When it comes to presentation design, the more slides, the better. If you are accustomed to designing decks with only 10, 15, or 20 slides, it is time to step up your game in regards to slide count. Modern presentation audiences demand engaging presentations. Old school, Death By PowerPoint presentations will not be tolerated by most audiences these days. A high slide count is one of the most powerful tools presenters can wield to keep audience members awake and attentive.
Why? Decks with an increased number of slides also have an increased volume of visuals. In addition, presentation decks with a lot of slides more effectively break complex ideas into smaller, more digestible chunks of information, compared to similar decks with fewer slides. Audiences love, and expect modern presentations to be both visually interesting, as well as a relatively effortless learning experience.
If you’re new to the idea of the more slides, the better, let me blow your mind: The deck below (created to promote the book How to Be A Presentation God) is 57 slides, and can easily be presented in only 2 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly: 57 slides in 2 minutes! Trust us, audiences prefer this style of slide-intensive presentation design.
Now that we have established the importance of a high slide count, here’s the catch: Presentations with a high slide count are a lot of work. For the audience, every slide is a reflection of your credibility, as well as an indicator of the validity of your ideas. Thus, every slide needs to be impeccably designed.
Consistency in theme, style, and color scheme is important for all decks, however the more slides you present, the more valuable consistency becomes.
To get you moving towards a cohesive deck, here’s an insider secret to help you Design A Presentation with A Consistent Color Scheme:
To design with a unified color scheme, start by visiting Adobe Color CC; it is one of the best tools available for presentation designers when selecting color schemes. Both a web-based tool and a free app, Adobe Color CC allows you to explore and create infinite color schemes.
With the Adobe Color CC app, you can use photos on your mobile device to generate unique color schemes. Using the colors in your photos, this powerful tool translates color inspiration you find in your everyday life into RGB and Hex values that you can save and use on your computer immediately, or at a later time.
The web-based version of Color CC gives you the ability to create custom color schemes based on selectable elements of color theory (Analogous, Monochromatic, Triad, Complementary, Compound, and Shades).
This feature is useful when you have one or two colors that you know you want, or need to use. With the color theory feature, you can explore other colors to compliment your previously selected colors.
In addition, another one of our favorite features of Color CC is the Explore page. Explore allows you to view color schemes created by designers around the world. To access a variety of inspiration sources, utilize all of the search filter categories: most popular, most used, or random.
The search results available via the Explore page are great visual references as you try to determine the impact of color schemes in general, as well as how specific color schemes might work with your project.
In addition, the Explore resources can provide valuable inspiration if you’re at a complete loss for color preferences, or you’re simply not skilled at choosing color schemes.
The colors schemes on the Explore page are all named based on the inspiration for the scheme. Use this to your advantage. For example, if you’re doing a presentation on the medical industry, try searching medical to generate a list of suggested medical color schemes. Since anyone with Color CC can contribute to this ever growing library of colors, you’re almost sure to find some color inspiration for whatever your presentation is about.
Now that you have a powerful color resource at your disposal…
Continue mastering color scheme for presentation design by checking out these resources:
Color Rules for Presentation Design
Why You Need to Change Your Color Scheme — Now
Color Theory Basics for Presentation Design
How to Use Color Wisely in Presentations
For additional tips on designing a presentation that is compelling and cohesive from beginning to end, check out these insightful resources:
Design Philosophies From the Masters
Slide Makeovers: Presentation Design Lessons from Real Slides
6 Presentation Design Dos and Don’ts
No Excuse For Poor Presentation Design: 19 Simple Tips
