Document Design.

This second post will discuss about what makes a good document design based on a PowerPoint slide document that has been done on a topic of Semiotic Mode. I will propose a few suggestion to improve the slides.

What is a good PowerPoint Presentation?.

A good PowerPoint presentation needs to have good writing as well as proper design . The construction of language in the document should be direct and specific as it is part of a technical writing ( Rothman, 2005) . When it comes to good design for a PowerPoint document, a suitable layout design is vital. It is important that the design feature of a document is appropriate because it can help the audience to understand the information as well as give them the right depiction of the information as you would like them to think ( Reep,2006) It helps that the powerpoint document has graphic aids,limited amount of slides, easy to read texts as well as a simple background ( Marquez, 2011)

Figure 1

The flaws that can be seen in this slide is that there are too many points in one slide. It is more suitable to have not more than three bullets in each slide so that the text can be easier to read( Russell, 2011) . The third point in the slide is out of place because it has no relations with the definition and it should be under a new heading so it wont confuse the audience. This slide should have key phrases that emphasizes on the most important matter ( Anderson , 1987)

Figure 2

In this slide , we can see that there is lack of visual graphics for a slide that is talking about the ‘Process of classification’. In order to make this slide more appealing to the audience instead of using just text to explain a process of something, a flow chart should be featured in the section where it says ’Series of Mode’. With a flow chart as graphic aid, the audience can have a better depiction of how the modes work in step by step. It is important to feature graphic aid in this document for it provides a better understanding towards non-expert audience when it comes to complicated information ” (Reep,2006)

Figure 3

This slide utilizes wordings that is not coherent unless the presenter explain what each point means in-depth. Although the information given is short and simple , it is not direct and the connection of the terms is hard for audience to fully grasp the meaning. There should be graphic aid such as a proper flow chart or a picture as an example so that the audience will not have a vague perspective of what the presenter is trying to explain. Putnis and Petelin (1996) claims that it is important to have balance between graphics and text .



Reference:


Marquez, Z.L, How to Make A Good Power Point Presentation, http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-a-Good-PowerPoint-Presentation&id=4313178 , viewed 2 April 2011.

Putnis, P , Petelin, R. 1996, ‘Document Design’, Professional communication: Principles and Applications, Ch. 7, pp. 254.

Reep, D, 2006, ‘Format Elements’, Technical Writing, 6th Edition, Ch. 6, pp. 153-162.

Reep, D, 2006, ‘Purpose of design features’, Technical Writing, 6th Edition, Ch. 6, pp. 134-135.

Rothman, S, 2005 'What Makes a Good Scientific and Technical Writing?’, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/error?cat=4, viewed 2 April 2011.

Russell, W. 2011, 10 Tips for Creating Successful Business Presentations, http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpointinbusiness/tp/bus_pres_tips.htm , viewed 2 April 2011.
Diana Reep