Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations

Author: Garr Reynolds

Reviewed by Harry {doc} Babad      © 2010, All right reserved.

 

Publisher: New Riders Press (December 28, 2009)

Publisher Web Site: https://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321668790

Garr’s Website: http://www.presentationzen.com/

 

Product Dimensions: Paperback, 265 Pages including the Index, size: 9 x 7.4 x 0.6 inch paperback or a Safari books online, as an eBook. Language: English

 

Cost: List $35, Street $23 [USD]; eBook $25 You can both versions on the New Riders website for under $42.

 

ISBN-10: 0321668790

ISBN-13: 978-0321668790

 

Review Rating:

 

Audience: Anyone who needs to make visually effective presentations that avoid the PowerPoint “Yawn” or “death by PowerPoint” effects. An understated, but real theme of this book is digital story telling – Good storytellers always hold their audiences!

 

Strengths: Well written and heavily illustrated with examples of the concepts that underlies a great and memorable presentation.

 

Weaknesses: Some of the Zen related information may put off Anglophile presenters or those steeped in the corporate “Microsoft” PowerPoint template way. I also, even with a magnifying glass, found that the illustrations were smaller than I liked, making internalizing their design elements, a bit difficult.

 

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Copyright Notice: Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks of their respective companies.

 

Sidebar #1: Reviews were written on my iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM running Mac OS X version 10.6.3 with all current security updates installed. Techniques were tested, more for fun than necessity, for doing this book review; and I do own the current versions of MS Office (2008) for the Macintosh.

 

Sidebar #2: Disclaimer: When reviewing books I will often use the authors or publishers product, functions and features descriptions. Because of this unless I’m quoting directly from another source, I do not cutter up the review with quotation marks. All other comments are strictly my own and based on my review. Why need I rewrite the developer’s narratives, if they are clearly written?

 

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Introduction

 

I had previously reviewed Gar Reynolds Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on

Presentation Design and Delivery, Published by New Riders Press (Peachpit). I found the book to be both attractive and at times off-putting. To the individual who has never been exposed to the concepts inherent in Zen, some of the concepts Gar Reynolds presented seemed alien. That coupled with a somewhat high “FOG” index will slow a newbie accepting and practicing the discipline of “Using Zen concepts in creating focused, persuasive e and audience capturing Presentations” Initially uncomfortable. But go with the flow, it will all come together in a way that everyone who is willing to look and see, can succeed presenting persuasively. It did for me, to the point that I wanted to learn more, therefore this review. [http://www.maccompanion.com/macc/archives/December2009/Books/PresentationZen.htm]

 

Book Description

In his internationally acclaimed, best-selling book Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, presentation master Garr Reynolds gave readers the framework for planning, putting together, and delivering successful presentations. Now, he takes us further into the design realm and shows how we can apply time-honored design principles to presentation layouts.

 

As a basis for this book, Garr rightly assumes that many presenters lack the fundamentals of graphic design. After reading this book, the reader will never be able to look at another presentation slide (or any visual for that matter) in the same way again. Their eyes will have become sharp and their minds critical as to what is and what is not effective visual communication and graphic design.

 

Presentation Zen Design includes loads of before and after examples to set readers on the path to becoming engaging visual communicators. Throughout Presentation Zen Design, Garr shares his lessons on designing effective presentations that contain text, graphs, color, images, and video.

 

After establishing guidelines for each of the various elements of a slide, he explains how to achieve an overall harmony and balance using the tenets of Zen simplicity. Not only will you discover how to design your slides for more professional-looking presentations, you’ll learn to communicate more clearly and will accomplish the goal of making a stronger, more lasting connection with your audience. [http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Zen-Design-Garr-Reynolds/dp/0321668790/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2]

 

 

The Nature of the Beast — How the book is organized

Presentation Zen Design covers everything from creating a storyboard (pencil and paper please) through the use of typefaces and color. Key discussions include well-illustrated section on the use negative space, and slide harmony. Even more important is Garr’s advice to fully rehearse and more importantly to remove all unnecessary information, especially that which adds to clutter, or undecipherable techno-junkie slides.

 

A long-time resident of Japan, Reynolds combines his knowledge of Zen with his design expertise to give us a beautiful book with a strong point of view advocating simplicity as a foundation for slide presentations. The book goes well beyond mere advocacy and is full of specific, unfamiliar to me. These are techniques and tips that will help us build an attention sustaining presentation.

 

The “Design” Components

In this section the book covers the often ignored importance of Typefaces, particularly the choice of type and it's placement on the slide. Next Garr looks at Communicating with Colour. In addition to looking at some expected terms related to colour and it's use, for example hue, value, saturation, colour combinations, emotional connections and colour choices, Garr brings in aspects from the Zen aesthetic through a lesson in Sumi-e. This is a focused minimalist style of painting that is characteristically Asian, and has been practiced for well over a thousand years.

 

In Using Images and Video to Tell Stories we enter the area that in many ways defines the Presentation Zen style, the use of full screen images to complement and strengthen the spoken and written message - I particularly liked this section of the book! Areas covered herein include some technical aspects of image creation and editing as well as reviewing 10 things to avoid when using images in your presentations.

 

Finally in the component section Garr looks at how best to Simplify Data, how charts can communicate and indeed miscommunicate key messages, I know from experience that many presentations use charts that are barely readable, with far too much data, if all presentations followed the advice given here there would be less sleepy and bored learners and audience members!

 

The Principles — So many slides used in presentations and workshops are full of text, bullet points, charts, and data. The first part of this section looks at Seeing and Using Space, beginning with a lesson in the Japanese art of flower design, Ikebana. Garr looks at the importance of white space, symmetrical/asymmetrical balance, Gestalt theory and the importance of 'less is more'. The use of focal points in slide design is illustrated through the Japanese room design feature known as a Tokonoma, in essence this part of the book, Creating Purpose and Focus, is about how to ensure the audience's eyes see what you want them to see. The section, Achieving Harmony looks at the 'rule of thirds' and grids in general when aligning aspects of your slides and working to connect the various elements to create balance and harmony.

 

The Journey — Finally Garr provides pages of examples of great, if at times too small, Slide Samples that illustrate the principles outlined throughout the book. It is always good to see examples, as just as the book reminds us, visual messages trump the written word. The book concludes with a chapter on Continuous Improvement, a good way to end, reminding readers that improving your slide design is a journey not a destination, that through continually learning from the lessons that are all around you - Billboards, Advertising, TV, brochures, package design - your and my slide designs will continue to improve.

 

Great Slides

 

 

Tidbits of Note and another set of great slides

·       “What we should focus on are not the tools and software techniques, but the principles and elements of visual communication that lead to better design — whether you use digital tools or not. Without knowledge of basic visual communication principals, it’s very easy to let the software templates take you places where you don’t want to go. (Page 9)

 

·       “To many people, the typeface selected may seem like a superfluous thing, but that is incorrect. The proper choice and usage of type can go a long way toward making your visual message heard. (Page 33) Robin Williams would agree.

 

·       “Design for the LAST row. (Page 34)

 

·       “Remember, people are there to hear you speak — and the visuals can help illustrate and backup your points — But no one is there to read a load of slide or to listen to you read them. (Page 35)

 

·       “Before you decide to display data on screen, you need to be clear on its purpose. Is it really necessary for the audience to see absolute numerical precision or do you merely want to show them trends and general relationships? (Page 129)

 

·       “The kinds of graphs you use in a presentation depend on your unique situation and objectives. The only rule concerning the display of data-besides telling the truth is simplicity. You can achieve simplicity in the design of effective charts, graphs, and tables by remembering three fundamental principles: restraint, reduce, emphasize,

 

·       “Jazz Legend Paul Desmond once said, “Writing is like Jazz. It can be learned but it can't be taught." Much the same could be said of design-about learning to see and think more visually. Teachers are necessary and important and they can point the way. But in the end, it's always up to us to learn it, and most of our learning now is a result of our own efforts and our lifelong commitment to continuous improvement through education outside the classroom.”

 

 

 

Kudos from Guest Contributors

"In today's economy, all of us—even those of us who aren't trained as designers—must become design thinkers.  But how? At last, Garr Reynolds has unlocked the secrets and presented them in a compelling and useful way. Whether you're a professional preparing a talk, a student tackling an assignment, or anyone trying to craft a richer life, Presentation Zen Design is the most important book you will read this year." —Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind & Drive

 

"To change the world, you need to pitch. To pitch, you need to design. To design, you need this book." —Guy Kawasaki, Co-founder, Alltop.com, and former chief evangelist of Apple

 

"Garr has once again visually captivated readers with a book that will inspire millions to communicate effectively. He wove together freshly inspired Zen concepts and displayed them breathtakingly. Read this book, I know it will take your breath away as it did mine." —Nancy Duarte, CEO, Duarte Design, and author of the best-selling book slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations

 

Other Contributors include David Rose about designing when the stakes are high, Maureen C. Stone on he use of color, John McWade about Picturing your presentation – You are the show and Scott Kelby on tips for taking better photographs.

 

"No visual backdrop will energize a lukewarm, uninspired message. But wrap a clear, powerful, authentic presentation in great design and you get what every speaker aspires to: electrical connection with your audience. Buy this book and learn from the best design educator on the planet. Your audience will thank you."

 

 

Disappointments

Too Few Before/After Slides —I agree with the “PowerPoint Ninga” [https://www.powerpointninja.com/presentation-books/book-review-presentation-zen-design/] that compared to Garr Reynold’s first book, the way examples were treated in this more practical design focused book was weaker. “In his first book, I really enjoyed all of the interesting slide examples from various presenters, especially the before and after examples. I found it really helpful to see a poorly-designed slide side by side with a well-designed version. In Presentation Zen Design, I didn’t feel as though there were enough before and after examples, which was a little disappointing.”

 

 

 

Image Size — I wish that the publisher, or Garr Reynolds himself had posted larger images of the illustrations that due to space limitations were reduced to little more than 4X thumbnails.

 

Omissions: Nits and Nats —

Robin Williams Design Book Related— I am mystified why the excellent design books written by Robin Williams (Peachpit Press) were not referenced in either of Garr’s books. Ms. Williams in the The Non-Designer's Design Book provided my first insight into design, albeit not of slides, which I often re-check when worrying about the design elements in my documents.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Kudos, this is a all would be presenters, and existing serial presenters should own and use as a reference when creating your own epistle … If you can only have one design book for building your presentation this is it. (4.0 macC’s)

 

 

About the Author

Garr Reynolds is the author of Presentation Zen and a leading authority on presentation design and delivery. A sought-after speaker and consultant, his clients include many in the Fortune 500. A writer, designer, and musician, he is currently Associate Professor of Management at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. Garr is a former corporate trainer for Sumitomo Electric and worked as the Manager for Worldwide User Group Relations at Apple, Inc. A long-time student of the Zen arts, he currently lives in Osaka, Japan, where he is Director of Design Matters Japan. His popular blog can be found at presentationzen.com.

 

 

PS:

To look and listen to some fine and impact rich presentations, check out the TED {ideas worth spreading} site. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. [http://www.ted.com/] You might start with Steve Job’s presentations.