Design Tips and Techniques

• Font Styles — There are two (2) types of fonts — Serifs and sans serifs. Serif fonts are often used in publications and printed material, while sans serif fonts are used for visual presentation.
• Font Size — Always consider your area of presentation and if possible, conduct an ocular visit of the place. A font size of at least 28 is often considered the minimum, but a good way to check is by backing away from your monitor at least four (4) feet away. If it can be read, then your font size is large enough.
• Number of lines and text — Text in presentations should be chosen carefully. Only include key terms/phrases that you want to highlight. NEVER LIFT FROM YOUR MANUSCRIPT. Follow the 7x7 rule.
• Emphasis in text — When presenting, animations should be avoided. If you need to emphasize something, you can make it bold, italicized, underlined, or of a different font color. DO NOT COMBINE EMPHASIS TECHNIQUES.
• Images — Only use images that are relevant to the study. Avoid "aesthetic" or irrelevant images. An image should communicate one (1) idea per slide. Always choose SVG files over bitmap, bitmap over PNG, and PNG over JPEG. Scale photos so that their proportions are not distorted
• Graphs and data - NEVER INCLUDE RAW DATA IN PRESENTATIONS. Present summaries, visualizations (graphs, etc), or consider carefully if they need to see this data at all.