Last week, we analyzed Gapingvoid’s SlideShare deck on “Effective Visual Strategies and Why They Work,” and this week we’re tackling Brandon Carson’s new deck featured on the homepage of SlideShare on “Learning, Identity and Social Media.” Let us know what you think of the deck and our take on it in the comments section!
Strengths
Visuals
Carson nails the use of large visuals in his presentation. The sprawling, slide-sized photography he employs is the most prominent design element in the deck. For most slides, Carson chose photos that compliment his points masterfully. For example, slides 9 to 11 feature a photo of several people on their cell phones waiting in line accompanied by the point of how we are always online. While one of our designers didn’t like how Carson used the same photo for multiple slides, we also think it was a good way to create a clean organization that differentiates his points.
Content Breakdown
We constantly harp on the importance of breaking down content into multiple slides when possible, and Carson does an excellent job of this throughout his presentation. Rather than succumbing to using bullet points, he expertly spreads out his points across multiple slides, which makes every point more meaningful. His thoughtful breakdown of content across multiple slides also creates a great flow to maintain the audience’s attention throughout.
Weaknesses
Type
Unfortunately, more often than not, Carson’s excellent use of large photography is overwhelmed by large, cumbersome black boxes filled with type. Though we have no problem with a white san serif type on a black background, the boxes are much too prominent on the image. They unnecessarily dominate entire slides. One of our designers suggested a quick fix of dropping the opacity of the box, so the photo peeks through a bit.
Visuals
Though Carson’s visuals are one of the strengths in his presentation, we have one minor critique. The images are noticeably low resolution. Though this fact that can be easily overlooked, one of our designers sagely points out that low-res images “not only tend to look unprofessional, but they can be distracting.”
Grammar
Full disclosure, this observation is probably my English minor showing its useless face, but it’s worth pointing out that Carson forgets to include periods at the end of his sentences. Of course, with a two-word phrase or a list, a period is immaterial, but where there is a developed sentence, there should be a period at the end of it. The devil’s in the details, so don’t forget your punctuation.
