Write the argument first
As a sequence of statements, in order. If the argument does not hold in a list, slides will not rescue it.
Graphic Design · Delhi NCR & remote
If they are reading, they are not listening.
A slide full of text turns your audience into readers. They read faster than you speak, finish before you do, and stop listening — which is the opposite of what the slide was for.
Short answer
Presentation design builds slides that support a speaker rather than duplicate them. The core discipline is one idea per slide with minimal text, so attention stays on the person talking. A separate, fuller version is produced for circulation, because a presented deck and a sent deck are different documents.
One idea per slide
Supports the speaker
Honest data visualisation
Editable template supplied
Free deck review
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01 The premise
Two decks, not one.
The single most useful thing to understand about presentations is that a deck you present and a deck you send are different documents, and trying to make one serve both produces something that fails at both. The presented deck is sparse, because you are the content. The sent deck must contain the argument, because you are absent.
Most business presentations are the second document being presented. Dense slides, full sentences, several points each — because somebody sensibly worried that it would need to make sense when forwarded. The consequence is an audience reading rather than listening, and a speaker reading their own slides aloud.
The answer is to build both. A sparse presentation version, and a fuller leave-behind with the detail in the notes or in additional slides. That takes marginally more work and it removes the compromise entirely. If only one is possible, decide honestly which job matters more — frequently the sending, in which case do not present it.
02 Slide rules
What makes slides work in a room.
Rules that come from how attention behaves rather than from design taste.
Slide rules
- One idea per slide. If it needs two, use two slides. Slides are free; attention is not.
- Headline states the point. Not the topic. “Costs fell after the change” beats “Cost analysis”.
- Minimal text. A few words, not sentences. Anything you would read aloud should not be on the slide.
- Type large enough for the back row. Frequently far larger than looks right on your own screen.
- One chart per slide, simplified. Highlight the point being made and remove everything not supporting it.
- High contrast. Projectors and meeting-room screens wash out subtle colour. Assume bad conditions.
- Consistent structure. So the audience learns where to look and stops re-orienting on every slide.
03 Data
Data, presented honestly.
The most common place presentations mislead, frequently without intending to.
- Axes starting at zero
- Truncated axes exaggerate differences dramatically. Where a truncated axis is genuinely justified, label it clearly.
- Comparable periods
- Comparing a strong month against a weak one is a choice. Say which periods and why.
- Sample size shown
- A percentage from twelve responses is not a percentage worth showing without saying so.
- One message per chart
- Highlight what the chart is being used to prove and de-emphasise the rest.
- Sources stated
- Where numbers come from. It costs a line and it is the difference between evidence and assertion.
Free deck review
Could you present your deck with the screen off?
If not, the slides are carrying the argument instead of you. Send me your current deck and I will tell you which slides are doing your job for you.
- Judged as a room would experience it
- You keep the findings either way
- Editable template supplied
- Same-day reply, all 7 days
Free review
Get a free quote
Four details, and a real reply today.
04 Process
How a deck is built.
The structure is decided before any slide is designed.
One statement per slide
Each slide headline is one of those statements. This alone fixes most decks.
Choose the evidence
A chart, an image, a number or a quotation supporting that point. One per slide.
Design the system
Template, type scale, colours, chart styles. Applied consistently so new slides match later.
Build the leave-behind
A fuller version for sending, with the detail the presented version deliberately omits.
— Graphic Design
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Read more— Questions
presentation design — your questions.
Straight answers, including the ones that cost me work. If yours is not here, ask it — I reply the same day.
Very little — a headline stating the point and minimal supporting words. Anything you would read aloud should not be on the slide, because your audience reads faster than you speak and will finish before you do.
Two, where the deck will both be presented and sent. They are different documents: the presented version is sparse because you are the content, the sent version must carry the argument because you are absent. One deck serving both compromises both.
As many as the argument has steps, which is usually more than people expect, because one idea per slide means splitting rather than compressing. Slide count is not the constraint; time is, and sparse slides move faster.
Yes. Investor decks have their own conventions and a well-understood expected sequence, and they are read more often than presented. That makes them closer to a sent document, which changes how much each slide must carry.
Yes, and the discipline matters more than the styling. Axes starting at zero unless clearly labelled otherwise, comparable periods, sample sizes shown and sources stated. Charts are where presentations most often mislead without meaning to.
Yes — a template with defined styles, so new slides match without a designer. That is essential for sales decks that are adapted per client, and it is what stops a designed deck degrading within three months.
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Let the slides support you, not replace you.
Send me your current deck. You will get a straight read on which slides are doing your job, and what the sent version should contain instead.
- One idea per slide, argument first
- A separate leave-behind version
- Honest data visualisation
- Editable template so it stays consistent
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