I kind of understand the three levels of formatting, but my requirement is different. I don’t think what I am looking for would fit one of the levels perfectly
…and thus begins your tug of war with your team presentation designers.
Sounds all too familiar?
It is common practice to dig up past decks when you are preparing for an all-important presentation. You pick a few slides from here, another from there and add a few newer slides to your presentation.
You step back to look at your masterpiece and realize it is a mess! You send it to your designer with tons of instructions and pray he gets it right.
There is an easier way to communicate your needs. Here’s a peek at how our designers do it.
Tips to communicate your needs accurately
You already have a clear idea of how you want your slides to look. So, what is the missing piece? The levels of formatting infographic can serve as a guide.
1. What does your slide need?
Level 1 - Design Repackaging: Certain slides need more than just clean up. You want it to communicate better, perhaps add a little imagery, icons, redo the graphics and layout to give it an improved look and feel.
Level 2 - Visual Makeover: You have a few slides left. These are new and contain only the data, maybe you even tried to put it the way you pictured in your head. How about you leave these to the professionals? Give them your idea exactly the way you pictured it, get their suggestions and let them do their magic
Level 3 - Creative Design: You have a few slides left. You've got the data and the whole concept of what you want to communicate. Picturing how to simplify and make it communicate better is tough, the complexity is starting to make you feel dizzy. This is where designers can come into your rescue. Share your idea precisely the way you pictured it, get their suggestions and let them do their magic.
Now that it’s done you look at the overall design of the template. You want to try something new to get a better look. How about a new Cover Page design or converting some slides to infographics?
So where does this fall? This is one of the most commonly asked questions. Let me make it simple for you.
- You do not want major changes to your template but just a few tweaks here and there without changing the look and feel complete. This is level 1 Design Repackaging.
- You want to change the layout and give your template a new and improved look, yet still, stick to the present brand guidelines. What you need is level 2 Visual Makeover.
- However, if you are looking for a complete visual makeover, be it a slide or a template, that would require advanced creativity and hence falls under level 3 Creative Design.
2. How do you communicate this to your Designer?
You have completed the first step in analyzing your requirement and segment them accordingly. Now all that is left for you to do is put it down in writing and send it off to your designer. Or simply jump into a quick call.
Is your designer someone new or someone you have been working with closely for some time now?
For a designer who is familiar with your requirements and preferences
- A short brief of your requirements is a must.
- Give details about who your audience is.
- Communicate the mix of the different levels of formatting you are looking for.
For someone new, you might want to give a little more detail.
- You could specify the slides and the level you want to apply to these.
- Share the purpose of your presentation. What do you want to communicate?
- Type of designs you prefer and what kind of elements you would like to include in your slides.
Like one of our customers said,
…Design is subjective by nature, and it is pretty rare to work with any designer that nails things most of the time. The responsibility is always shared – you can only succeed as much as we can clearly communicate our needs and expectations – and we know that. So really, we could spend a lot more money and time and I wouldn’t expect any higher results than what you provide us.”
Kathryn Courtney – Audienz
Design is subjective to your taste and preference. What worked for one might not work for another. Tweet: Design and formatting are subjective to your taste and preference. What worked for one might not work for another.
Keeping this in mind we came up with the different levels of formatting.
Our designers discovered that it works perfectly as a tool to guide both themselves and our customers. It helps that both stay on the same page while communicating.
Most of our customers love to blend the three levels
When you have a lot of information in your presentation and you need to present them in different formats, mixing and matching the three different levels is a good approach.
Kim Kardashian knows how to mix up her wardrobe that's why she is a famous fashion icon. And she never goes wrong.
Get your copy of The Levels of Presentation Design [Infographic].
When you apply to mix and match to your PowerPoint presentation, make sure that your slides stay consistent throughout. You wouldn’t want to give your audience a heart attack with too obvious changes in graphics from one slide to the other.
Have you tried mixing the three levels in your presentation? Did it go well? Did you need help polishing it? We would love to hear your experiences. Tell us all about it in the comments section.
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