naturally default to organizing in threes; audiences are more likely to remember things divided into a set of three.
Also, there is a big difference between the number of points within each objective (there are 2 points in Brand Makes You whereas there are 9 points in Build Your Brand). Such inconsistency is acceptable at times, but the imbalance is so large in this deck that it’s noticeable and therefore, distracting.
Concluding Slide
Blog Growth stealthily avoided Death by PowerPoint throughout this deck, championing a clean, articulate style, until… the last slide of the deck. Slide 39 of 39 is a classic Death by PowerPoint slide with the 3D text reading Blog Growth a typical PowerPoint eyesore.
The entire concluding slide needs a redesign (“contents” isn’t a word). Give your audience a final, concluding slide that’s the best design you can come up with. End on a high note; don’t leave your audience with a bad taste in their mouths.
In Summation
Overall, Blog Growth’s deck is very strong. Their use of appropriate, large visuals and pithy yet minimal text is excellent. It’s an attractive deck–– easy to click through, and visually appealing. Most importantly, and despite our reservations about its organization, Blog Growth’s presentation offers a wealth of useful information quickly and succinctly.
