BDG Blog

The Noun Project

2012-01-25T12:21:00.001-08:00

On Twitter recently, I saw a link for The Noun Project and immediately knew I needed to share this link with my readers. I had just interviewed Nigel Holmes where he discussed symbols/icons and keeping graphics simple. He also mentioned social scientist Otto Neurath and artist Gerd Arntz, who had collected every single icon they had made in three-ring binders. Working together, they became pioneers of modern-day visual language. The Noun Project seems to be taking their work and going a step further. This site not only collects symbols but allows you to download and use these symbols for free.

Yes, that's right FREE.

(However, I highly recommend leaving a donation to help maintain and grow this important project.)

Check out the icons below. Notice the simple lines and shapes used to visually communicate these various concepts.

As these icons prove, you don't always need complex visuals to communicate complex ideas. In fact, Edward (the designer behind the project) had been creating simple sketches of ordinary objects when he became "fascinated with their complexity and mechanics." Then, while working for an architecture firm and needing to do presentations, he became frustrated with the lack of free resources for high-quality symbols/icons. He toyed with the idea of "collecting every single noun-symbol" and placing it on a website for the public to download. Years later, Edward (along with support from his wife and an old friend) started The Noun Project with the goal to "share an international visual language." People from around the world are welcome to upload their "noun-symbols" for inclusion on this site (subject to approval).

What an amazing and inspiring concept. I urge you to go to this site and bookmark it now. Whenever you need inspiration for how to communicate a concept; a simple way to show a person, place, thing, or idea; or icons for your next job check out The Noun Project.

And make sure to leave a donation—or buy a t-shirt. You can create some very interesting—and visually communicative—t-shirts from their library of icons.

Very cool!

Shape Friends=Math Friends

2012-01-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago, a friend's 5-year-old niece won McGraw-Hill's "What Math Means to Me" contest. Her artwork will be shown in upcoming McGraw-Hill My Math student materials (print and online) as well as in the Museum of Math in New York City.

Quite an accomplishment for a kindergarten student!

For the contest, students had to draw original works of art that told a story of what math meant to them along with a short narrative with the same theme. My young associate's winning piece (shown here) told the story of learning shapes in math and "equated" it with making friends at the same time. See the piece above and also check out the website below:

Shape Friends=Math Friends

Like the image of the Hand Turkey from our previous post, this student took something simple (triangles, rectangles, squares, etc.) and transformed those shapes into a story of friendship blossoming out of learning math. Many times it takes a child to find a way to communicate a complex idea in a simple way. However, I think we all can do this—and I think we all should do this. Look at the simple shapes of objects, which you use everyday for work. What ideas can be conveyed by using a pencil shape? What about the rectangular shapes of a computer monitor or laptop? Could you use any of the objects pertaining to your work to create a graphic that communicates your company's message or sells you ideas?

Not only did she draw a great picture, she also told a story. This part was given weight during final judging. Audiences connect more to your vision if presented with a story. Combine an image of your product with a short paragraph speaking about someone benefiting from using your product. Maybe you show a silhouette of your pencil used for drawing plans with a story about how the pencil helps to shape your ideas.

I challenge you to take time in your day to think with the freedom and creativity of a child. You'll be surprised at what you create.

5 Questions with Nigel Holmes

2012-01-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

With his round blue spectacles and blue outfits, Nigel Holmes is a brand unto himself. I first met him at the Presentation Summit in 2010, though I've been a fan of (and inspired by) his graphics for many years. His work has distilled complex ideas into memorable, easy-to-understand graphics for periodicals such as Time magazine (where he worked as the graphics director), National Geographic, and The New York Times. He is an author of several books including Wordless Diagrams, Nigel Holmes on Information Design, and a book for children, Pinhole and the Adventure to the Jungle. Currently, he is principal of Explanation Graphics, a graphic design firm located outside of New York City, where he creates graphics, illustrations and animations for advertising, books, corporate identity, logos, and websites. We were honored and excited when he agreed to answer our 5 questions for our blog. For interesting (and effective) ways to speak visually, Nigel Holmes is the man with the graphic vision.

____________________________________

During your keynote at the Presentation Summit, you showed a lovely picture your granddaughter had drawn (quite the budding talent!). I then wondered about your childhood. Did you have a passion for drawing and diagrams as a child? How and when did your interest begin?

I have some drawings from when I was about 7. Not wonderful. But when my father died I found an envelope of my stuff he had kept over a very long period: drawings from when I was about 12, and also cuttings from magazines I had worked for in England and later from Time magazine. It was a touching surprise to find them. I never knew he saw Time magazine in England—it wasn't a regular in our home. Some of those early bits and pieces he had kept were kind of diagram-like, I suppose. It was only when I was at the Royal College of Art in London that my real interest in explaining things began. For a couple of summers there, I interned with Brian Haynes at the Sunday Times of London, and he pointed out that although I was studying illustration at college, I wasn't a very good illustrator ... but for some reason he hired me. (Perhaps he liked the fact that I had been the art director of the college magazine, Ark, as he had been in his own time at the Royal College.) I learned more about graphic design and explanatory journalism in those two short internships than in my six years at art school. Brian was busy breaking down the walls between the art department and the so-called editorial department (people who wrote stuff). It was a real introduction to the necessary marriage between art and words; areas that were traditionally partitioned off from each other, with the art department reduced to merely making a page look nice—mere decorators. The intense weekly schedule, and real deadlines at the Sunday Times excited me. Brian was combining words and maps and diagrams and illustrations and photos and old engravings and bits of enlarged typography in an effort to tell stories in the most compelling ways. When he left the Times, I followed him as a freelance contributor to other magazines, doing diagrams about Wimbledon, the London docks and Buckingham Palace. I did use illustration in these jobs, but the illustration wasn't the point; clear explanation of particular aspects of the subject was. This was 1966.
In your book Wordless Diagrams, you use simple diagrams to show various acts from everyday to slightly bizarre, such as how to change a tire to how to pierce a tongue. You show how graphics are a “visual alphabet” where a reader doesn’t need to know a spoken language to understand the steps you are relating to them. How do you begin the process of distilling complex actions and ideas into simple visuals as in your book?

The idea of a visual language that I have tried to emulate comes from the work of Otto Neurath. Together with artist Gerd Arntz, Neurath (himself a social scientist not a designer) produced charts in the 1930s and 40s using what they called a visual "helping language." They never intended their work to be completely wordless (and thus internationally understood), but regarded the visualization of statistics as a very important way to persuade people to look and be interested in subjects that they may not have been interested in if they'd just been shown a table of numbers. Over the years, I have drawn many little parts of things—cars, planes, boats, animals, trees, food, buildings—and men, women and children running, walking, digging, soldiering, playing the trumpet, laughing, or sleeping. At the end of each job, I dissect the chart or diagram, whatever it is I've been working on, and put the separate parts into folders labeled "people," "animals," "buildings," etc. They are my own vocabulary, and I use them again and again. Perhaps one day in the distant future, some graphic historian-nerd might analyze my work and show where the same little icons of people or houses have popped up in different, unrelated jobs! Neurath and Arntz actually kept huge three-ring binders containing prints of every single little icon they made, glued in neatly, all categorized. You can see them in an archive in Rotterdam. Some parts of complex actions are best shown in pictures, some are best described in words. I break down the actions to be explained into likely pictures and just work through it until I think it's accurately explained. There's no real secret, or formula. Some things that I want to explain can be served with a single picture and an attendant commentary (usually in the form of "step 1," "step 2," etc.); others are more like a comic strip. It does depend on the context (where it will appear), too. I can take more liberties with certain magazines, or my own books, than I can with The New York Times or National Geographic.
In a pamphlet you gave out to the attendees at the Presentation Summit, you wrote, “Today the best information graphics are a happy marriage of words and pictures, with each partner playing the role that they are good at, and holding back when the other has more to offer.” This is a concept we teach in our graphics training and many times are asked how do you know when to give the words more weight over the graphic and vice versa. Can you provide any pointers or is it something that you know instinctively having studied and worked with design for many years?

I think I may have answered most of this in your question 2. But I would add that one should never be afraid to suggest that the best solution to an assignment might be all text rather than what was proposed as a graphic by an art director or editor.
What is the number one mistake you find graphic designers make? How can they avoid this mistake?

Including too much information. I make this mistake often myself. It's the natural result of finding out lots of interesting information while researching a subject, and being loathe to edit it out. But editing is one of the most important things in information graphics. By editing I mean both making sure any text is grammatical and properly spelled, of course, but more importantly, editing out anything that's not necessary to the efficient telling of the story. The beauty of the computer is that you can save something you've done, and look at a copy of it to see what can be left out. That applies to content, color, and extraneous decoration ... anything that's getting in the way of the message. I find that an interesting way to start every job is by limiting myself to black and white, or perhaps black, white and one color. Then adding color if/when it becomes actually necessary.
What one tip would you give our readers to help them improve their visual communications?

Simplicity.

2011 Through Washington Post Graphics

2011-12-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Check out these great information graphics used by the Washington Post to speak about the top stories from 2011. From the royal wedding to the East Coast earthquake to remembering our fallen soldiers in Iraq, these graphics communicate the essence of each topic and give you a more detailed understanding that words alone couldn't.

To thank you for your support this year, we are offering 10% until January 15, 2012, at BizGraphics on Demand. Enter the code Holiday11 found in the coupon below.

Everyone at Billion Dollar Graphics wishes you a very Happy Holiday and successful New Year!

Blogging about Visual Communication

2011-12-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

We're honored that Chantal Bossé, a presentation expert of Chabos, Inc., referenced our articles on visual communication for her most recent blog. Check out her blog here.

The Key to WINNING Executive Summary Graphics

2011-12-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

Many of you write proposals for your company. Whether you write a new one each year, every few years, or once a week, most likely you've been required to pen an executive summary to provide an overview of your company's solution. I've had a lot of students and clients ask my advice on creating graphics for these introductory sections and below are my key rules to help you put your best graphic forward.

Think of your executive summaries as the “elevator pitches” of the proposal world. Your future client wants to know why they should care about you and your solution—fast.

Put yourself in your future client’s shoes. Imagine you want to build a beautiful, cutting-edge home theater (lucky you) as soon as possible. You ask for multiple potential home theater specialists to give you bids and plans. In the end, you get twelve 90-page proposals. You don’t know much about the submitters. Fortunately, a few companies supplied a “proposal-at-a-glance” (an executive summary) with their proposals. You pick up their two-page “proposal-at-a-glance” for a quick scan. What would you want to see? What information would help you choose a company? Do you think it might influence whom you choose?

Independent research says when we are given too much information we tend to focus on the wrong data, which leads to poor decisions. The key is to give decision makers and evaluators what they need as quickly as possible. Make it blindingly clear and easy to understand.

When reviewing a company’s “proposal-at-a-glance” for your new home theater, would you prefer a text heavy document extolling the virtues of their company? Or would you prefer to see images of luxurious home theaters created and installed for other clients? How about testimonials? What about price or quality comparisons?

The secret to a winning executive summary is to empathize with your future client. What do they care most about? Show them your solution in the beginning and, as quickly as possible, give them an overview of it. Graphics communicate up to 60,000 times faster than text alone, quickly show your professionalism and commitment to the project, and greatly influence the decision maker.

I highly recommend making your executive summaries image rich. Give the decision makers and evaluators what they want in graphic form. Back up your visuals with concise text. If they want more detail, they will review your proposal to find it.

Before you develop your executive summary be sure to know the answers to four critical questions (which I refer to as knowing the “P.A.Q.S.”):

1) What is the purpose or primary objective (P) of my executive summary?
Phrase your answer carefully. Don’t simply write, “to win the proposal.” Although this is accurate, it doesn’t help you empathize with your future client. Instead, I recommend something specific: “To show that AdHelp (our new software) saves our client 80% in costs over their current system and raises sales revenue by 20%.” You want the answer to this first question to be a statement you can make to your audience.

2) Who is your audience (A)?
Know who they are, what they want to read/hear/see, and what they care about. Learn what your audience truly desires. They are the sole reason you are creating your executive summary. Tailor it to your target audience (e.g., use their lingo, reference their past products, talk about how you will work within their world). Make sure your audience can see the solution to their challenges and understand the resulting benefits.

3) What are the questions (Q) to which your audience needs answered to achieve your primary objective?
Refer back to the first question. Imagine you walked up to your future client at a networking event. After introductions and pleasantries you say, “AdHelp saves you 80% in costs and raises sales revenue by 20%.” How would they respond? Perhaps they may ask, “How?” In which case, your answer should be the same as the theme of your executive summary. It should answer their burning questions:
• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?
• How fast?
• Is it reliable?
• Is it easy to use?
• How much does it cost?
• What makes it better?

Focus on answering their top three questions. I recommend addressing no more than five in your executive summary, or you run the risk of giving them too much information up front, which could lead to poor decisions.

4) What are the answers to the questions? I call this knowing the subject matter (S).
To correctly answer your audience’s questions, you need a clear understanding of the presented topic. If you do not understand, how can your audience understand? You need to answer their questions quickly and clearly.

Executive summaries come in all shapes and sizes. Some look like brochures and others look like amped up proposals. Your approach is dependent upon your audience’s preferences, award value, and the anticipated influence of your executive summary. If you think your audience will be “turned off” by a brochure, avoid using it. If the award value is high, rest assured they will expect extensive effort and thought being put into the proposal and executive summary. If you believe your future client prefers to see a summation of the solution immediately, then your executive summary will have greater influence.

The bottom line is your executive summary needs to shine. The best way to do this is to follow my process and use quality, concise content and superior graphics that communicate the right information—what your future customer cares most about.

Want Clients to Choose You? Keep It Simple.

2011-11-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

Whenever I'm working with a client, I always stress that they keep their designs as easy to understand as possible. You want potential customers to comprehend your solution immediately and how it will help them. If they have to weigh through too much complex information (and choices), they may become frustrated and not purchase your product or service. People have limited time and many distractions in their lives, they don't need one more complicated decision added to their hectic schedule.

Recently, Smashing Magazine blogged about Barry Schwartz's book The Paradox of Choice. In it, Schwartz reveals an interesting conclusion:

People choose not on the basis of what’s most important, but on what’s easiest to evaluate.

Our audience doesn't always have the chance to thoroughly research and evaluate each and every decision they have to make. So it makes sense that they will gravitate to those websites, ads, brochures, storefronts, etc., that speak simply and succinctly to their needs.

Consider the simple design of Apple stores. Not to mention the easy-to-navigate Mac interface, which was so much easier than the PC's operating system when it first entered the market.

We're doing the same thing for Billion Dollar Graphics and our BizGraphics On Demand websites. We've learned our lessons from our years of experience in simplifying graphics for clients that we're redoing both sites to make it easier for our customers to navigate and find what they need (based on their input). Look for our redesigned websites to be launched in early 2012.

I suggest you read the Easier Is Better Than Better article at Smashing Magazine. Maybe even print it out as ammunition next time a boss or client asks you to cram a ton of information in a small space, citing "more is better."

According to research, less is what the customer wants. And, after all, the customer is always right.

The Inspiring Hand Turkey

2011-11-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving on its way, I started remembering art projects my teachers made us do each year to celebrate the upcoming holidays. One in particular stuck out to me. The ole' make-a- turkey-out-of-an-outline-of-your-hand art project the teacher trotted out each year to be displayed on refrigerators across the country to accompany the cranberry sauce and stuffing during Thanksgiving meal. It looks something like this:

It's so simple, yet what amazes me is that someone looked at their hand and thought, "Huh, that sort of looks like a turkey. If I color my fingers to match a turkey's feathers. And then add an eye and a beak where my thumb is. Voilà! My hand now resembles a turkey."

Who came up with the idea of a "hand turkey"? They need a special prize. A special recognition. Because the more I consider it, the more interesting the idea becomes.

And the more I wish we could all come up with our own "hand turkeys."

Well, I don't want the graphics world populated with "hand turkeys," but this art project illustrates a point I challenge my students to do.

Think visually.

When creating graphics for your company, your audience, your students, think about various ways your service, product, or idea can be presented in a compelling, unique, and memorable way that represent your topic. Consider these suggestions:

If you are creating a piechart for an article about Thanksgiving, how about making the piechart out of a pie—a pumpkin pie?
Your company sells lumber and you need a barchart for a quarterly report. Maybe you can make the bars out of lumber?
You want customers to know that banking with you will insure their cash grows and give their financial goals a step up. A stair graphic made from incremental piles of cash would be a memorable visual.
A silhouette of your product can be used as a segmented graphic to show percentages of growth and sales. In fact, Coke uses this technique with their campaigns, since their bottles have become icons synonymous with their product.

Write lists of items related to your business that could be used as your graphic. Then sketch ideas related to the items on the list. (Make sure they are relevant to your topic.) Don't be afraid to let your imagination go, like you did as a child. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a child invented the "hand turkey."

I challenge you to invent your own "hand turkey" this season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

7 Practices to Getting the Most Out of Your Graphics

2011-11-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

Graphics can make the difference between winning and losing clients. Graphics can increase idea creation and innovation. Graphics can validate your solution (according to independent research). Unfortunately, many small companies and consultants have little money and time to design good graphics. Some are lucky to have any graphics at all (even clipart) to include in their presentations, brochures, and websites. So, how do you fix this problem?

Reuse by recycling graphics.

But beware. Reuse works well when done right. There are pros and cons to reusing graphics.

Reuse Pros:

It kick starts a marketing/proposal team or gets the team "unstuck." Starting with nothing is challenging. I call it “blank page syndrome” (BPS). But having a graphic from which to draw ideas, even one used in a previous presentation or proposal, is easier than starting from scratch.
It saves time and money when done right.
It leverages earlier efforts and institutional knowledge.

Reuse Cons:

Your company can get lazy (it is easy to say “good enough”) or trapped (keeping too much of the old/boilerplate content vs. using it as a starting point).
Reuse can result in rewrites and late nights, if the old content misses the mark or doesn’t relate to the current project and causes confusion in the team.
Your organization may not evolve and your marketing and proposal projects could lose their competitive edge. Excessive reuse results in no innovation and having no fresh ways to show your ideas and concepts, which can lead to others seeing your company as uninspired.

Reuse is a double-edged sword that is sometimes needed in our resource-starved industry. To determine whether reuse is right for you, answer the following questions:

When reuse is needed, use the following seven best practices:

Employ a knowledgeable, well-organized director (art director, proposal manager, marketing manager, etc.) to shepherd the team/department/company through the process of reusing graphics. They determine what graphics can be reused, manages a database of graphics, and sets the standards for reuse (e.g., templates, graphic styles, and approved software packages)
Use Pareto’s Principal or the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of your project is custom content and twenty percent reused and tailored content. Of course, every rule is made to be broken. If your projects are quick-turn and similar in size and scope, I recommend greater reuse.
Implement a system to catalogue, search, and retrieve content—often referred to as a digital asset management (DAM) system. Most large companies use tools that can be customized for this purpose. For graphics, I recommend a solution with the ability to apply metadata (searchable keywords) like Extensis Portfolio.You can group graphics by theme to make it easier to find: organization charts, bar charts, stacked graphics, etc.
Design for reuse. Develop graphics in a software package used by those on your team. Create layers within your files labeled for text, photos, boxes, lines, arrows, graphic elements, etc. Highlight the elements that require customization. Create a template indicating approved colors, logos, fonts, and any other design elements to keep design styles consistent and provide a starting point for designing graphics.
Develop a good quality control process. For example, assign one or two other teammates to proof each piece before it is printed or uploaded online. The person designing the graphic should not be the one proofing it.
Review and refresh your content often. As mentioned earlier, excessive reuse results in no innovation—and your audience may feel your company lacks innovation if they keep seeing the same graphics again and again in your materials. Whenever new graphics are created for a project, make sure they are labeled and copied into your database. If you find a certain graphic or style is being reused too much, remove it from the database or the company server or place it in a “retired graphics” folder.
Reevaluate your need for reuse annually by using the reuse checklist and reviewing graphics needs with your team.

In my experience, reuse is a necessary approach in our fast-turn business environments. The key to success depends upon a measured approach with everyone on your team working together.

Using Charts in PowerPoint

2011-10-31T06:41:00.000-07:00

Geetesh Bajaj interviewed me for Indezine.com about using charts in PowerPoint. Check out the article here and leave a comment if you have anything to add:

http://blog.indezine.com/2011/10/using-charts-conversation-with-mike.html

3 Steps to Make Your Data Standout

2011-10-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

How do you prove that you have the best idea or solution? Data. Back up your assertions with real numbers. We tend to believe quantitative data.

Step one: provide real-world data.
For example, you say your solution saves money. You could provide a spreadsheet that compares your solution’s costs to the current solution based on research conducted by a reputable resource. Unfortunately, spreadsheets can be difficult to digest and are far from memorable and compelling. Look at the following example. Is this the fastest way to analyze data?

Because, like you, viewers are often resource starved, rushed, and hate sifting through mountains of data to do their job, it is in our best interest to make data analysis easy.

Step two: turn data into a quantitative chart.
Consolidate data into bite size chunks that can be analyzed quickly. (You can include your spreadsheets as back up data when applicable.) Quantitative charts—like bar charts, area charts, line charts, and pie charts—make it easy to compare data. (To see more examples quantitative charts visit http://www.bizgraphicsondemand.com.) How easy is it to compare the following numbers?

Although much improved over a spreadsheet, a quantitative chart is not that memorable. Let’s face it, you see countless bar charts, area charts, line charts, and pie charts every year. What do you remember? If you are like me, not much.

Step three: use visual embellishment.
The Department of Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada conducted an experiment to determine if visual embellishment in information charts was a detractor. Below is an excerpt from this study:

“Guidelines for designing information charts often state that the presentation should reduce ‘chart junk’ – visual embellishments that are not essential to understanding the data. In contrast, some popular chart designers wrap the presented data in detailed and elaborate imagery, raising the questions of whether this imagery is really as detrimental to understanding as has been proposed, and whether the visual embellishment may have other benefits. To investigate these issues, we conducted an experiment that compared embellished charts with plain ones, and measured both interpretation accuracy and long-term recall. We found that people‘s accuracy in describing the embellished charts was no worse than for plain charts, and that their recall after a two-to-three-week gap was significantly better.”

The following example published in the study’s findings shows a chart developed by Nigel Holmes (left), a renowned visual communicator, and a “plain version.” Which is more memorable?

For best results, I recommend combining a quantitative chart with a visual metaphor, simile, analogy or icon/symbol. Use of metaphors, similes, analogies, and icons to support data is proven to increase recollection. In the following example I use the material (lumber) for my bars to better communicate the subject matter and increase the likelihood that my data will stand out and be remembered (compared to other bar charts).

Most quantitative charts are far from unique and, therefore, fail to stand out. Using a visually embellished quantitative chart helps your data stand out, be remembered and, ultimately, help you succeed.

5 Typography Rules That I Use

2011-10-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

Many times I see presentations and marketing materials and even websites using "razzle-dazzle" fonts that aren't readable or even appropriate. There are so many typefaces from which to choose, it can be daunting—not to mention various styles within each font family. So here are a few rules I employ when choosing a font for my project:

Geetesh Bajaj of Indezine.com recently sent me a link for a poster that graphic designer Julian Hansen created to help people (in a very interesting and cheeky way) find the best typeface for their project. Check it out here. What I find most interesting is the text in the center which directs the reader on how to use the poster: Start out by choosing the kind of project that you'll need your typeface for. Just like choosing a style for your graphics, you want to understand your project's goal and then choose the appropriate typeface for your project. You wouldn't choose a whimsical font for the intro page of a company's website that supplies defense equipment to the government. Each font has an intrinsic meaning which your audience will subconsciously pick up. Underneath each typeface below is my impression of it; yours may be different. Always keep your audience and goal in mind when choosing a font.
Use ALL CAPS, bold face, and italics—sparingly. I cringe when viewing presentations where bulleted sentences are entirely in uppercase. Not only does it seem like SOMEONE IS SHOUTING AT ME, but sentences in all caps are harder to read. I suggest only employing all caps for short titles and headings where you use small words or just a few words.

I've felt annoyed reading brochures where all the text is bold. Annoyed because I don't know what is important. A bold typeface is a great way make essential phrases and concepts stand out from the rest. I apply bold to headings, subheads, titles, and key words within a paragraph. You run the risk of confusing your readers–and possibly annoying them–if your entire document uses a bold typeface.

I've gotten a headache reading pages of italic text. Again, italic fonts should be used to make certain text and ideas standout. Because of the way the letters lean, it can be hard to read, which may turnoff your audience and they won't be willing to read more to learn about your product or service or concept. Consider using italics to highlight important ideas, in a heading or subhead, for a pull quote, to set off a paragraph quoting another source, or for reference or book titles.
Use a ubiquitous font if other people will be working in or editing the document or presentation. Unless you can embed the font and are sure it will travel with your document, then stick to a font like Arial or Times New Roman. They are simple but will get the job done, especially for presentations. In a few instances, I designed my presentation on the Mac and needed to load it on a PC for delivery. I couldn't risk font substitution and would've needed to buy and load a PC version of my font onto the other computer which belonged to someone else, so that wasn't an option.
Don't use more than 3-4 typefaces in one document. It can get messy—and confusing for the designer working on the project and your audience—if you throw in Goudy with Garamond with Futura and a touch of Univers. When using fonts that are close in structure like Futura and Univers, you run the risk of your document appearing awkward. Your audience will subconsciously pick up on the subtle differences between the typefaces from one paragraph to the next and it will put them off—like wearing navy blue and black. They are too close in color that it seems off when you try to pair them. Check out every aspect of the font before you choose one: What do the numbers look like? Will the punctuation print well? You may love the appearance of the letters but the numbers or punctuation may be odd. Remember, the less variety of typefaces you use, the cleaner your document will look and the more people will want to read it. If you want help in determining what fonts work well together here are two sites that offer some great suggestions: 1 9 Top Fonts in 19 Top Combinations and Typefaces that Work Together.
Determine a font style for your document in the beginning. Your company may already offer a style guide that lists appropriate fonts for outfacing materials. If you're unsure, ask. It' a great resource to have and you want to tie in the font and colors used in your company logo to any marketing materials. You want to keep all the materials consistent because consistency breeds trust. Whenever I begin a layout on a document (either a brochure, catalog, or presentation), I first determine my typeface for body text, headings, any callouts or pull quotes, footers, footnotes, etc. My favorite look is to combine serif and sans serif fonts. I use sans serif for the main headings and serif for the body text. I find serif fonts easier to read in printed materials. (Think books. Most books contain a serif font for a reason.) I did learn recently that many website designers prefer sans serif fonts for websites because they feel it looks cleaner on the screen and is easier to read. The preference is up to you. But I recommend maintaining the same font family (or font combinations) throughout your materials to keep your documents clean and consistent.

These are my basic tips. There are many others that I also employ, and I found several websites with great advice in addition to the rules I just put forth:
Dynamic Graphics
Foam Train Fonts
Web Designer Depot
Zimbio

Things I Learned at the Presentation Summit

2011-10-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

With more presentation and design experts than you can shake a stick at, there was much to be learned at the Presentation Summit in Austin. Here are a few prime tips and resources to sink your teeth into:

Tell a story with your presentation (which can apply to marketing materials like brochures and websites as well). Don't simply show charts or images to your audience. Connect these visuals with a story—a story in which your audience can see themselves and relate. Jon Thomas of Presentation Advisors said, "When audience members see themselves in your story, the need to persuade disappears."
Carmen Taran, Rexi Media, surveyed her audiences after several presentations to learn what they remembered most about her slides. She found that when she had a slide with a bizarre image (like a pig with wings), the audience remembered that slide. When she had a contrast from one slide to another (like a large image to a small image), the audience remembered those slides. People act on what they remember and by changing up your slides (or even your websites or pages in your brochures), you will hold their attention and they will be more likely to buy into your product or service. Try mixing an odd image with something familiar to your audience. Go from predictable to the unexpected and they will want to look more closely to see what you're going to do next.
PowerPoint 2010 is more powerful than I imagined, and Sandy Johnson of Presentation Wiz helped me realize it. You can import Illustrator files as eps and ungroup the elements. The Combine Shapes feature allows you to create simple vector images and icons that are fully editable. Check out Sandy's website for a pdf tutorial on how to use the tool and begin creating your own icons and vector images. I think Illustrator may have to watch its back soon ...
I've always set up templates for Word with styles and colors specified. As for my slides, I've set up the slide masters and a template slide with style choice but ... that was it. Then Julie Terberg of Terberg Design demonstrated that I was short changing myself and those editing my presentations. Creating theme colors in PowerPoint saves time in importing graphics, text, charts, SmartArt, etc. Because, if you used theme colors to set up your template, PowerPoint will automatically update the colors of what you import into your template, saving you loads of time. Julie has a great explanation in her blog for how to best do this. I bookmarked it!
The final lesson I wanted to talk about is "failure." Yes, I said, "failure" and it isn't a typo. As Rick Altman brilliantly said in his Monday morning talk, he wanted us all to fail during the conference and when we left. Now Rick wasn't hoping we wouldn't succeed in life, he was referencing Denzel Washington's commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania. He encouraged the graduates to take risks "because nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks." He told those graduates not to be afraid to "fall forward" and learn from their failures and mistakes. Do not be afraid of failure but embrace it, because failing is one of the most powerful ways to grow, to improve, to become better presenters, designers, managers, writers, trainers ... whatever it is we want to be.

Presentation Summit—Wow (again)

2011-09-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

Once again, Rick Altman and his team put on a tremendous conference in beautiful Austin, Texas. We learned so much at the Presentation Summit and met so many amazing industry professionals whose knowledge alone would fill a book (as large as War and Peace with loads of interesting visuals). We had wonderful talks with presentation expert Dave Paradi, who gave us insight on marketing and who contributed to our previous blog. Check out his site for creative resources on how to design and deliver effective PowerPoint presentations. With Connie Malamed (whose book Visual Language for Designers is now in paperback), we watched the bats ... yes, I said bats ... stream out from under the famous Congress Avenue Bridge (shown in photo) where 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats reside and stream out at sunset to feast on 10,000-30,000 pounds of insects each night. Unfortunately, I don't recommend standing under the bridge to watch this phenomenon—we got a little wet and it wasn't raining. :)

Jennifer and I also had a booth during the Expo for BizGraphics On Demand where attendees could try out our product and pick up a poster of our Graphics Cheat Sheet. The feedback was overwhelming, and we introduced new users to our product who bought credits onsite to begin using the product. Then Geetesh Bajaj, Microsoft MVP and owner of Indezine.com, gave suggestions for new offerings, which we will be implementing in the coming months. Check out his feature articles on Indezine.com highlighting a few of the inspiring keynotes from the conference.

I had another brainstorming session with Jamie Garroch of GMARK about how to increase our product offerings in new ways. Jamie impressed us with his enthusiastic approach to his business of creating better PowerPoint add-ins that meet the needs of users. His company, GMARK, will even work with you to create custom Add-Ins for PowerPoint. If you can imagine it, they can do it. What an amazing service! One GMARK product that stood out to me was MapPrez. If you use maps in your presentations, MapPrez will allow you to integrate maps through Google Maps with your PowerPoint slides and turn any of those maps into editable vector images. You can colorize and style each country differently, remove and expand map sections, and automatically locate and place markers on specific cities and sites. Definitely a time saver!

I'll write more in a post later this week about helpful tips I learned at the Presentation Summit.

Using a Graphic in Both Print and in a Presentation—by Dave Paradi

2011-09-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

For our last e-zine, Dave Paradi contributed this article, Using a Graphic in Both Print and in a Presentation, and we wanted to share it with new readers and those not subscribed to our e-zine—it's free to subscribe to our e-zine and you'll receive quarterly design tips!

Dave Paradi has authored and co-authored seven books and his book, The Visual Slide Revolution, was selected as one of the Top 10 Business Books of 2008. His workshops and consulting help clients ranging from municipalities to Fortune 500 corporations. Learn more at www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com. He'll be speaking at the Presentation Summit next week in Austin, Texas.

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Many of the graphics we design today must serve dual purposes. One of the purposes the graphic must serve is for a print document, whether it is a proposal or a report. The second purpose is for use in a presentation, since often we are asked to present on the topic in addition to providing the written document. We can certainly use the same graphic in each setting, but there is a technique we can apply to use a graphic more effectively in a presentation context.

When we place a graphic in a report or proposal, the graphic does not stand alone. It is on a page with explanatory text that the reader uses to gain understanding of the graphic. If there is anything they are unsure of, they can move back and forth between the graphic and the text until they understand the point being made. Even if the graphic and the text are on different pages, it is easy for the reader to flip the page to refer to either text or graphic quickly. The explanatory text and the reader's ability to refer to both at the same time allows even a complex graphic to be easily understood.

Using a graphic in a presentation is different. The graphic is placed on a slide and there is generally no explanatory text on the slide. The presenter is explaining the graphic to the audience. If the audience doesn’t understand the graphic the first time, they can’t go back and review it again, because the presenter has moved on. Most audience members also fear asking a question during the presentation, because they think they will embarrass themselves in front of peers and colleagues in the audience. So audience members can be left confused about the graphic during a presentation because they can’t review what the presenter said. This is especially true with complex graphics.

The solution to the issue of using graphics in a presentation is to break down the graphic into pieces and explain each piece to the audience one by one. This way, the graphic does not overwhelm the audience and the presenter’s explanation can be focused on only one part at a time. Audiences follow along much more easily and there is a smaller chance that someone is confused after the presenter is done. One method for breaking down the graphic into pieces is to actually create individual graphics, one for each section. This can work, but it does require more work on your part and the presenter can’t make any changes if they decide that the breakdown should be altered.

A more flexible and less time consuming method is to use a technique that our teachers employed in school when they used overhead transparencies in the classroom. They would place a piece of paper over the transparency, covering up what they didn’t want us to see, yet. They would slide the paper down to reveal each point as they spoke. This gives the same benefit to the audience as building each part of the graphic on the slide. Let’s look at how we can do this in PowerPoint.

The first step is to position the graphic on the slide. Make it as big as you need to, depending on what else you are placing on the slide.

Now, just like our teacher, we need to cover up the graphic. You can use the regular drawing tools in PowerPoint to create shapes that will cover up each piece of the graphic. Usually, you will draw a series of rectangles that will cover up two to four sections of the graphic. Make the fill and outline color of the shapes the same as the background color of the graphic, so it looks like you are building the graphic piece by piece.

The last step is to make these shapes slide off the graphic like the teacher did with the piece of paper, revealing what is underneath. To do this, select the shape and apply an Exit animation effect. I suggest the Wipe effect in the direction that makes sense. For example, if you are revealing pieces of a graphic from left to right, have the shapes wipe to the right, just like it would look like if we had a piece of paper on a transparency.

If you would like to see an example of how this looks in action, I used this technique in a slide makeover video which is shown below and available for viewing at http://my.brainshark.com/PowerPoint-Slide-Makeover-57-Revealing-infographics-one-portion-at-a-time-236541282.

By understanding the differences between using a graphic in a print and in a presentation context, and by using the exit animation reveal technique, you can save time by creating a single graphic that can serve both purposes.

Presentation Summit—September 18th-21st

2011-08-30T13:08:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to give a shout out to Presentation Summit—a great way to spend the money left over in your budget on improving your presentation and graphic skills and have a fun time doing it. Rick Altman, the author of Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck and How You Can Make Them Even Better, is the man behind this great event. Learn from presentation gurus like Garr Reynolds, Nigel Holmes, Connie Malamed, and Dave Paradi. Get expert PowerPoint advice from Geetesh Bajaj, Ric Bretschneider, and Julie Terberg.

Plus, you can make it a vacation and check out Austin, Texas. We'll have a booth at the event for you to test out BizGraphics On Demand, and we'll be offering special pricing for conference attendees.

Hope to see you there!

PowerPoint Goes to School

2011-08-29T07:10:00.001-07:00

Check out my latest article on Microsoft's PowerPoint blog about how PowerPoint is being used to better educate and train students. I offer three basic rules on using PowerPoint to educate your audience.

Leave a comment and add your own tips!

Don't Forget Your Pants—Make Time for Both the Work and Practice

2011-08-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

We're running a blog series by guest blogger, Megan Skuller, a graphic designer at 24 Hour Company, specializing in proposal and presentation design. Below is the fourth and final in a series of four blogs by Megan about how to improve your oral proposals and presentations. Using real-world examples, Megan shares her top three rules when building visuals for your next project. This blog highlights her first rule.

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Visuals aids take time to create! On a memorable trip to Seattle, a client wanted a couple weeks worth of work done mere days before the presentation was to be given. Because of the limited time, the presentation was being practiced in sections with updates being added as we went along. One presenter had to stop during a practice session to pull his thoughts together after being confused by the new look of his slides. Imagine this happening during the presentation! Taking into consideration how long the various pieces would take to create and starting much sooner would have benefited this particular client. It is important to be sure enough time is built into your schedule to have the completed visual aids in hand for practice. Unsure? Then think about modifying your presentation. Complete the most important pieces first.

How much practice time should you plan for? Laverne A. S. Caceres, M.A., Director of The Professional Voice, suggests the guidelines shown in the graphic below. You can find these tips and more at www.professionalvoice.com.

Keep in mind that your presentation’s visuals represent you, your company, and your product or solution. Presentations are opportunities to achieve your goals. Before you begin creating your presentation, remember to start with my three favorite rules from this blog series:

Know your audience
Keep it simple, relevant, and professional
Make time for both the work and practice

Plus, don't forget your pants—or graphics! Put your best foot forward and engage the audience with great visuals.

Don't Forget Your Pants—Keep it Simple, Relevant, and Professional

2011-08-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

We're running a blog series by guest blogger, Megan Skuller, a graphic designer at 24 Hour Company, specializing in proposal and presentation design. Below is the third in a series of four blogs by Megan about how to improve your oral proposals and presentations. Using real-world examples, Megan shares her top three rules when building visuals for your next project. This blog highlights her first rule.

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In a BNETvideo on YouTube called Present Like Steve Jobs, Communication Coach and author Carmine Gallo breaks down how the successful CEO gives presentations. This is something that Mr. Jobs is known for and has written about. Along with other good advice, Mr. Gallo says, “Inspirational presentations are short on words and big on pictures.” The last thing you want people to do is spend all their time reading bullets or trying to figure out overly complicated graphics rather than listening to and engaging in the presentation. All visual aids used should have a message and should always relate to what is being said. Everything should have a reason for being in the presentation or you need to take it out.

Watch the full video below:

Visual aids communicate on both a conscience and subconscious level. They should enhance, not detract. Starting with and sticking to a template is a key helper in creating a consistent, professional look. If your corporate branding does not already have a template, build one. As Mike Parkinson likes to say, “Consistency breeds trust.” Inconsistent changes in style and/or color looks unprofessional and subconsciously makes people distrust what they are seeing. Looking at the below example, which is more professional?

The graphic on the top uses too many different types of image styles and fonts. This disparity in design distracts from the message and doesn't make our eye want to read more. The graphic on the bottom uses similar styled photos, arrows, and fonts throughout the design. This uniformity draws our eye into the graphic and makes it easy for us to focus on the content—makes us want to focus on the content. If the author had taken the time to create a visually-appealing, cohesive graphic that conveys the information we need, then we can be assured that this company will deliver the professional and knowledgeable service we desire.

My next and final blog will cover making time to perfect your presentation. Check back next week!

Don't Forget Your Pants—Know Your Audience

2011-08-16T08:20:00.001-07:00

We're running a blog series by guest blogger, Megan Skuller, a graphic designer at 24 Hour Company, specializing in proposal and presentation design. Below is the second in a series of four blogs by Megan about how to improve your oral proposals and presentations. Using real-world examples, Megan shares her top three rules when building visuals for your next project. This blog highlights her first rule.

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Visual aids done well engage the audience and help them understand your points faster and remember them longer. Courtesy of the Department of Labor website, http://www.osha.gov/doc/outreachtraining/htmlfiles/traintec.html, to the right is a bar chart showing the level of information retention when using visual aids. The bar chart clearly shows that adding a visual component increases the audience’s retention exponentially over oral alone. Furthermore, the Department of Labor offers fascinating statistics about the impact of visuals on an individual:

In many studies, experimental psychologists and educators have found that retention of information three days after a meeting or other event is six times greater when information is presented by visual and oral means than when the information is presented by the spoken word alone.
Studies by educational researchers suggest that approximately 83% of human learning occurs visually, and the remaining 17% through the other senses—11% through hearing, 3.5% through smell, 1% through taste, and 1.5% through touch.
The studies suggest that three days after an event, people retain 10% of what they heard from an oral presentation, 35% from a visual presentation, and 65% from a visual and oral presentation.

What does this all boil down to? Your visuals play a vital role in your presentation!

When making an outline, be sure to think about what you are going to show while talking. Put yourself in your prospective client’s shoes. What message do you want your audience to derive from the visual? Ask “So What?” If you don’t, they will.

Tailor your presentation to your audience. The better your prospective client can relate to the images, the more likely they will see themselves using the solution or product. For example, if it is a proposal talking to the Army, be sure to show images of army personnel. If you can show the product or solution being used by Army personnel, even better! A marketing piece selling to management? Use relevant concepts that your audience can relate to and show people in business related situations.

In my next post, I'll discuss how to keep your graphics simple, relevant, and professional.

Don’t Forget Your Pants—Great visuals help put your best foot forward!

2011-08-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

We're running a blog series by guest blogger, Megan Skuller, a graphic designer at 24 Hour Company, specializing in proposal and presentation design. Below is the first in a series of four blogs by Megan about how to improve your oral proposals and presentations. Using real-world examples, Megan shares her top three rules when building visuals for your next project.

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Oral Proposals and Presentations are fundamentally an opportunity. You (as the speaker), your company, and solutions or products are being showcased. Similar to interviewing for a job with a prospective employer, this is a chance to immediately build strong personal rapport with your prospective client. Besides your shining personality, an integral part of presentations are visual aids—they help the audience understand your key points. Think of visual aids as part of your outfit. When dressing for an interview, would you walk in with your shirt pressed, shoes shined, questions and answers ready, but forget to wear pants (or skirt as the case may be)? Of course not.

Use visual aids to their best advantage—engaging the audience! In both the corporate and government world, PowerPoint slides are synonymous with presentations. If done well, a slide deck is enough. Could there be accompaniments? Absolutely. A few examples are printed boards, brochures, and props. In the book How to Wow, by Corporate Coach Frances Cole Jones, she describes a story about a client who was giving a presentation the next day on High Fructose Corn Syrup and its health effects. Ms. Jones mentions how the presentation was flat; the slides were chock-full of scientific facts and terribly boring. What was her solution? She and her client took a trip to the grocery store and picked up commonly consumed healthy foods containing High Fructose Corn Syrup. What was the result? “An interactive event!” The audience came in, examined the products, and made comments like “… I thought it was good for me.” The audience immediately became engaged in the presentation. What does this mean for the presenter? Retention!

Here are three rules to consider when building your visuals. I'll highlight each of these rules in my next blogs posts:

Know your audience
Keep it simple, relevant, and professional
Make time for both the work and practice!!!

Winning Millions by Using PowerPoint

2011-08-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Check out Microsoft's PowerPoint Blog for my next blog. This time I address how I won millions of dollars in revenue for my company by using PowerPoint. Many don't realize how powerful this resource is in growing a business. By having a medium to show my company's services, I can better convince potential customers of our abilities and how we can meet their goals.

Leave your suggestions or share your PowerPoint stories!

Inspired Blog

2011-08-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

One of things we love best about our job is when our products help other people reach their goals.

Inspired IT wrote a blog detailing how they downloaded Process_0325 from BizGraphics on Demand to help make "a boring list look interesting."

However, as they populated the graphic with their text, they began to see this graphic in a different light. They began to reconsider the purpose for displaying their information in this graphic. What did they want their audience to take away from the visual? Certainly, their audience didn't care that the image was "interesting." If it didn't communicate anything relevant, why show it to them? The graphic needed to be more than just a cool image. It needed to have a purpose and communicate that purpose to their audience.

They distilled their information down into the most important points that mattered to their audience. Using these points, they slowly transformed this graphic from a unique image to that which clearly communicated their goals. The author realized the graphic needed a goal or else it should not be used. What started as an "interesting" image ended as a graphic that not only captured the audience's attention but communicated the author's objectives in a memorable and compelling way.

Check out how they did it!

What We Can Learn from Temple Grandin

2011-07-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

My name is Temple Grandin. I'm not like other people. I think in pictures and I connect them.
—Temple Grandin, HBO films, 2010

Trailer

One of the things I stress during my training, in my book, on this site is that we are all visual thinkers. And one of the best ways to sell your idea to others, to train your audience in your process, or promote your business is to do it with visuals.

For Dr. Temple Grandin that is one of the best ways to communicate with her. She's autistic and she is a total visual thinker. Unlike most of us, who can process verbal commands and information, Dr. Grandin's brain translates words into pictures before it can process what is being requested. Then she sees an image of her response and her brain translates her response into words before she can speak.

Sounds overwhelming, right?

Well, for Dr. Grandin it was how she'd always thought and had assumed everyone else thought as well. In fact, if it wasn't for this unique way her brain processed the world, she probably wouldn't have gone on to revolutionize the farming industry by designing and implementing humane stockyards, corrals, loading ramps, and many other facilities for farm animals. Because of the perspective autism gave her, she could see obvious design flaws in farming equipment with the ability to "test-run" or visualize how the equipment will operate before it was even built. She'd even crawl in the mud to get on the same level of the animals and watch their behavior, picking up on clues for why certain coral methods upset the animals causing a stampede.

Coming of age in the 1960s, when autism was not clearly understood, Dr. Grandin had to overcome great adversity and prejudices to get through school and go on to earn her master's degree and then doctorate. Couple her unique personality with being a woman and Dr. Grandin had a further uphill battle to be accepted in the ranching and farming communities—primarily a man's field. In the HBO film, Temple Grandin, one of the owners of a slaughterhouse asks why she thinks her new configuration for his processing plant would work. He'd never seen a plan like hers and didn't think it could possibly do what she claimed.

She replied that she knew it would work, because she could see it in her mind. She could visualize it working and was convinced it would be successful.

Now imagine if you gave your audience this ability—the ability to see your process, idea, product successfully at work.

Do you think they'd be convinced?

3 Presentation Secrets for Non-profits

2011-07-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

Check out Microsoft's PowerPoint blog for our latest guest blog spot highlighting presentation secrets for non-profits. Add a few of your own!

3 Tips to Making Powerful Presentations to the Government

2011-06-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Check out our new post on Microsoft's PowerPoint blog with tips to making powerful presentations to the government.

Add a few tips of your own!

Change the World with PowerPoint

2011-06-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

Want to learn 2 steps to change the world with PowerPoint?

Check out our first article in a series for Microsoft's blog and tell us what you think!

5 Questions with Geetesh Bajaj

2011-06-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Microsoft MVP, author of several PowerPoint books, and owner of Indezine.com—just to mention a few of his involvements—Geetesh Bajaj is a PowerPoint guru. His website hosts a multitude of PowerPoint articles from industry experts, detailed tips on PowerPoint features, a PowerPoint e-zine, and free templates for download. If you have a question about PowerPoint, you'll find the answer—and more–on his site. Recently, Geetesh answered 5 questions and imparted some of his PowerPoint wisdom.

You have authored and co-authored several books on PowerPoint—including Cutting Edge PowerPoint 2007 for Dummies and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit—and you are an MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional). When and how did you first get involved with using Microsoft PowerPoint?

My involvement with PowerPoint was not planned, nor were the books, or even becoming an MVP. So it’s probably something I was destined to do!

I got started with PowerPoint around 15 years ago to help a client create a presentation—I still remember that presentation, because I used more of Photoshop than PowerPoint in the slides— a few more presentations later, I was asking questions in the PowerPoint newsgroups. I found that I could answer many questions asked by others and did that for the next 3 or 4 years before Microsoft recognized me as an MVP. I have been an MVP for the last 11 years now, and that has opened up a whole new world. Writing those books was part of this new world.

I want to add that I no longer need to use Photoshop while creating presentations— Microsoft has put in so much graphic abilities in PowerPoint now that it is easier to create better presentations that take less time to make.
What is one of the most useful features in PowerPoint 2010 for presenters?

There are tons of great features that many users are aware of—but there are many others that are little known. I find the option to create a video clip of the entire presentation to be a huge timesaver—this lets me upload the video to YouTube without having to worry about anyone editing my presentation.

In addition, PowerPoint 2010 lets you broadcast your PowerPoint, too. Also, while I was authoring a book on Office 2011 for Mac, I experimented with the co-authoring options available in both PowerPoint 2010 (Windows) and 2011 (Mac)—that’s an amazing feature that people need to discover!
PowerPoint 2007 offers increased graphic capabilities with new tools that make it easier for presenters to create graphics. What graphic tools do you recommend in PowerPoint 2007? How has Microsoft improved on PowerPoint’s graphic capabilities in their 2010 version?

PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 both provide amazing graphic abilities – but that’s not the most important graphic feature they include. I find that the Reset options for pictures are amazing. I can play with a picture, change it to black and white, change other attributes, add some effects, and then if I want, I can reset it so that all changes go away. Wow! I don’t even need an undo any more and would never go back to the Photoshop/PowerPoint workflow unless I need a real high-end graphic effect.

PowerPoint 2010 adds the cool, background removal option, and this takes a little effort getting used to, but it is so useful.
With articles from various experts, resources on everything related to PowerPoint, and millions of page views a month, your website Indezine.com has become the informational site for everything related to presenting and PowerPoint. When did you begin Indezine.com and why did you decide to create this website?

As I already told you in a previous answer, I was a frequent participant in the PowerPoint newsgroups. In those days, newsgroups worked within news programs rather than as in-browser discussion groups. When users had questions about PowerPoint, they just went ahead and asked their questions because there were not as many search options to look for similar questions that other people had asked before them. Thus, you ended up with the same questions being asked several times a day. Rather than type in the answers repeatedly, I set up Indezine.com and would type in the URL that contained the answer users were looking for.

Thereafter, Indezine.com just evolved into a community. Today thousands of subscribers and millions of visitors from all over the world frequent Indezine.com.
What is the most important piece of advice for a presenter who uses PowerPoint?
Keep it simple and remember what you want to say is more important than how your slides look. If you have nothing to say, it won’t matter if your slides look amazing! Content is important, so create the structure of your presentation outside PowerPoint—preferably on a piece of paper. Only when you have the entire structure ready, go ahead and launch PowerPoint.

Once your presentation is ready, keep plenty of time available to practice, and then redo your slides over and over again until you feel confident and happy!

Fotolia Review

2011-05-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was given the opportunity to test out Fotolia, a Royalty-free, online stock image library. I set up an account, searched their database and began downloading images.

I was pleasantly surprised with Fotolia’s options. Fotolia has more than 12 million photographs, illustrations, vector images, and HD videos. Keywords made it easy to find relevant images. For example, I found over 5,000 photos of business meetings for a website I designed. I found more than 4,000 healthcare icons that were editable with illustration software (e.g., Adobe Illustrator). I was able to narrow these search results by using more specific keywords (meeting room, doctors, women only). When I searched for more generic terms like “business group,” I received over 50,000 choices. The photographs show diversity as well as a variety of natural and posed images, groups and individuals, and professional activities.

I love the variety, broad applications, and uniqueness of the graphics I found. Below are a few of the raster images I downloaded to use in marketing pieces.

The following are examples of some vector imagery I downloaded for a project.

Like other stock image companies, you purchase either credits or a subscription to use towards your downloads. The higher the resolution (or the more complex the vector graphic), the more credits needed to download the image. However, credits start from $0.75 each, so even high-resolution images are well priced. I downloaded several photographs for $6-8 each—an excellent value for the image quality. On a few fronts, Fotolia differentiates themselves from their competitors:

Downloaded comps don’t have logos superimposed over the image. Their comps were very useful when I created my sample web layout before I bought, because there were no logos obscuring the images.
Unique images. Many styles of images on this site, I have seen nowhere else.
Over 100,000 video clips for web presentations.
Highly competitive pricing. (Bottom line: you'll pay less here.)
PowerPoint and Word plug-in to instantly add photos and videos without leaving the software. This is great way to save time while working in these packages, particularly in PowerPoint, so you can test out photographs with one click before you buy. Check it out:

I added Fotolia to my short list of online resources. I recommend you do the same. You won’t be disappointed.

5 Questions with Nancy Duarte

2011-03-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

If you are a presenter, then you should already know Nancy Duarte.

If you don't. Go to her website. ... Now!

Well, after you read our interview. ;)

Nancy Duarte, is a presentation expert and she has the portfolio—as well as the books (Slide:ology and Resonate) and a successful company—to prove it. She is the CEO of Duarte, a presentation company that goes beyond typical PowerPoint fare, designing high-end presentations for Executive Keynotes (Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth) to Launches (Palm Pre) to so much more and boasts clients such as Apple, Facebook, Ford, Twitter, and Wells Fargo among many other big name players. I encourage you to check out Duarte's website and be inspired by the amazing—and widely creative–presentations her team has created. She even offers presentation training, so you can learn how to create your own inspiring presentations through meaningful visuals and thoughtful content.

Recently, Nancy was kind enough to take time to answer five questions for our readers.

1. You started making "presentations" as a child. Why are you so passionate about presentations?
A child eh? I’m older than you think! When I was young, I did have signs I was a visual communicator. I loved to fire up the film strip projector and usually chose homework assignments that included drawing over those that required prose. Since I’m heavily weighted toward being a visual learner coupled with the fact that the primary visuals we use in business involve a presentation is what drew me to the field. I love communications that are clear, so taking a muddled mess and making it clear is like solving a puzzle to me.

2. Do you believe presentations can change the world? Why?
You can point to an oratory moment that has been the flashpoint for almost every historic movement. If you think about it, some companies today are larger than historic kingdoms have ever been. So even within a company there needs to be presentations that spark change to ensure survival and competitive advantage. Consider the small shifts companies have to make to be at the right place in the future. A well communicated presentation is the way to get them there.

3. What is one common mistake that presenters make in their PowerPoint presentations and how can presenters avoid it?
Most people cut too many corners of the creative process when creating a presentation. There are times when throwing together a deck for a quick meeting is okay. But when trying to persuade an audience, nothing should be just thrown together. It’s a cop out to Frankenstein a deck together instead of thinking through the nuances of an audience. First, move out of the linear trap of the slide application itself. Try to look at the entire presentation as a whole by working in outline mode or by moving sticky notes around on a surface. Make sure that each slide supports the main idea but also creates a compelling storyline.

4. In your latest book, Resonate, you focus on creating compelling presentation content by applying the rules of great storytelling to affect your audience. The title is referenced in your first rule, "Resonance causes change." Can you elaborate on what this means for presenters?
When someone says “that resonated with me” what they are saying is “that rings true” or that they are “in agreement with you.” That’s the kind of result you want from a presentation every time. I decided to title my book Resonate when I saw this physics experiment online.

I had my son recreate this by pouring salt on a steel plate and running an audio frequency through the plate. Something magic happens when we resonate at the right frequency. It’s like the pieces of sand just know where to move. It’s as if the grains of sand are all part of a grand plan that they choose to align to. When you resonate deeply, an audience can make something collectively beautiful.

5. Do you believe presenters—and presentation graphics—have improved in recent years?
There is definitely unrest among audiences right now. Great unrest. It’s almost as if an unprepared presenter is stepping unwittingly into a trap because the audience knows the principles of a great presentation and they have a voice via social media channels now. With my work and that of Garr Reynolds, Stephen Few, Dave Sibbet, Nick Morgan, Dan Roam and others, best practices have emerged. Audiences feel that the presenter undervalues them and their time when the presenter doesn’t take time to communicate in an engaging manner. There’s been some improvement but we have a long way to go!

5 Questions with Connie Malamed

2011-03-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

Last year, I had the pleasure to attend a graphics workshop by Connie Malamed at the Presentation Summit. Connie is the author of Visual Language For Designers: Principles For Creating Graphics That People Understand, author of two blogs—The eLearning Coach and Understanding Graphics—and is a consultant and public speaker, teaching individuals and organizations to use cognitive psychology to create better visual communication.

In her workshop, Your Brain on Graphics, Connie reiterated again and again the importance of communicating with visuals. She taught basic rules for how people perceive and interpret pictures based on psychological research. By knowing and applying these guidelines when creating graphics, our visual messages would be more effective and lead to our greater success.

I had found a kindred spirit!

Since that workshop, I have been recommending Connie to anyone who wants to learn more about how your audience responds to graphics and the psychology behind effective visuals. Her book, Visual Language For Designers: Principles For Creating Graphics That People Understand, expands upon research I discuss in Billion Dollar Graphics and goes into more depth about basic cognitive principles and how to use them to reach your audience.

Connie took time out of her busy schedule to answer 5 questions about visual communication for our readers:

What is your visual communication background?
I’ve been interested in the visual arts since childhood. My mother was an interior designer and our house was filled with artwork propped against the walls for her clients. In that environment, I almost didn’t have a choice but to become hyper-visual. I studied fine arts and art education as an undergraduate. On a day-to-day basis, I now work in several fields that involve visual communication: eLearning, website design and information design.
What led you to write Visual Language For Designers: Principles For Creating Graphics That People Understand and to dedicate yourself to promoting the design principles detailed in the book?
I’m fascinated with cognition how we think, learn and solve problems. My graduate studies focused on instructional design, which is based on cognitive psychology. So it was natural for me to synthesize visual communication and cognitive psychology … to wonder how we process visual information and to ask how we can improve visual design based on our cognitive architecture.

I didn’t see many books out there discussing this, so I’ve been researching these questions for years. When the time was right, I found a publisher so I could share what I’ve learned.
Your book provides six design principles, based on cognitive science, to "align graphics with our cognitive architecture." Can you give us a brief overview of one of those principles?
In today’s world, where we are bombarded with information of all kinds, it helps to understand how to get your message across quickly and efficiently. The Reduce Realism principle explains how “low fidelity” graphics get processed more easily than complex graphics. Designers can reduce realism by removing shadows and detail and limiting color.

Examples of graphics with reduced realism include line drawings, silhouettes and icons. These types of graphics get recognized and understood quickly and the mind fills in any the missing information.
What are the common mistakes most people make in visual communication?
A common mistake is that people don’t realize how our brains are hard wired for visual communication. In presentations and in eLearning, you’ll find screens of text where the ideas could be communicated through visuals. Graphics help gain attention, they are memorable and audiences understand them. Designers should always consider whether verbal or visual communication would be best for a particular message. Many times, both are needed.
Your blog, Understanding Graphics, offers a variety of well-researched guidelines on information design. Can you leave our audience with one guideline you find most essential for visual communication?
One of the most important things to remember is that people can only process around four bits of visual information at one time. So designers should keep their visuals clean, clear and easy to understand. They can help viewers focus on the most important information by creating a visual hierarchy. Research shows that when people find information easy to process, they feel more positive about it.

To learn more about Connie and her book and services, visit her website at www.malamedconsulting.com.

Interview with Rick Altman

2011-01-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

For those in the presentation industry, Rick Altman is the man with a plan—a plan to help presenters create better presentations. His years of presentation experience produced the must-have book for any presenter: Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck and How You Can Make Them Better. I had the opportunity to meet Rick during The Presentation Summit, a fun and informative conference he hosts that feels more like a retreat with a group of cool people who share the same passion for presentations (and having a good time) as Rick. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Rick about his "true passion," too much crap in presentations, and his most important rule for presenters.

Q. You host the annual Presentation Summit, teach presentation techniques through your PresentationNext workshops, have written many books, and consult with a myriad of companies. How did you develop this passion for presentations?
A. Well, we're not saving the world or anything.

Q. But you have to have passion for it.
A. It's not just a job, that's true. Anyone who is self-employed will tell you that you have to absolutely love it to do it well. I started giving presentations for the graphic design community—CorelDraw users in the early 1990s. This was before PowerPoint even existed.

Q. Did you use Lotus Persuasion?
A. Close—Harvard Graphics. Then in the 2000s, as the Corel universe shrank, it became clear that the market for presentation design was growing.

Q. What led you to write your book Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck and How You Can Make Them Better?
A. Now that's passion! It is my 15th book but the first one that I have self-published. I pitched a book on advanced PowerPoint technique to each of the publishers that I had a relationship with and they all agreed, provided that I include several chapters on introductory material.

Q. And you didn't want to do that?
A. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to sink my teeth into meaty topics, not a bunch of "here's how you make a bullet list" stuff. So I just published it myself.

Q. And that allowed you to use that title?
A. What, you don't think Microsoft Press would have gone for it?

Q. Well ...
A. Such a cynic.

Q. What is a common mistake that presenters make in their PowerPoint presentations?
A. Too much crap.

Q. Too much crap?
A. Too much text, too much junk, too much motion, too much background, too much everything.

Q. Not only does your book give pointers on creating better presentations through design techniques, but it also touches on rules for developing slide content and tips for public speaking. Can you tell us the most important rule presenters should know?
A. I believe it is always remembering that the person is the presentation, the slides are not. Nobody walks into a room looking forward to seeing your slides—that doesn't happen. People come to a presentation to hear what you have to say. When you make your slide content more important than your own words and ideas, you do everyone a disservice, especially yourself.

Q. Do you believe presenters—and presentation graphics—have improved in recent years?
A. Without a doubt. Five years ago, few companies seemed to care about presentation. They would spend millions of dollars on their brand, but send someone out for the first impression—the sales call in the boardroom—with a few hours of training with PowerPoint and no knowledge of presentation best practices. Today that is changing. We sold out the conference last year and my phone rings often. Companies are starting to get it that they have to invest in broad-based presentation skills development.

Q. You sound passionate about that.
A. Back to that, are we? Okay, if I were good enough to have played tennis professionally, I would have been passionate about that. This is a pretty close second, I admit.

PresentationNext 2011

2011-01-24T05:19:00.000-08:00

Our friend Rick Altman, the man behind the extraordinary Presentation Summit and author of Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck & How You Can Make Them Even Better, is hitting the road with his one-day presentation workshop—PresentationNext. Having sat through Rick's presentations at the conference, I learned a lot about good presentation principles from this charismatic and knowledgeable speaker. He knows presentations—from the ins and outs of PowerPoint tools to good design basics to the best way to craft your message when speaking in front of your audience. Whether you are a presentation designer, content creator, presenter—or someone who wears a variety of these hats—you are guaranteed to learn something new at his workshop and improve your skills.

To learn more, go to PresentationNext.

Below are the dates and cities:

March 8: Los Angelas
March 22: Atlanta
April 4: Dallas
April 13: San Jose
April 26: Chicago
May 9: Newark, NJ
May 10: Baltimore

Space is limited to 35 per workshop. Check it out today!

Presentation Summit —WOW—Part II

2010-12-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

Because the Presentation Summit was so spectacular, I needed another blog just to highlight a few more amazing resources.

One of the things I liked best about the conference was how most attendees agreed with me!

Okay ... that sounds like I'm patting myself on the back a little too hard, but let me explain. There was a consensus among the speaker and the attendees that great visuals matter in presentations. Rick Altman and all the keynotes expounded it. There were many workshop speakers like Connie Malamed, who wrote Visual Language for Designers: Principles for Creating Graphics that People Understand and who has a blog devoted to understanding graphics. She applies cognitive science to explain how best to use visual design. In her presentation, she spoke about "primitive features"–those features like color, size orientation, movement, shape and depth—that the brain notices first. You can use these "primitive features" to emphasize key concepts and benefits. Knowing how the brain processes visuals is a great way to learn how to create visuals that will positively affect your audience and make your presentation a success.

Wayne Michael, Director of Education and Marketing Operations for Novogaradac & Company LLC, gave an informed workshop on keeping presentations simple by using less text and using simple graphics to depict complex technical concepts. Carmen Taran, co-founder of Rexi Media, gave an eye popping presentation with interesting visuals about how to create webinars that hold your audience's attention. One of the easiest ways is to interact and ask questions of your audience, give them mints to keep them from yawning, and another way—keep your audience's attention with a mix of visuals from a video to a website and then to a graphic. You will keep your audience guessing and wondering what you will be doing next. Check out Rexi Media for workshops and just peruse their slide redesigns to get some fantastic ideas. Dave Paradi, author of The Visual Slide Revolution and 102 Tips to Communicate More Effectively Using PowerPoint, gave a great workshop on giving your presentation impact when it's not delivered in person. If you have to email your presentation to a potential client, it can lose the essence of your message. However, through designing the presentation with hyperlinks, you can make it easier for the viewer to navigate and allow content like multimedia files to be displayed. Or better yet, create a movie of your slide and post it to a website or send as a video slide. Dave recommended a free software called Audacity to edit your audio. Also, PowerPoint 2010 has a wonderful new feature: you can export slides directly to video. Amazing! You can learn more about Dave's presentation knowledge and ideas at his website, Think Outside the Slide.

As you can see, I just touched the tip of iceberg that was the Presentation Summit. Below is an overview of some websites with great resources and product offerings that I found at the Presentation Summit. Check them out and bookmark them, and then you'll be well on your way to being a presentation and graphics expert!

Presentation Summit: Official website of the conference and information on Rick Altman's consulting services and book.
Rexi Media: Carman Taran's company that offers workshops, products, and consulting on creating better presentations.
Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Blog: Ideas on creating better PowerPoint presentations and tips on using various PowerPoint features.
Understanding Graphics: Connie Malamed's blog on understanding visual communication through knowledge of the human mind.
Nigel Holmes: Learn from the best in explanation graphics. Wonderful examples from an amazing graphic artist.
Nancy Duarte: Extraordinary insight and tips on what makes better presentations.
Terberg Design: Julie Terberg is a Microsoft MVP and knows the package inside and out.
Workforce Echoes: Consulting firm specializing in "People Ecosystems."
Missing Link: South African design company that is pushing the "slide" with innovative design and doing a fantastic job.

Here are some other great resources and innovative products:

Indezine: Geetesh Bjaj is a Microsoft MVP who created a website built around his wealth of knowledge that is now the go-to-source of all things related to PowerPoint presentations—including graphics.
NXPowerLite: Software that radically reduces the file size of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations with no discernible loss of quality.
Slide Executive: Helps you to organize your slides and search and retrieve information from your library of slides to create new presentations, saving you time.
Slidetown: Solutions for your presentations.
SOAP: State of the Art Presentations works with Carmen Taran on her truly memorable visuals.
VisualBee: A PowerPoint plugin that automatically designs presentations based on your text and brand. Great resource for a small business!
Smart Draw: Start with one of their 70 graphic templates and you are on your way to creating graphics from scratch using their simple commands to add shapes to build your visuals.

Presentation Summit —WOW—Part I

2010-11-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

From October 17-20, we attended the Presentation Summit at beautiful Mission Beach in San Deigo, though we didn't get to see too much of area because Rick Altman and his team running the conference kept us very busy with amazing speakers and networking events and an array of learning opportunities.

I was blown away by the lineup of experts speaking at the conference and how these experts touted again and again the importance of visual communication. Nigel Holmes kicked off the keynotes with a presentation on the art of visual communication. His unique take on how to visually communicate has changed the way graphic designers create information graphics (e.g., replace bars in a graph with toothpaste when comparing about the amount of toothpaste by various demographics—that's a Nigel Holmes' graphic!). Check out his website to get inspiration and learn more about his way of visual thinking, which can hopefully change the way you view graphics. One of my takeaways from his session is to eliminate the unnecessary so the necessary can speak. Brilliant!

The conference continued to provide expert after expert teaching us PowerPoint tips, presentation advice, and making better PowerPoint presentations through better graphics. I highly recommend checking out Julie Terberg. She is a Microsoft MVP and gave an informative workshop on designing presentations for large corporations. Some of her advice included

Design your presentation's background color to your speaking environment. For example, a big, bright room will compete with a white background on your slides and make it harder to see.
Set defaults in your PowerPoint file for lines and shapes. For example, draw a line and determine the width, color, and style. Right click on the line and set as "default." Whenever you draw a line in that PowerPoint file, it will now use your preset line style to save you time in formatting and keep your lines consistent.
Include your longer bullets or speaking points in the notes and not on the slide.
"Control drag" to place 8 horizontal and 8 vertical guides to ensure your information is aligned from slide to slide.

Nancy Duarte, author of Slide:ology and Resonate, gave a keynote on connecting with your audience to inspire support for your vision. She analyzed popular speeches and stories and found patterns in the most remembered expositions that can be translated to effective presentations. In keeping with the story theme, she viewed a presenter as a mentor and the audience as the hero. Just like in the great novels, you expect the hero to change and grow throughout the plot. That is the same when giving a presentation or exposing your audience to your ideas/concepts. Before you design your presentation, you need to understand who the audience is in the beginning and who you want them to be by the end of your presentation. How do you want to change the way they think, view your product/service, understand the world around them through the information you are presenting to them. It is a powerful concept and she goes into further detail in her latest book, Resonate. I'm adding that book to my Christmas list!

I had hope to write everything about the conference in one blog. However, I'm going to split this blog topic into a few more entries ... I've gotten a little excited about this topic and there was just so much to learn and see! I want to write more about people we met and the helpful products we encountered (like Neuxpower, file optimization software that allows you to compress files without losing quality—revolutionary for anyone who deals with huge files!). I will also be posting interviews in the coming year with several of the experts we had met at the conference.

Check back often. Part II to come shortly ...

Expert Interview by an Expert Interviewer

2010-10-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was interviewed by Michael Searles of Michael Searles Media for his blog series, Interviews with Experts. I was honored that he considered doing an interview with me and excited that he wanted me to impart my knowledge of visual communication with his audience. You can listen to the full interview (and also get a peak at the first chapter of Billion Dollar Business Graphics) at his blog by clicking here.

I also recommend bookmarking his site and checking back often. If you are in sales or marketing or an entrepreneur looking to improve your business in various ways, Michael Searles has an expert interview to help guide you on the right path with some brilliant ideas and insight. Past interviews and blogs include social media tips, building successful email lists (including an interesting blog about Martin Lewis who has 5,000,000 people on his mailing list), writing techniques, and motivational stories—to name a few.

Thank you, Michael, for compiling a great site for so much helpful information for anyone who wants to improve their life and business. And thank you, again, for an amazing interview.

Now check it out!

How to Make Your Benefits and Discriminators Standout

2010-09-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Potential clients have fractured attention spans. Your target audience wants to quickly understand your solution and know why they should use your product or buy into your solution. Your goal is to make it as easy as possible for your audience to choose you and your company. (I’m sure you can see the advantages of making your audience happy, right?)

An easy, effective trick to highlight your benefits and discriminators AND advertise your service/product as the best, smartest, and easiest choice is to use icons and symbols.

Icons and symbols break up the monotony of page after page of text in a proposal, quickly highlights your features in a PowerPoint presentation, and can make your benefits standout in marketing pieces.

An icon is defined as a representational graphic element that is visually analogous with an action, concept, or entity. A symbol is a representational graphic element that has a learned meaning or accepted connotation for an action, concept, or entity.
You can use any image to represent any action, concept, or entity as long as it is logically relevant. Use your insight into your target audience to establish relevancy. (Stylistically, you can make your icons and symbols as high-end or simple as needed for your audience.)

With this in mind, be sure to choose imagery that is logically relevant to “benefits” and “discriminators” while being congruent with your company, your client, or the subject matter. (For example, use a lock for IT security and a safe for financial security. Whatever you choose, make sure your icons and symbols remain consistent throughout your proposal, presentation, and marketing materials [i.e., website, brochures, advertisements].)

I highly recommend labeling your icons and symbols directly to avoid confusion (as shown in the symbols to the left). Labeling ensures clarity and clarity helps ensure success.

If you are page constrained for a proposal or slide limited for a presentation, another approach is to eliminate labeling and simply use legends early in your proposal or presentation—in context—to communicate whether your content is a benefit or discriminator. The following is an example of a discriminator symbol used without a legend.

In the end, it is your decision whether or not to use labels or legends; however, apply your understanding of your future client to determine the right approach. Your goal is to make it as easy as possible for your target audience to choose you.

Graphic Cheat Sheet (and How to Use It)

2010-08-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

Check out our new graphic cheat sheet:

Okay, so it's a little hard to make out all the details on the blog, but you can download a free pdf copy at http://www.billiondollargraphics.com/BizGraphicsOnDemand.html. Just scroll down to the end of the page and click on the image of the graphic cheat sheet and the pdf will download to your desktop. We'll also be giving out printed copies during our session at The Presentation Summit in October, so stop by our booth to say "hi!"

The graphic cheat sheet offers you suggestions for graphic types that best convey various concepts in simple, complex, and quantitative ways. For example, if you want to show Synergy, scroll down the far left column to the row labeled Synergy. Under the Simple column (for information not too intricate), you will see suggestions like a building block graphic, chain graphic, or pyramid graphic. For more robust concepts of Synergy, you can look under the Complex column and find suggestions like a funnel graphic, vee diagram, collage, or a stacked graphic. For numeric concepts of Synergy, look under the Quantitative column to find a pie chart and dashboard graphic.

Whenever you're stuck with how to visually communicate your ideas, break out this cheat sheet!

I created the sheet to give you new ideas for graphics and force you to consider different ways to show your information. Maybe for Hierarchy, you always used a pyramid graphic. However, in reviewing the sheet, you notice that a stair graphic or a temple graphic might work better and offer another way to visually communicate your information and keep your presentations and marketing materials fresh.

Hope this sheet helps you find better and more creative ways to communicate your ideas. As always, you can email me at info@BillionDollarGraphics.com with any suggestions for articles or other helpful resources or graphic questions.

10 Rules of Presentation Graphics

2010-07-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

If you're reading this blog, hopefully that means you are a believer in the power of visuals. And I'm not talking about adding pretty pictures because you want to keep your audience awake. Graphics need to be polished and professional in appearance and need to follow certain rules to be effective—and keep your audience's attention.

Below are ten rules to ensure that you design a winning presentation.

1. Use graphics to highlight your features, benefits, and discriminators (that may otherwise be lost in a sea of words). Remember to answer your audience’s questions. Use your graphic to highlight the most salient, audience-focused points. Make it obvious why the information communicated is important and valuable to them. Point out features, benefits, and discriminators when applicable.

2. Make all graphics customer focused. For example, which slide would be more communicative to the United States Army (A or B)?

Slide A focuses on the target audience and uses terms and imagery that they can understand and relate to. It addresses issues the Army cares about. The likelihood that the slide will clearly communicate the intended messages significantly increases. Slide B is focused on the presenter and what they want to say about themselves without regard to their audience. The presenter of slide B failed to learn more about the target audience (and the slide reflects that fact). They present slide B as if they were presenting to another business within their industry instead of catering to the potential client.

3. Keep it clean and simple. Unnecessary visual clutter and too much data interfere with audience understanding. Focus on the most important questions your audience has. You cannot achieve the primary objective if your target audience cannot quickly digest your visual or is confused by the graphic. If your graphic is too verbose or complex, suggest using another standalone graphic to communicate what could not be included in one visual. Avoid using too many different images, lines, shapes, patterns, textures, and colors. Doing so helps eliminate unnecessary visual noise that interferes with your graphic’s primary objective. The following are examples of unnecessarily cluttered visuals.

4. Adhere to the “rules of engagement” to ensure compliance and maximum consideration, if your presentation responds to an formal RFP (Request for Proposal). Presentations have been thrown out because of noncompliance. It would be a waste of money, time, and energy to lose because your team failed to follow the formatting requirements.

5. Use a template with graphic and text style guides, palette, and sample imagery. The more detail, the better. Templates help guarantee consistency and consistency breeds trust. Choose colors and imagery that reflect your client. If you want to be safe, choose analogous (colors that appear next to one another on the color wheel).

6. Label elements directly to avoid confusion. When depicting steps in a process, label them as such. The clearer your labels the more effective your clarification and/or explanation. As a result your graphic is more likely to be successful. Avoid legends. Legends add visual clutter and force the audience to waste valuable time deciphering your message. Plus, your audience will not have time to properly read the legend if the graphic appears on a slide.

7. Use recognizable images or quickly identify and explain any unknown imagery. If an image of a new concept, entity, or action is introduced that is not recognized, understood, or quickly defined, the intended messages will be clouded or lost. If a new element is introduced, define it. Share its relevance with your audience.

8. All visual elements should have a specific role in the explanation and a reason for being chosen and incorporated. This rule includes, but is not limited to, images, icons, symbols, shapes, colors, fonts, line weight, placement, and size. All aesthetic decisions should have a reason for being used that contributes to your graphic’s primary objective.

9. Avoid clip art. Canned, unprofessional art tells the audience that they were not important enough to take the time to develop a professional presentation. Support your claim that you offer the best solution with professionally rendered, clear, communicative, compelling graphics. Be sure to verify that your design resource is a professionally trained designer and experienced in the software required to complete the task. A professional graphic designer understands how to engage an audience, communicate a concept, and generate a positive emotional state through the use of appealing aesthetics.

10. Properly plan. Staff and schedule to allow an average of one to four hours per graphic—depending upon image complexity (includes edits); one graphic per slide (best case scenario); and one page per minute for full color printing (accounts for printing challenges such as power failures, breakdowns, etc.).

Apply these 10 rules the next time you are designing your presentation. They can also apply to any materials where you use graphics to communicate your concepts to reach your audience and keep their attention.

______________________________

Want to learn more rules and helpful lessons for better presentations? Why not attend The Presentation Summit? You'll be treated workshops that cover presentation design, PowerPoint tips, and many other workshops to improve the way you do presentations. Plus, it's in beautiful San Diego ... need I say more?

Visual Metaphors

2010-06-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

I blogged about visual metaphors in an earlier post, "Think Outside the Pie Chart," but I believe there is more to be said about the power of visual metaphors. Most importantly, how you can find the right visual metaphor for your solution, process, idea, tool, or whatever information you're attempting to impart on your audience.

Visual metaphors, similes, and analogies can help communicate information that may otherwise be more confusing or time consuming to present as is. As I've touted before, visuals are digested far faster than text alone and are more memorable. Distilling a complex solution into a simple, yet effective, graphic is one way to successfully communicate an important concept to your audience—and reach your goals.

Often the key to what metaphor to use can be found in how you describe your solution to others. You'd be surprised how often metaphors, similes, and analogies pop up in our daily conversations and how they work their way into our solution descriptions. Below are are a few descriptions of solutions and the visual metaphor used to illuminate each concept. Can you tell what visual metaphor will work best for each solution just from the description?

_______________________

Solution: Our system gathers large volumes of information and automatically funnels out irrelevant data. All relevant data is funneled into an intuitive graphic user interface so the end user can easily review relevant actionable information.

_______________________

Solution: We have a four-step approach (analyze, plan, test, and deploy) to transitioning the old system to the new system. Our approach will safely bridge the gap between the old and new systems and overcome the risky waters of transition.

_______________________

Solution: Each piece of our five-part training program fits together to form a winning team.
_______________________

Solution: Our database storage system outweighs the competition in capacity, speed, and dependability.
_______________________

Solution: From the ground up, we are transitioning our branch offices to be more green.

_______________________

Now try this exercise with your own ideas and concepts. Look for clues in your descriptions that can point you toward the correct visual metaphor that will help you successfully reach your audience.

You can also browse sites like BizGraphics On Demand to get more ideas when trying to visually communicate your complex ideas. Type in keyword and phrases from your descriptions into the search function and see what pops up.

Good luck!

Is PowerPoint the Enemy?

2010-05-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, The New York Times ran an article entitled, “We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint” by Elisabeth Bumiller. The article focused on how PowerPoint is now the military standard in briefings much to the chagrin of many who see creating PowerPoint presentations as a time waster—and the enemy to actual "discussion, critical thinking, and thoughtful decision-making." Some junior officers spend the majority of their time creating PowerPoint slides for briefings that storyboard "just about anything that happens," according to Lt. Sam Nuxull, an Army platoon leader in Iraq.

Of course, this contentious article might never have been written if not for the following slide that received much attention:

Part of a presentation to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and other officials, this graphic depicts the complexity of the American military strategy in Afghanistan. However, if the author of the slide intended to show how the strategy is convoluted and confusing, he succeeded, because no one in the room could follow it. After viewing this PowerPoint slide, the general commented, "When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war."

Graphics like this one and many other convoluted presentations give PowerPoint a bad rep. But PowerPoint is not the enemy. People not being properly trained in how to create graphics and good presentations are the enemy to ... well ... PowerPoint and audiences everywhere that are held captive by these confusing and boring briefings. People assume that merely knowing how to use graphic software will automatically make their ideas and concepts understandable. They forget that PowerPoint is just one of many tools that they need to master to properly communicate their message and successfully reach their goals and reach their audience's limited attention spans.

The presenter spent a lot of time preparing the Afghanistan Stability/COIN Dynamics slide. Unfortunately, they didn't use the proper techniques to disseminate their information and clearly conceptualize the final product. What is the primary objective? Is it a process flow? If so, where is the beginning or the end? How does each element relate the other? Is there a hierarchy? If the author "chunked" the information—pulled out and arranged information in sections—then maybe the audience could have followed the slide. (Check out our latest E-Zine for ways to "chunk" information, so your graphics doesn't become the next example of "what not to do.")

However, there is one situation in which a graphic like this one could work. If it is shown as the current situation/process/tool with the following slide depicting a clean, easy-to-follow version of the new solution—one that your company or team is proposing. That setup would be a brilliant way to win your audience's attention and their gratitude for offering a better solution.

Now if only we can figure out the above slide and help the general win the war ...

2010 Presentation Summit

2010-03-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

Anyone who does presentations for a living or who is just entering the presentation field or who is crazy about PowerPoint should check out The 2010 Presentation Summit.

Rick Altman, author of Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck & How You Can Make Them Even Better, and his team began this conference (formerly PowerPoint Live) in 2003. The original conference centered on the software with various tracks on using PowerPoint, designing slides, and a general knowledge track. The conference has grown each year, and their focus has grown to showing audiences how to design presentations that communicate their messages in engaging ways.

We thought this conference was right up our graphic alley. The main reason we created our Billion Dollar Graphics book and products was to educate business professionals on how to successfully show their ideas. We believe in the importance of visual communication, and so do the folks as Presentation Summit. And that is why we were so excited when Rick Altman gave us the green light to present:

Picture This! Are you overwhelmed by bullet slides? Play Presentation Pictionary and turn your ideas into powerful visuals.

Of course, there are many great presentations that are being offered. Not to mention excellent keynote speakers and Microsoft technicians on hand to answer your PowerPoint questions.

The Presentation Summit is being held in San Diego from October 17–20. Register now to save $100 off of the regular price of $995. Early bird pricing is only $895. Your registration fee includes the following:

Access to all seminars and workshops from Monday–Wednesday. There are three tracks from which to choose a workshop: Tools and Techniques, Presentation Design, and Special Delivery (all the ways that you can reach the audience with your message).
Unlimited access to the Help Center for any PowerPoint technical questions.
A 125-page Conference Guide that provides resources, useful applications, and supplemental notes on the presentations.
Eligibility to win one of the many prizes in a Prize Pool valued over $15,000.
Continental breakfast each morning and a full sit-down lunch on Monday and Tuesday.

Not to mention the talented experts presenting this year including Rick Altman (host and author), Nancy Duarte (author of slide:ology), Julie Terberg (the official "makeover maven"), Nigel Holmes (former executive art director of Time magazine), Richard Bretschneider (senior program manager for PowerPoint), and Garr Reynolds (author of Presentation Zen).

Hope to see you there!

Reuse and Recycle: Get the Most Out of Your Graphics

2010-02-19T14:26:00.000-08:00

You spend hours of your time creating the perfect graphic that depicts your company's core process. You spend money on conceptualization, rendering, and the final production of your perfect graphic.

Then what?

You might use the graphic once in a presentation, proposal, marketing piece, and then it is saved somewhere on the server or your desktop or a designer's hard drive. A year later, you want to communicate the same process or concept in a new presentation, but you can't find the original source files. You have to start from scratch.

I've seen this happen many times on so many different projects that companies end up spending thousands of dollars creating graphics they had already designed once. It saves time and money to have a designer work from a preexisting graphic file than begin with a blank page. Here are a few tips to reuse and recycle your valuable graphic assets:

Create a folder on your server labeled "Graphics" (or whatever is relevant for you) and only give permissions to necessary personnel. You don't want everyone to have access to your graphics, because this leaves room for file deletion, corruption, or even misuse of the graphics.
Within this folder, create an archive of the most used graphics in your organization. Label the folders so the graphics are easy to find, especially if you're under a deadline. You can label the folders with the project name in which the graphic was used (ABC Proposal, XYZ Presentation, etc.) or label it by graphic type (Process Graphics, Organizational Graphics, Network Diagrams, etc.).
Organize this folder with subfolders of High-res Company Logos, Partner Logos, Corporate Photos (e.g., head shots of executives or photographs of company offices), Word Templates, Newsletter Templates, and Stock Images. I would even break out the Stock Image folder into subsets of Generic Business People, Desktop Computers, Computer Components, Office Workers, and any other images that your company uses for its communication pieces.
Consider icons you use to represent databases, process flows, routers, switches, firewalls, laptops, customer service, etc. If you have a central folder where you can access the most frequently used icons, then you will maintain consistency throughout your marketing materials, web pages, proposals, and presentations.
Create a style guide, which details your company's colors, proper logo usage, font usage, and use of images in marketing pieces and on the web. You can even include samples of the proper icons that represent certain concepts or items used in corporate communications. A style guide will help keep your company's image clean, professional, and consistent. Keep this style guide within your graphics folder for your team to easily reference.

It will take time to set up the folder properly. But if you remember to diligently update and maintain a graphic library, you will get the most out of your graphics. No more wasting time and money to recreate graphics when you recycle and reuse!

Happy New Year! Here's Some Free Stuff...

2010-01-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

We're a little late with the New Year's wishes, but we've been busy adding lots of new graphics over the last few months to BizGraphics On Demand. If you haven't been there in awhile click on the left drop down menu and highlight "What's New."

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In my web searches I have found several helpful websites that share free tools for designers. Below is a list (also found in our e-zine) of some great, FREE resources for designers.

Vector Art

Free Vector Art and Graphics: Browse this site to download free, high-end vector images that range from visuals of computer parts to creative backgrounds for marketing pieces. Some of the graphics cost money for commercial use, but many are free to download and use.

vector4free.com: This is a website dedicated to free vector graphics. The graphics are a combination of Adobe Illustrator AI, EPS, PDF, SVG, and Corel Draw CDR files. The site also has a search feature. If you use Illustrator, you can edit the graphics. Otherwise, you can download and place in presentations or any other multimedia package. Again, most allow for commercial use but some may require you to pay for use in advertising or promotional materials.

Icons

VisualPharm: This site offers free icons for download for personal or commercial use. The only caveat is that you link to their site to download the free icons.

IconzWorld: Another site that offers free icons. However, these icons are formatted for the web only.

Stock Photos

stock.xchng: Download free images of print resolution stock photos for personal or commercial use. You can use these high-quality images on websites, printed materials, and presentations. It is an amazing deal for the quality you receive.

Microsoft Office Online: If you are an Office user than you're in luck! You can have access to free images, sounds, and animations from Microsoft's website, and they have partnered with some great names in art like iStockPhoto, Fotolia, and iCLIPART to bring you a varied selection of images.

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Hope these free resources can help you out. If you have any suggestions, let us know. We'll post them in our e-zine or in our next blog.

How to Make the Right Graphic and Avoid the Wrong Graphic

2009-11-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was asked, “I need to show an ‘XYZ’ process (note: this could be any specific action, concept, or thing) but cannot find an example. What should I do?”

I offered them the following two steps to resolve their challenge, which you can apply when faced with developing a new graphic concept.

Step 1

Determine your ultimate goal for showing an “XYZ” process. (Uncovering your graphic's goal is essential when creating any type of graphic—process, organization, overview, quantitative, etc.). For example, is your goal to simply communicate the steps in the process or is it to show how your “XYZ” process is the superior solution? I call this step determining the primary objective. In my experience, most proposal graphics—more than 80%—fail because the author of the graphic has not determined the correct primary objective.

Recently, I supported an IT bid. My client (we’ll call them ABC Company) needed to show that their solution achieved their potential client’s goals, which we later determined were lower cost, increased network speed, and greater uptime. Unfortunately, the engineer tasked had not formalized his primary objective. His approach was to develop a network diagram. Below is an example of a generic network diagram similar to the graphic used. (The graphics in this article contain none of the original information, but the concept is similar enough for this explanation.)

The engineer was very familiar with the current network used by his potential client. He noted, “By restructuring their network, they would lower costs, reduce risk of down time, and increase overall speed.”

He was on the right track but knew it was unlikely that their potential client would link his graphic with their specific goals. Upon further discussion, we determined that ABC Company was offering to do more than a restructuring of their potential client’s network architecture to achieve these goals. Uncovering the primary objective usually results in a completely different graphic. Let’s take a look at an example of the resulting superior graphic approach. (Here’s a secret: Your primary objective is most likely your caption. For example, the following would be this graphic’s caption: Our three-step XYZ process ensures lower cost, increased network speed, and greater uptime.)

Step 2

When faced with developing a graphic with specific content, your next step is to find examples of graphics that show the same concept. There are several resources I recommend for graphic ideas:

Google Images —Type in your concept to see how others have used visuals for similar concepts. A great source to find ideas for how to develop your graphic.
iStockPhoto—Type in a concept and you'll be given images that relate to your concept. You can download and purchase these images for immediate use.
Visual Literacy Periodic Table—A great place to look for graphic ideas.

Also, through Billion Dollar Graphics you can use the following resources for graphic ideas:

BizGraphics On Demand—Type in a concept and see how many ways you can show your idea. (You can also purchase these PowerPoint graphics to use as a starting point for your graphic.)
Business Graphics Library—Search through our graphic samples for inspiration.

Your goal is not to find an example of a “XYZ” process but rather to find similar concepts like flow charts, cyclic processes, and step-by-step graphics. The concept is key. Next, tailor the graphic concept to meet your needs by adding your information. I recommend that you start with graphics that share the same concept. This step eliminates the “blank page syndrome.” Leverage a graphic with a similar primary objective and tailor the content and graphic elements to meet your needs.

Think Outside the Pie Chart

2009-11-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

You replaced your bulleted, text-heavy, boring slides with clear, compelling graphics. Unfortunately, some of your graphics are overused or fail to capture the essence of your idea or solution. (How many times have you seen a temple graphic—looking like the Parthenon—in a presentation?)

Below are some new ways to present your content visually and increase the power of your presentations. The following graphic types are the tip of the iceberg (to use a visual metaphor).

1. Bridge Graphic
This graphic is a metaphor depicting the connection or transition between two actions, concepts, or entities. A bridge connects two separate pieces of land. It crosses over rough water or highways to allow vehicles and pedestrians to safely pass. A bridge graphic is a perfect way to show two companies transitioning into one. Operational flow, process solutions (overcoming the risky waters), system integration, and many other concepts can be succinctly communicated using a bridge graphic.

2. Chain Graphic
Chain graphics show "linked" actions, concepts, or entities. Alternatively, chains illustrate restraint or security. Instead of a Venn diagram, what about a chain diagram? Instead of showing linked concepts with boxes and lines, show a chain of departments, processes, or people to convey the same idea. Use a lock to show a (secure) connection between actions or departments. Or just overlay the chain on top of items to demonstrate security.

3. Conveyor Belt Graphic
This graphic is a metaphor that depicts a repeatable linear process. Conveyor belt graphics are a great way to show forward movement in a process such as assembling a product, recruitment and training steps, lifestyle enhancements, course overview, or system development.

4. Dashboard
Dashboards present multiple metrics–potentially using multiple graphic types—in one consolidated format. It is a “holistic” view of information. On multiple slides you have pie carts, a map, a line chart that all relate to each other. Why not put these objects on one introductory slide to help your audience reach a desired conclusion. (You can then delve into the specifics of each piece on the subsequent slides.)

5. DNA Graphic
This graphic illustrates the synergy of multiple actions, concepts, or entities. Together they combine to create a new, better solution (and breath new “life” into the project). The strands of the DNA can represent two key concepts (like a software tool and a corporate process) with the chromosomes connecting the two via common elements (like activities needed to combine the strand content).

6. Dome Graphic
A dome graphic looks like a “snow globe” illustrating the containment of elements. The dome graphic is great at communicating protection and security. Generally, you combine a “stacked graphic” (shown here) with the dome to show levels in a system, process, or methodology and how the levels relate to one in a secure environment—the dome.

7. Fishbone Diagram
This graphic shows all factors that have an effect on a problem or objective. (Think cause and effect.) The small bones can represent categories, strategies, processes, and departments that join at the spine to create the final outcome.

8. Peg Graphic
This graphic shows the interconnectivity of actions, concepts, or entities to create a unified whole (think Legos®). Use a peg graphic for systems connecting and interacting with one another, building of a process, or departments coming together to form an improved or upgraded solution.

9. Pipe Graphic
This graphic metaphor represents the isolated flow of elements. Instead of using a flowchart, use a pipe graphic to represent concepts like consolidation, synthesis, or combination. Inversely, a pipe graphic can illustrate dispersion or diffusion. Pipe graphics are versatile and can communicate a wide variety of concepts.

10. Road Graphic
This graphic is a metaphor depicting the path between the “as is” or “before” state to the “to be” or “after” state. Like the bridge graphic, a road graphic can show transition and a connection for a process or system. A road graphic is perfect for demonstrating a “future state” or a long-term goal that is “down the road.” It could also be used as an ending to a presentation to illustrate the goal reached at the end of the process.

For more ideas check out Do-It-Yourself Billion Dollar Business Graphics or gather ideas at our Graphics Library or peruse BizGraphicsOnDemand.com to find thousands of graphics that better communicate your story.

Review of BizGraphics

2009-10-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Training Media Review recently reviewed BizGraphics On Demand for their site. We're very excited about the positive feedback we received from the reviewer who thoroughly tested the BizGraphics site from signing up to downloading and using the graphics. Training Media Review is a great resource for unbiased reviews of corporate training technology, games, workplace training books, online courses, software, and up-to-date information about training resources.

Check out their review at http://www.tmreview.com/Review.asp?ID=1768. While you're there, you may want to search their site for other reviews about training and presentation resources and download free reports about authoring tools, recruiting, and presentations. For anyone involved in the training industry, this is a must-have resource to bookmark!

More News and How to Use Quantative Graphics to Illuminate Your Ideas

2009-09-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

Mike's proposal graphics training is now accredited by the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP). Earn 5–10 CEUs (continuing education units) when you complete Mike's training on conceptualizing proposal graphics—graphics for presentations and oral proposals that answer RFPs and requests for various contract work from the government and private industry. APMP offers tools, techniques, processes, networking, classes, etc., to help business acquisition professionals hone their skills and win more business. To learn more about the APMP's accreditation program click here.

If you're attending the Annual Southern Proposal Accents Conference (SPAC) in Atlanta on October 30, Mike will be giving an all-day proposal graphics workshop on October 29th. You will receive 8 CEUs for attending the session. For more information and to register for this special training session, click here.

Also, Colleen Jolly, a partner in 24 Hour Company, is presenting at SPAC on graphics: A DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Guide to Proposal Graphics. She will focus on the basics of information design and various rendering tips and tricks so you can graphically improve your presentations and win more sales!

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Below is a slide show by Hans Rosling, a doctor and researcher who identified a new paralytic disease induced by hunger in rural Africa. Plugging in world data on infant mortality rates, poverty, disease, and other economic and social trends, Dr. Rosling creates graphics that show the bigger picture of social and economic development with his remarkable trend-revealing software. This presentation proves how "seeing is believing" and how graphics can distill complex concepts into memorable and powerful visuals.

Exciting News

2009-09-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was interviewed by James England from Learn to Write Proposals. This website is a wonderful resource for proposal professionals and offers an array of tools to help quickly and easily make your proposals better and win more sales. James interviewed me about using graphics in proposals. Check out the interview at here at Learn to Write Proposals.

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I am giving a webinar—hosted by CapturePlanning.com—on September 16th at 2 pm (EDT) to show the benefits of BizGraphics On Demand.

Learn how you can download and edit the high-end graphics you need and save money and time. Our new product allows you to instantly download thousands of PowerPoint graphics—anytime or anywhere. You can edit these graphics in PowerPoint 2007 to use in your presentations or export them into Word, older versions of PowerPoint, InDesign, and various page layout programs.

To learn how BizGraphics can help your business, email info@BillionDollarGraphics.com to register for this free webinar.

Check It Out!

2009-08-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

I have BIG news! In coordination with the APMP 13th Annual Southern Proposal Accents Conference (SPAC), I am providing a separate all-day proposal graphics training session.

Billion Dollar Proposal Graphics: How to Your Turn Text and Ideas Into Clear, Compelling Visuals

When: October 29th 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Training is coordinated with the APMP 13th Annual Southern Proposal Accents Conference (SPAC) event on October 30th held next door at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA. If you wish to attend SPAC in addition to the graphics training, please register here—if you have not already done so.

Where: Sheraton Suites Galleria, 2844 Cobb Parkway SE, Atlanta, GA 30080

Who Should Attend: Proposal professionals who need to communicate more effectively and efficiently:

Authors
Designers
Subject Matter Experts
Proposal Mangers
Proposal Coordinator

Price: $499 (includes lunch, book and handouts)

APMP CEUs: 8

You can enroll via Google Checkout at 24 Hour Company's website where you can download a pdf describing the all-day training session.

You can also contact info@BillionDollarGraphics.com for more information.

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Check out my article "6 Steps to Better Presentation Graphics" in this month's Presenters and Programs Forum newsletter. The article provides an overview of the essential steps to visually communicate your ideas for greater success.

Need speakers for your next function? Need tips for your next presentation? The Presenters and Programs Forum website offers a monthly e-newsletter that provides tips and trade secrets from experienced speakers and presenters. They also provide a listing of professional speakers. If you're looking for a particular program or a keynote speaker for your next conference, check out their catalogue of professionals from various industries.

There's Always Time for Graphics

2009-08-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

I recently surveyed business and design professionals about their biggest graphic challenges. The number one answer to my survey was … time. Either we lack time to make graphics or we spend too much time on tweaks, changes, and false starts. So to help my fellow overworked professionals, I have compiled four tried and true best practices to streamline the graphic process and save your most valuable commodity—time.

Evolve the concept before rendering the final graphic. Rendering a graphic on a computer is too time consuming. Instead, make a rough sketch of your concept first. You do not need to be Michelangelo to communicate your ideas with a basic picture. Boxes, circles, stick figures, lines, arrows, and labels sufficiently communicate anything. (Look at how much is communicated by this simple pen drawing below.) Get a colleague to review your sketch. Ask them to explain it to you. Did they understand what you wanted your graphic to communicate? If not, make edits and ask again. Repeat this process until your reviewers agree that your graphic communicates the intended message. It is much easier (and takes far less time) to erase a few lines or scratch out a box or do a total redesign of a rough sketch than create a final computer rendering for each change.
Leverage existing graphics. Create a library of graphics commonly used in your company’s presentations, proposals, and marketing materials. These graphics are your foundation for new projects. It’s much easier to start with an older, successful graphic and tailor it, than start with a blank piece of paper. If nothing else, your library of graphics will get you thinking graphically. You will be amazed how fast ideas come when you flood your brain with visuals. You can find graphic ideas in my online Business Graphics Library or browse the collections at BizGraphics On Demand.
Make your graphics customer focused. Most graphics are trashed because they fail to connect with the audience. Give your future customers a reason to care. When looking at your graphic ask, “So what?” If your graphic can answer that question, you are on the right track. Highlight any features, benefits, and discriminators that will appeal to your audience. If you don’t know what they care about, you want to find out. Go to their website, ask someone who knows them, do your homework. Not knowing what your audience cares about means wasted time and certain failure.
Use a template. Reduce the need for last-minute formatting passes by creating a template. Agree to and use a template that defines all variables of the graphics and layout at the beginning of the project: line style, font size, colors, etc.

For more articles like this one, check out the APMP NCA Executive Summary Newsletter where this information was featured in my "Ask the Graphics Guru" column.

Embedding Fonts in PowerPoint

2009-07-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

A challenge many presenters face is what font to use in their presentations. Often, I recommend using a clean font like Arial. It works well especially with large text being projected on a screen in titles, graphics, and bulleted lists (remember that your slides shouldn’t hold paragraphs of text). For those presenters involved in government proposals, Arial is usually requested in the RFP. Plus, Arial is standard on nearly every computer (PC or Mac), so you needn’t worry about font substitution, if you’re presenting from different computer.

However, if your company has a specific font style or you would like to make your mark with a favorite font, then you may be able to embed the font in your presentation. TrueType fonts can be embedded into a PowerPoint presentation for PowerPoint 2002, 2003, and 2007 on a PC. (Unfortunately, they do not offer the option for Macs.)

TrueType fonts are an outline font standard (on Macs and PCs) and offer the best quality for viewing text on computer screens and via print. On a PC, you can embed TrueType fonts into your presentation so others may edit the your copy even if they do not have the font—a helpful feature for anyone presenting from a different computer or working with a team to create the presentation.

The following are instructions to embed fonts in PowerPoint.

In Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, follow these steps:

Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Save As.
In the Save As dialog box, click Tools, and then click Save Options.
Click to select the Embed fonts in the file check box under Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation, and then click OK.

In Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 and in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, follow these steps:

Start PowerPoint, and then open the presentation that you want.
On the File menu, click Save As.
On the Tools menu, click Save Options in the Save As dialog box.
Click to select the Embed TrueType fonts check box, and then click OK.

If a font is not TrueType or if it has a license restriction, you will receive an error message explaining why it can’t be embedded. (For more information, see Microsoft Help and Support from where these instructions were taken.)

Remember to test out fonts for legibility before you present. Make sure that everyone seated in the audience can easily read your text. Use fonts with flourishes sparingly. Your main goal is to successfully communicate your information. Minimizing font issues will help your presentation succeed.

Searching for Newsletter Contributors

2009-06-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

We are searching for professionals, like you, to contribute to our Billion Dollar Graphics newsletter. If you have a great story, best practice, communicative graphic, or a recommended tool/website, please contact us at info@billiondollargraphics.com and provide a 100 word or less synopsis of your article. Of course, our audience are professionals from all industries and vocations that need to communicate information visually so make sure that which you wish to contribute is of value to them. Thank you. :)

"GOOD" Information Graphics

2009-05-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

In my search for newer and better information graphics, I came across GOOD—"a collaboration of individuals, business, and nonprofits pushing the world forward." This site contains many articles and blogs about various environmental, social, and political issues. And most of these posts are accompanied by very interesting and envelope-pushing information graphics, the kind of graphics that provide inspiration when trying to think of new ways to communicate your ideas. A few are shown below:

Making Meaning out of Data

2009-05-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

I was recently made aware of a fantastic online article that speaks to how design bridges the gap between data and meaning. In my experience, not all designers can (or want to) spend time thinking about data in an effort to increase communication and understanding. Author, Jon Kolko, shares his insight into what great designers do everyday. Read it for yourself: http://www.jonkolko.com/writingInfoArchDesignStrategy.php.

It is also important to have a professional (and reasonably priced) website hosting service to share your important data online. After you finish, consider searching to find out if you are getting the most for your money from your website hosting service.

10 Best Places to Download Graphics

2009-04-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Do you love your graphics? Does the quality of your marketing materials and presentations tell your audience you are the best-of-the-best? Are your printed documents overcome by bad clip art or, worst, do they drown the reader in a sea of text? At a glance, does your website tell visitors that you are a one-person company struggling to make ends meet? If so, now is the time to fix the problem.

Your current and future clients expect quality materials from quality companies and consultants. You can’t tout your professionalism to your audience by showing a low-quality presentation and distributing unprofessional marketing materials. Doing so will cause your clients to question your abilities—100% of the time. You don’t need that obstacle—too.

Great news! You can add quality graphics—and quality is critical—to your presentations and marketing materials for very little money, but you need to know where to look to get low-cost, high-quality graphics. Below is a list of the top ten sites I use to develop quality graphics and help my clients achieve even the most loftiest of goals (like winning $1.3 billion dollar contracts).

There is no substitute for the benefits derived from using a qualified, experienced designer; however, in these challenging economic times, companies are searching for ways to cut costs. Unfortunately, cutting the quality of your materials will increase your risk of failure. In the short term, use one of these low-priced solutions to weather the storm without sacrificing quality.

This list is by no means comprehensive. There are other websites that sell graphics, but these are the sites I use most often and recommend.

Dreamstime.com ($1-$50 per photograph and illustration) (http://www.dreamstime.com) Dreamstime is a library of almost 5.5 million photographs and illustrations. Users purchase credits and use those credits to download graphics. The more credits you buy, the cheaper the per credit price. Users can also buy subscriptions, which further lower the cost of each download.
iStockPhoto.com ($1-50 per photograph and illustration, $15-$100 for videos, and $1-$10 for Flash files) (http://www.istockphoto.com)
iStockphoto is by far my favorite. They cost a little more but I find it easier to use and often find what I need in less time. Plus, they offer certain images exclusive to this site. It is set up similarly to Dreamstime. Users have a choice between credits and subscriptions. The more you buy, the lower the price per download.
ShutterStock.com ($3-$10 per photograph and illustration) (http://www.shutterstock.com)
Shutterstock requires a subscription (as low as $49) to download from their 6.6+ million-image library. If you are a high-volume user, this is the best choice, because larger subscriptions equal low-cost graphics.
StockExpert.com ($1-$25 per photograph and illustration) (http://www.stockxpert.com) Credits and subscriptions give you the graphics you want from their huge library. This site is owned by Juniper who owns other stock image sites (like Photos.com). However, I prefer the user experience and the better selection of graphics at StockExpert.
Stock.XCHNG (free) (http://www.sxc.hu)
Stock.XCHNG is a great site if you need basic, professional images. Plus, all their images are free!
BigStockPhoto.com ($1-$50 per photograph and illustration) (http://www.bigstockphoto.com)
Choose from a library of over three million images. Like other sites, users purchase credits and use those credits to download graphics.
BrandsOfTheWorld.com (free) (http://www.brandsoftheworld.com)
Thousands of popular brand and corporate logos from around the world are available to download for free. Most logos are vector, which means they are resolution independent and can be scaled to any size.
Pixellogo ($39 per logo) (http://www.pixellogo.com)
One hundred pages of high-quality logos from which to choose. I recommend owning Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator if you wish to modify your new logo. Exclusive rights to use the logos are available for more money.
StockLayouts ($39-$99 per brochure, newsletter, or other marketing document) (http://www.stocklayouts.com)
StockLayouts offers thousands of brochures, flyers, newsletters, business cards, letterheads, postcards, posters, ads, and more in almost any format you choose.
Cool Home Pages ($40 per website template) (http://www.coolhomepages.com/store/) Do you need a website but don’t want to spend thousands on design? At Cool Home Pages, you can find your dream website and download it for almost nothing compared to the cost of a custom design. I recommend hiring a web designer for backend programming and adding any extras to your new design. They can do it faster and better for a small investment on your part. Plus, it will still be cheaper than paying them to design and layout a new site.

Now you know my favorite graphic resources. Use them to increase the quality of your presentations, websites, and marketing materials. Success will come faster and your income will rise, because perception is reality. What your audience sees plays a BIG role in what they think and do.

Emotions Play a Major Role in Decision Making

2009-04-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

If you know my process for developing powerful presentations, proposals, and marketing materials then you know a big part of success involves emotions. Below is a story shared with me by Rob Ransone of Ransone Associates (www.ransone.com). It is another story that proves the power of emotions in the decision making process...

On my proposal for Armtec, an Esterline Company, for its decoy flares proposal to the Army, they were one of two incumbents making flares. The Army wanted two contractors so that if one line burned, the other could still produce. These two were bidding for a new flare contract, with the "winner" getting 55% and the second place getting 45% of the contract. A new, startup company now entered the picture with a completely modern plant.

Armtec was concerned about its Quality Program--it had all of the requirements, but lacked some of the "bells and whistles." I opened the Quality Section with the following email from a young airman in Iraq, whose father worked at Armtec:

“Last night, unfortunately, we had to put dad’s flares to the test 86 times as (our C-130 was) targeted by a series of ground launched weapons right after takeoff from a classified location. The flares worked excellent, or I would probably not be here typing this to you today...” - An email from the son of our M206 flare case supplier

Also, I was impressed with the dedication and interest of the workers ... manufacturing the flares, so I had a company photographer photograph them doing their jobs. He did an outstanding job, and also got statements from them. I used these photos and statements in the illustration of Armtec's manufacturing process.

As a result, Armtec's evaluation and the other incumbent's were identical, except that the other bidder was scored "Good" on Quality, and Armtec was scored "Excellent," Armtec got the 55% award, bought the third bidder, and is now the world's largest manufacturer of decoy flares.

Graphics You Can Edit in PowerPoint!

2009-03-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

I am prouder than a new papa to announce BizGraphics On Demand (www.BizGraphicsOnDemand.com). In a nutshell, it offers low-cost, high-quality graphics you can edit in PowerPoint. The library of graphics is searchable by graphic type or keywords.

It is my goal to push the envelope for visual communication with BizGraphics. I want to empower business professionals, engineers, sales staff, educators, and others by giving them access to editable, communicative graphics.

Your input and feedback is always welcomed. When you have time, please visit www.BizGraphicsOnDemand.com and download the free samples.

New Win for CSC (Graphics Played a MAJOR Role)

2008-11-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased to announce that I was part of the winning team for a big CSC win ($500M)! CSC hired 24 Hour Company for a must win proposal and my team and I conceptualized and rendered graphics that quickly and clearly communicated why CSC had the best solution. The evaluators were blown away.

The team at CSC was amazing! They really knew their subject matter and worked hard to ensure their client had the best solution possible. Congrats to all!

2 Reasons Sales Presentations and Proposals Fail

2008-09-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

Assuming you have a good solution at a fair price, sales presentations and proposals fail for two reasons:
1. Poor sales activity.
2. Poor communication of the solution.

Sales
During sales (also called "capture" for some) you need to understand your future client's real needs. You need to establish rapport, if possible. Your future client is risk adverse. They buy what they trust. They trust what they know, what they are familiar with. You need to speak their language. (What do they call their current solution? What acronyms do they use? What are their goals? What is their mission?) Sales activity needs to uncover this information and help establish rapport. If it is impossible to establish rapport with your future client, create mind share. Own a space in their mind. (Think marketing and repetition.) When your future client thinks of X (whatever is linked to your solution) make sure you or your company pops into their mind.

Communication
You have very little time to communicate why your future client should care. Quickly give them an overview of your solution and show them how they will benefit. Most sales presentations and proposals bury the solution in wordy descriptions and mountains of text. EVERY decision maker and evaluator I have interviewed says the same thing, "Make it easy for me to understand your solution and I will probably choose you." That is why visual communication plays a major role. (Graphics communicate solutions up to 60,000 times faster than text, go right to long term memory, quickly affect people emotionally, and are proven to increase success rates.)

It is a misconception that all graphic designers are good visual communicators. Many are good renderers (they can use the tools available to make attractive graphics) and some are good conceptualizers. What I mean is that many designers are good artists and some are good at turning text, ideas, and solutions into clear, compelling visuals. (My fellow designers know where their strengths are.) The same is true for writers, engineers, accountants, lawyers, scientists, business professionals of all types. We have our specialties. We have our strengths and weaknesses. Designers are the same.

In the end, most sales presentations and proposals ignore visual communication all together or ask a talented graphic designer who specializes in rendering to do conceptualization. That's like asking a plastic surgeon to do brain surgery. After 20 years, it kills me to see beautiful graphics that communicate very little if anything at all.

Assuming you have a good solution at a fair price, if you put forth the right sales effort and communicate your solution quickly and clearly (giving your future client a reason to care) you will succeed. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself or email me: info@billiondollargraphics.com. I'll share countless true stories of success and failure from big and small companies alike. Now go help others, spread the word that your solution is the best, and be successful!

The Secret to Saving $$$ on Your Next Project

2008-03-06T05:54:00.000-08:00

You have a new presentation or proposal to do. Where will you spend the most money? I'm guessing your answer is labor cost. The author(s) of the presentation or proposal spend countless hours coming up with the best way to show that you and your company are the best-of-the-best. Your presentation or proposal needs to show that you have the winning solution so you or your team write, tweak, rewrite, rearrange, and review again and again to get it right. That costs a lot of money.

How do you spend less money (and time)? Visualize the solution first. It is guaranteed to work and here is why:

It helps you find holes. You can see where there is a gap in logic, the process, and/or the solution.
It Gets everyone on the same page—fast. Everyone has to agree to this approach early in the development vs. later, which creates much more work.
If you and your team can visualize the solution, you can quickly write to it. You can paint a vivid picture and tell a compelling story that is unforgettable.

Simply make a rough sketch (no art degree needed) that you can explain to anyone. Stick figures are fine. The intent is to make sure that everyone involved (you, your team, your boss) pictures the same thing.

We are visual creatures. We remember and connect with imagery far better than facts and figures. Painting a picture that tells a story is the fastest way to success. Andy Bounds, the author of The Jelly Effect: How to make your communication stick said it best when he stated, "Facts tell and stories sell."

In addition to lowering cost, visualizing the solution first has other benefits which include: increased moral, less miscommunication, better teamwork, and more time to focus on other important tasks that inevitably pop up.

Visualize the solution first and I guarantee that your labor costs will drop.

Billion Dollar Win for My Client!

2008-03-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

KC-X, a USAF contract that covers 175 production aircraft and 4 test platforms for their new aerial tanker fleet, is a BIG win for any company. The first phase alone is likely to reach $35+ billion over 25 years!

My client, Northrop Grumman, was awarded the multi-billion dollar contract. Boeing may protest the decsion and time will tell what the USAF decides. Either way, graphics were a big part of the proposal and will play a siginificant roll in the final decision.

Thanks to a dedicated team of technical experts, managers, graphic designers (from companies including Northrop Grumman and 24 Hour Company), the proposal was a success. Congratulations to everyone on the team!

Be Interdependent and WIN!

2007-12-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

OK, here it is. The truth... If you agree, you will benefit greatly . If you disagree, you will work harder, spend more money, and eventually lose to your competition. What is it? Simple: do what you are best at and let your team do the same.

Play to your strengths. If it's really hard for you to do or you don't do it well, turn to those that excel at it and watch results exceed everyone's expectations. Why am I saying this? Because at every company I work with many business professionals (really smart, driven, talented professionals) do not rely on the strengths of those they hire and/or work with. For example, if I hire a copywriter with a proven track record why should I spend a lot of time writing copy? I should tell the copywriter what I want and let them do what they are BEST at. That means I get to focus on what I am BEST at. In the end I have two "experts" doing what they do best for the same goal. What do you think the end result will be?

I regularly meet with colleagues who work for large and small companies (companies that everyone knows). My colleagues are business developers, trainers, marketing experts, proposal professionals, writers, graphic designers, and the like. Over and over I hear the same thing. Each was hired because he or she was head and shoulders above the others who tried for the position. Each has an great reputation in their respective industry. However, each spends an inordinate amount of time explaining why they are qualified to do their job. They spend too much time (that is my opinion) convincing their team to trust them to leverage their extensive experience, education, and skills to hit the company's goals. That means that those who often question their teammates' ability to do their job are often ignoring their own roles and responsibilities.

How do we fix it? Interdependence is the key. Hire and work with those you feel are qualified to do what is needed and let them do their job. Your time is so valuable. It is quickly gobbled up by your day-to-day. Let's throw away second guessing other's abilities if they have been pre qualified and focus instead on goals, schedules, action items, regular communication, and accountability. If you and I can make this happen with our teams, our rewards are endless.

Do covers for my presentations, proposals, and marketing materials really matter?

2007-09-24T05:54:00.000-07:00

Yes. One of the best examples I’ve heard was for a ballistics proposal. (The names have been changed to protect the innocent.) The United States Army needed a bullet that flew 2,000 yards and then fell from the sky. They had a favorite, Company A; however, Company B hoped to establish a relationship with the Army as well. Company B had tested this type of bullet before and, using these results, wrote their best proposal. They believed they had a chance despite information that suggested Company A was a certain winner. After writing their proposal, Company B opted for a simple approach to the cover and used a photograph of a ballistics test tracer round from one of their experiments. This photograph showed exactly what the Army had requested: a bullet traveling 2,000 yards and dropping. (It was actually an image from a failed field test of an earlier project for a bullet that was intended to travel farther.) With the cover in place, Company B submitted their proposal.

Weeks later Company B won the bid, and the winning team met with the contracting officer. Company B asked how they won—especially since they were the underdogs. The contracting officer said their cover won the bid, despite the fact that their proposal wasn’t well written and almost resulted in a loss. Company B showed they already had the bullet on the cover image, which gave them the edge over the other bidders who still needed to design the bullet.

Most of the time, relationships and/or the contents of presentations, proposals, and marketing materials win the effort. Nonetheless, the cover forms a lasting impression. It is the first thing that your audience sees, and he or she cannot help but be influenced. Behavioral Psychologists agree that most of our decisions are based on intuitive judgment and emotions. Herbert A. Simon, Nobel Prize winning scholar at the Carnegie Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, studied corporate decision-making and found that people often ignored formal decision-making models because of time constraints, incomplete information, the inability to calculate consequences, and other variables. Intuitive judgment was the process for many decisions.

If you want a winning edge think about your covers. Covers carry enough weight that they can, and have, significantly contributed to wins and losses, successes and failures. You use a lot of resources, not to mention time and money, to develop your business materials; do not ignore such a powerful tool in your arsenal.

What packages do I want a graphics person to be expert in if I'm going to bring him/her on board either as a permanent hire or as a consultant?

2007-07-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

They should have a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for image and graphic generation and Adobe InDesign or QuarkXpress for page layout of brochures and corporate collateral. If they are familiar with Microsoft Word for written proposals and business documents, then that is a bonus. Of course, it depends upon your companies’ software collection and need. If your organization has invested in CorelDraw, then CorelDraw is the software a new designer should know. If your company needs 3D graphics, then the designer should have a working knowledge of 3D design applications. It is important to note that if a designer has been trained and uses Adobe products, their learning curve on CorelDraw is much lower.

What is the difference between jpg and other types of graphics files. When should which be used?

2007-06-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file applied to show its format. A file extension consists of the characters after the “.” such as ".doc", ".txt", ".xls", ".bmp", and so on. I will focus on only the following due to their applicability to proposal graphics:

- BMP = Bitmap
- GIF = Graphic Interchange Format
- JPG = Joint Photographic Experts Group
- PNG = Portable Network Graphics
- TIF = Tagged Image File Format
- WMF = Windows Metafile

I use 200 dpi RGB (unless you are printing the files on an offset press) tifs for placement in Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, and Quark Xpress. It is worth noting that jpgs are acceptable in written documents if file size is an issue since jpgs are about a third of the size as tiffs and are only of a slightly lower quality. I use 200 dpi RGB jpgs for Microsoft PowerPoint. I prefer 200 dpi images because they look great in print and on screen and can be half the file size of 300 dpi images. I recommend 80% compression when saving your jpgs to avoid “pixel garbage” in your graphics. I use 300+ dpi RGB or CMYK files for professional printing like brochures, slicks, folders, etc.

I do not work with bmps and pngs because of their history of volatility with certain programs. For example, pngs allow for transparency but print poorly and have been known to corrupt entire PowerPoint presentations. There are many other file types beyond those I have listed but I have found that jpgs and tifs are the most accepted, stable, and reliable for proposals. However, if you have had successful results with other file types (like metafiles—which requires article unto itself), use them. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

Where can I get quality clip art to use in my graphics?

2007-05-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

For clip art I use Nova Development’s Art Explosion 750,000 or 800,000 clipart collection. There is a lot of unusable clipart in these books, but the few that I use make it well worth the purchase price (~$99). There are other similar clipart libraries available but I cannot comment on their usability.

For photographs and illustrations I like Getty Images (www.gettyimages.com), iStockPhoto (www.istockphoto.com), Dreamstime (www.dreamstime.com), StockExpert (www.stockxpert.com), and BigStock Photo (www.bigstockphoto.com). When using Getty Images, be sure to choose only royalty-free images versus rights managed. It is far less expensive. For United States military photographs, visit the .mil websites. You may use the photographs in their image databases, but they request that you acknowledge where you found the photo and, when possible, acknowledge the photographer (i.e., "Photo courtesy of U.S. Army. Photo taken by Spc. D. A. Dickinson."). Be sure to verify that the image you are using is cleared for release and are considered in the public domain. This information is usually posted on the same page as their image library or on their “Privacy” or “Security” pages.

Is the Law On Your Side?

2007-03-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

The following is another question I was recently asked...

Q: Can I use photographs and art from the Internet in my proposals, presentations, or marketing materials?
A: As soon as you write a paragraph, take a photograph, or make a graphic you own it. According to a United States ruling, once you make something it is protected under copyright law. (The challenge has been proving who made it first.) With that in mind, everything we find on the Internet is copywritten. You may use it only if you are granted permission (for the purposes you intend), or your organization owns or has purchased the rights to use it. There are some websites that offer “royalty-free” graphics at no cost (certain government sites provide free images), but you need to make sure that the website allows free image downloads or else you could face a lawsuit. Also, photographs and art from the Internet are usually at a lower resolution (72 dpi) than you require for your proposals. To get crisp and clear graphics (no jagged or pixilated edges) for your oral and written presentations, you need to use images that are between 150–300 dpi. Otherwise, your graphics will look poorly rendered and give your presentation an unprofessional appearance.

Welcome

2007-03-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new BDG Blog. If you have any graphics related questions or helpful hints/ideas, this is the forum to share them.

Recently, I was asked the following question:
Q: What are the top three proposal and presentation graphic mistakes?
A: Many graphics fail for three reasons: too complicated, unclear, and poorly rendered. A visual becomes too complicated when the author attempts to convey too many messages in one graphic or includes too much detail. An unclear graphic due to the lack of identification and/or explanation, happens when the author erroneously assumes that their target audience understands the subject matter on the same level that he/she does. The following graphic fails to identify key elements and explain their meaning. The author assumed that their audience knew more about the subject matter than they did. Poorly rendered graphics result in a host of negative outcomes. The worst of which are a loss of communication (or miscommunication) and the perception that image and the presenter are unprofessional.

Do you have a question?