Presentation Zen이라는 멋진 책을 쓴 Garr라는 친구가 있습니다. 긴이름은 Garr Reynolds입니다. 이친구는 프리젠테이션 디자인을 연구하는 커뮤니케이터인데, 오늘 그의 블로그에서 세계적인 가구 용품 체인 IKEA의 빌보드에서 배우는 프리젠테이션 디자인 기법이라는 포스팅을 발견했습니다.
멋진 insight들 하나 하나 잘 기억하고 익혀서 우리 AE들이 만든 CK Quality PPT를 새로 구경해 보았으면 합니다. 폰트나 철자 그리고 색감조정에 혼신(?)의 힘을 들이지 않기를 기원하면서... :)
8 lessons from standing outside an IKEA store
Below are eight things you can takeaway from the billboards shown above and apply to your next presentation project. (The sample slides are from my slide library; click for a larger size.)
(1) Make it visual.
Slides
are visual aids, not "text aids," right? Again, it must be noticed (we
notice compelling visuals), understood, and remembered (we remember
images). We are visual beings. You do not have to use slides, but *if*
you do, make them highly visual. And remember brain rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses. (See the book Brain Rules.)
(2) One slide, one point.
IKEA does not try to cram many products into a sign or give a lot of
information about that product in a sign, though there is plenty of
space to do that if they wanted to. Instead they feature a single item
at a large size — it gets noticed, read, and remembered. For
presentations, "one slide, one point" is a good general principle to follow. Don't be afraid to tell your visual story over many frames.
(3) Make type big.
As designer Robin Williams
says, "Don't be a wimp!" People are indeed too wimpy when it comes to
text on a slide. Have some grapes! The type on the IKEA building, for
example, is enormous and the billboards too feature bold type that
sticks out. Display type should get attention and get the point across.
Big gets noticed and read, and big makes for easy contrast with small,
aiding in guiding the viewers eye. Kerning becomes an issue with text
at larger sizes because the spacing that worked automatically at 12
point may be unbalanced at a much larger point size, but
since you are not using so many words at the larger size, adjusting a
few letter pairs here and there (such as WA, etc.) will not be such a
big deal. Also, the size of symbols can be adjusted at larger sizes
(e.g., $, ¥, &, #, %, etc.). Notice how the "¥" mark on the IKEA
signs is reduced in size to fit more harmoniously with the numbers. The
monetary symbol can still be seen perfectly fine, but it would be
overpowering if the yen mark and numbers were of the same point size;
the "¥" would be unnecessarily large. A minor thing, yes, but it all
adds up. Display type and body type are different.
(4) Contrast rules!
Contrast is perhaps the most important principle of all. You can
achieve contrast in many ways, size (big/small) space (near/far), and
color (light/dark, warm/cool), etc. IKEA achieves great contrast with
color by using a vivid warm color which comes at you (yellow) and a
cool color for background (dark blue) on the side of their gigantic
building. White and black (the greatest color contrast) is also often
used in the IKEA billboards. Although I do not recommend the IKEA brand
color scheme (unless you work for IKEA or one of the Swedish Olympic
teams), IKEA graphics make good use of contrast.
(5) Don't be afraid to bleed.
The product images displayed on IKEA signs bleed off the edge. That is,
part of the image does not appear or "fit" in the frame. The frame
(billboard or slide, etc.) seems bigger and more engaging when an image
is bled over the edge such as those pictured above, as if the entire
image is too big to fit. This is a common effect but ignored by many
presenters who are careful to keep every element within the slide
frame. Bleeding off the edge can make the images seem larger while at
the same time leaving more empty space on the canvas, giving more
clarity to the overall visual and plenty of breathing room for another
element.
(6) Rule of Thirds.
The rule of thirds is a good general principle to follow for arranging elements on your canvas (slide). The IKEA
samples above do not follow it rigidly — it is only a general principle
— but each billboard has plenty of empty space and clear design
priorities. Usually the eye is drawn to the large image first and then
the large display text (although personally I think my eye goes to the
type first, but I'm oddly attracted to fat and clean sans-serif
typefaces). There are many more examples of the rule of thirds applied
to slides in Presentation Zen (pp.151-152) and in Slide:ology (p.161)
(7) Empty space.
The rule of thirds is useful for achieving a more balanced look that
utilizes empty space. Others will tell you to fill that empty space for
myriad reasons including that "it looks more serious" if every bit of
the slide is filled with text, data, and images. Resist the urge to add
more. There are no prizes given for making your slides as dense as
possible (besides, the competition for that dubious honor is fierce
anyway). See this recent Dilbert comic on this issue.
(8) Have a visual theme.
The IKEA signs are all different but they are clearly from the same
"brand" and follow a theme, yet there is no decorative template. For
slides you do not need to follow a pre-packaged template found in the
software, but there does need to be a visual theme. This can be
achieved by using the same typeface, the same genre of photography,
same background color, and so on. You do not have to use your company
logo on every slide, however. If you don't have a visual theme across a
slide deck, putting your logo on every slide to "tie 'em together" will
not help much and it may just imply that your visual brand is one big
mess tied together with the ubiquitous logo. Keep it simple.
Learning from the streets
Yes,
slides and billboards are different, but presentation visuals have much
more in common with billboards and other signage than they do with
documents. As you walk the city streets, begin to pay attention to the
ubiquitous signage with a critical eye, asking yourself what works and
what doesn't, and why.
