Useful Tips On Fonts In Presentations
In my previous blog I wrote about the characteristics of both a good and a bad presentation; I hope this gave you an idea of the overall structure of a presentation. This blog is intended to provide you with more specific instructions, helping you to make your presentation look professional and clear. I will focus on the most basic component of a presentation, which is font.
Below are my recommendations for fonts to be used in the presentation:
- The size of the font in your presentation should be at least 18 points. It is important that no one from the audience should fear that your presentation is ruining their eyesight.
- Use different size of fonts to isolate main points and secondary points. Viewers must be able to differentiate both of them at a glance. To cite an example, you could use 24 point fonts for secondary points, 28 point fonts for main points and 36 point fonts for titles.
- It is not hard to understand when you are instructed to use standard fonts like Times New Roman or Arial, since these fonts are available in all computers.
The following are my observations in terms of bad font selection:
- Do not use small fonts. It is not a good idea to make the audience struggle to read what is written on the slide.
- AVOID CAPITAL FONTS AS THEY ARE DIFFICULT TO READ. Capitalize only when necessary.
- Fancy fonts may appear attractive but they are not easily readable. Therefore don’t use complicated fonts.
Besides the size and type of the font, color does play its role. Here is my advice on what to think about while selecting your font color:
- Use a font color that contrasts sharply with the background, such as a blue font on a white background. This makes reading easy while looking attractive as well.
- Font color can also be used to reinforce the logic of your structure, e.g. light blue title and dark blue text.
- Color can also help you emphasize specific points, though you should only use different colors every now and then.
Here is what I do not recommend for font color:
- If you do not contrast with the background color it becomes difficult for the audience to read.
- Do not use colors for decoration. They may appear distracting and annoying.
- It is unnecessary to apply different colors for each point or all the secondary points.
- And a presentation is not the place to do anything unnecessary.
- In an attempt to be creative you should not make your presentation look like Picasso’s palette. With presentations, sticking to basics is a safer deal than being creative.
If you follow these simple “rules” or instructions, when making your presentations im sure that you will be able to capture and keep the attention of your audience. At least, by following these points the font will not be the reason for the loss of attention!
Toke Kruse, CEO
