What’s Hot.
Tons of graphics and examples relate Duarte’s messages clearly. With a focusing on creating effective slides, the book covers all areas of presentation design from concept creation to final edits.
What’s Not.
Some concepts may seem basic to experienced designers.
The bottom line.
slide:ology is an excellent reference guide for experienced PowerPoint users who are looking to take their presentations from ho-hum to brilliant. Novice and accomplished presenters alike can learn some valuable lessons from Duarte.
We’ve all been there. The boss has called a mandatory meeting at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Aware that no one wants to be there, he begins the presentation with a mildly amusing Dilbert cartoon that only leads you to conclude that you’d rather be in the Dilbert cartoon than in your own office right now. Then, all too suddenly, the mind-numbing phrases “think outside the box” and “grab the low-hanging fruit” float into the room accompanied by this guy:
The rest of the presentation is meaningless as far as you’re concerned. Instead of listening to your boss, you’re wondering why Lightbulb Guy has such an oddly shaped body and whether or not he has a similarly misshapen girlfriend. Now, that’s thinking outside the proverbial box!
Fortunately, Nancy Duarte has published a work that can help everyone combat the presentation boredom that has overtaken most of the world. Her book, slide:ology, proves a well-written guide to thinking visually and designing presentations that speak effectively to audiences.
Duarte, President and CEO of Duarte Design, is certainly an expert worth listening to. Her company created Al Gore’s presentation for An Inconvenient Truth, and she uses this and other real-life case studies to train readers how to present their ideas successfully. Although, at 294 pages, the book might seem daunting at first glance, you can apply the children’s picture book theory to it, as Duarte has included a multitude of images and visually stimulating examples.
slide:ology’s focus is to teach those whose main job function is not presentation design (about 99.99% of us) to tell a compelling story through exceptional slide design. Critics agree that Duarte’s sections on color theory and typology are extremely helpful, although some of these concepts might seem too basic for trained designers. Duarte assumes that her readers have a fairly good grasp of PowerPoint, so true beginners might want to pick up a PowerPoint basics book before delving into slide:ology.
Duarte uses her vast experience to give readers the insider information necessary to become great presenters. slide:ology covers everything from generating and sketching initial concepts and ideas to displaying data and arranging slide elements and animations effectively. Duarte shows her readers how to present their ideas through useful graphics and diagrams that allow their audiences to actually process information easily.
Many critics agree that Duarte’s slide:ology will soon be regarded as a classic business reference book. For those who thirst for more presentation knowledge after reading slide:ology, Duarte has created a companion web site that contains even more information (small “www” references throughout the book point leaders to the web). Indeed, Duarte has made a valiant effort to help business people in all fields make a move toward designing presentations that are engaging and relevant. We might be saved from Friday afternoon ennui yet! I’ll miss Dilbert just a little, though.
