Strengths
Slides That Rock took the existing deck “How to Pitch a VC,” originally designed by Dave McClure, and improved upon it greatly. The first thing that caught our eye about the redesign was the color scheme. We really like the blue, black and white color combination, and we think they did an excellent job mixing up the use of color throughout the deck. The white type on a blue background made the headers jump out at the viewer, and overall the use of color kept the deck interesting.
We also liked how Slides That Rock used iconography. They did a great job of finding icons that fit their points, and the use of icons keeps the design simple while still getting across the main points effectively.
Consistency
A notable strength of this deck is how consistent it is throughout. The color scheme is used in a consistent way, as is the iconography. What really impressed our designers is how each slide managed to remain visually interesting from one to the next amidst such a high level of consistency. Channel the approach Slides That Rock used when creating a presentation: slides of similar nature (objective, supporting, visual, etc.) should all look similar.
Content
Content is certainly a strength of this deck, which is a compliment to Dave McClure, who originally created this deck, and to Slides That Rock for organizing it well in the redesign. The presentation has one purpose– to help those looking to raise money for a startup create an effective presentation– and it achieves that purpose masterfully. The ten-slide approach is a good one; it’s easy to follow, easy to understand and easy to implement.
Weaknesses
Color
Overall, we love the color scheme of the deck, but we also have a few bones to pick with the way its used. Many times, the light blue color is used to accent seemingly random spots (see slide 5’s quotation marks, slide 9’s The Problem and the exclamation point in the slide featured in this blog post). This falls under the umbrella of minor complaints, but an accent color should used be to draw the eye’s attention. Accenting something superfluous or not obviously important is misleading to the viewer. Do your best to keep the use of accent colors special and noteworthy. Don’t use them randomly or excessively.
In Summation
Slides That Rock did an awesome job redesigning Dave McClure’s ‘How to Pitch a VC’ deck. They made it infinitely cleaner, simpler and more beautiful. The iconography and color scheme work wonders on the eye, and most importantly, the content comes across crystal clear, which is the most important achievement for any presentation design.
