Designing Presentations According to Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles

In the late 1970s, distracted by what he called a world characterized by “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colors and noises,” Dieter Rams asked himself a thoughtful question: “Is my design good design?” In an effort to create a framework in which to answer that question, the famed industrialist designer compiled a list of what he considered the most important principles of design.

Rams’ ten principles serve as great guidelines to follow when designing a presentation, as they are closely related to the Functionalist school of design, which champions the idea that design should be based on the purpose of the object. Here’s how we can apply his ten design principles to presentations.

Good Design Is Innovative––

Think outside the box when you’re designing a presentation. Think about how you can break the mold and move outside your comfort zone, challenging norms and expectations. Be innovative and creative. Offer your audience something they haven’t seen before.

Good Design Makes a Product Useful

“Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product while disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it,” Rams said–– which is precisely how we should approach designing presentations. All design should exist for a specific reason within your presentation, and no part of the design should distract from the overall look and feel.

Good Design Is Aesthetic

Your presentation’s design should be beautiful. It should be attractive and it should be memorable, hopefully leaving an impression on your audience long after you are done presenting.

Good Design Makes A Product Understandable

This is particularly important for presenters. Your presentation’s design should reinforce the meaning of the content within the presentation itself. It should aid in the audience’s ability to take in and understand the content, because at the end of the day, your message is the most important thing.

Good Design Is Unobtrusive

Don’t assault your audience’s eye with a slide full of bullet points and text. Make the design as understated and minimal as possible. People respond well to simple, clean design, and such design innately reveals what content is most important. Don’t make your audience think.

Good Design Is Honest

This principle is important to consider when creating infographics and disseminating data and statistics. Ensure that your depiction of numerical information is accurate and honest.  Don’t mislead your audience by distorting figures in your presentation. Be transparent and straightforward in how you design infographics, graphs and charts.

Good Design Is Long-lasting

Avoid design elements that are trendy and fashionable. Those tend to come with a lot of bells and whistles. Stick with the tried and true. And as always, less is more.

Good Design Is Thorough Down to the Last Detail

“Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance.” Well said, Mr. Rams. Make sure everything that you’ve chosen to include in the design of your presentation is there for a reason, a specific purpose.

Good Design Is Environmentally Friendly

While this doesn’t apply specifically to the design of presentations, it’s always important to be mindful of environmental concerns. You don’t want to alienate your audience by printing out 100 copies of your deck for them… they might see that as unnecessary.

Good Design Is as Little Design as Possible

“Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.” Simplicity is key. Minimalism is best. If it doesn’t need to be there, take it out.
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