We live in a world of first impressions. If something is not visually appealing, we frequently move on. I tell my students that appearances can get you into as much trouble as reality. This is especially true of presentations. Most presentations are designed to market something, either a product or information. In order to sell that “something”, we must make the marketing tool visually appealing. If it is not, the audience will move on.
Fonts and visuals such as clipart and photos are the first things the audience will register, even before the content sinks in. Therefore, we must make the fonts large enough and clear enough to read. We must also remember the visual effect of the font style. Some fonts project strength and confidence; others project casual friendliness. We must choose carefully to give the right impression. Equal care must be taken with visuals. If you want to be viewed as professional, then your photos and graphics should be professional. When I reflect on my own use of these elements, I realize that I frequently fall back on clipart. But, even sixth graders get tired of cutesy. So, I guess my goal should be more photos, less clipart.
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4 comments:
I agree with your insightful blog. I love your comments to your students about appearances. I also like what you said about moving past something with bad appearances. I do this a lot. If someone didn’t take the time to make it good then why should I take the time to read or review it (may be you could tell your student’s this too.). The reality is that it takes work and creativity to make a quality and functional product. We, as Dr. Christie’s students, are equipped to be leaders on this front. With all that we are now able to do the great majority of the presentations we make should be original. We are now in a position to have other try and rip us off.
You make some good points about visual representation that are important for presentations. It is important for us to remember our audience, but to still treat our audience (whether they are in 1st grade or 12th grade)as professional learners. We don't want to detour their learning with too many images or cutsy fonts. I will try to remember all of these helpful tips this upcoming year! :)
It is interesting when you look at research about how quickly people will leave websites with poor design (or even marginal design)... Images have to fit into the whole. Clip art can be used effectively but it has to be part of the design.
It is a good point to make about the use of clip art. If we use our own we don't have to worry about copyright! I don't read sites that are thrown together, either! I want them to be simple and easy to use with an attractive, organized appearance.--Nadeen
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