PowerPoint Basics

Copyright Michael Scally 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Table of Contents6 X 6 Rule

Background Colors

Color

Evolution of Literacy

Font Styles

New Literacy

PowerPoint is…

References

Text Colors

Text Size

Wait Time

A New LiteracyWe are experiencing a new literacy.

“According to Time Magazine, for

example, the vocabulary of the average

14 year-old dropped from 25,000 words in

1950 to only 10,000 words by 1999.”

(Burmark, 2002, p. 8)

Why?• Television was invented in the 1940’s.

• World War II created a technology

explosion.

• Computers were invented in the 1960’s.

• Television replaced the radio as the

main form of family entertainment.

Since Then ...• Technology was been increasing at a incredible rate over the past 7 decades.

• Today, new technology becomes obsolete

in as little as 18 months.

• So, the world is changing and the world

of education is changing with it.

The Evolution of Literacy

Society Type of Literacy

Tribal ----------------- Oral Tradition

Scribal --------------- Phonetic Alphabet

Typographical ---- Mass-produced books (1490’s)

Cybernetic ---------- Telegraph (1860’s) & Computers (Today) Thornburg, 1999, p 30 – 44)

During My Lifetime

•Pen/Pencil and Mimeographs

•Manual Typewriters

• Electric Typewriters

• Word Processors

• Computers

• The World Wide Web

PowerPoint is …• A presentation software to HELP speakers give presentations.

• The PROBLEM with PowerPoint is that

too often the media has become

the message.

Design Basics• The most important ingredient of PPT

slide design is COLOR.

Slide Background Colors

• The three best colors for backgrounds are

the cool colors Blue, Green, and Purple

Text Colors• The two best colors for text are the warm

colors Red and Yellow (depending on your

background color.

• As you can see, white works well

too.

• Text colors should contrast with

background colors.

FontThe two most important things to

remember about typography are:

1. Type is on the page to serve the text, and

2. There are no good and bad

typefaces: only appropriate

ones.

Font on the Web• Consider using fonts like Georgia

(with serifs) or Verdana (without serifs).

• Both fonts were designed specifically

for the web.

6 x 6 Rule• Each slide should have NO MORE

than six words across and six

words down (with size 28 font).

• The human eye becomes fatigued

with more words on a slide.

Background Colors

• The best background colors for your

Presentations are:

Purple, Blue, & Green.

ReferencesBurmark, L. (2002). Visual literacy: Learn to see, see to learn. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Thornburg, David D. (1998). Brainstorms and lightning bolts: Thinking skills for the 21st century. San Carlos, CA: Starsong publications.

Thornburg, David D. (1996). Campfires in cyberspace. San Carlos, CA: Starsong publications.

Everything 6COLOR4

“Shoppers, for the next five minutes there’s a blue-light special in aisle five.”

“This painting has a nice warm feeling about it, all that yellow and orange.”

“Hey, George, sorry to hear about your pink slip.”

“Captain, that passenger by the railing looks a little green. I think he might barf.”

Though not all colors have universal associations, every culture on the planet lives in a world whosecolors have assumed powerful metaphorical significance.” p. 31, Burmark

**“…color evokes responses and contributes to meaning in powerful ways. Colors are the basic building blocks of visual literacy. the most immediate and powerful element of the images we see.” p. 32, Burmark

A German study found that the best colors for classrooms were light blue, yellow, yellow-green, and orange. The study found that by using those colors, teachers could raise students’ IQs as much as12 points. p. 35, Burmark

Everything 5PROXIMITY AND ALIGNMENT

“We can use heads, subheads, spacing, and alignment to boost readability.” p. 27, Burmark.

FONT FEATURES

It’s still most common to use italics for emphasis within text, and brief usage of it works well.But be careful not to use italics for long, extended blocks of texts. It becomes tiring and boringto the eye and quickly defeats its own purpose.” P. 28, Burmark

ON THE BLINK

As you read across a page or screen, your eyes can usually process twice the alphabet (52 characters) before you blink. One you blink, you lose your place; if that happens oftenenough, you start yawning and soon find the effort too great to continue.” p. 28, Burmark

Everything 4

TRACKING

The space between the characters in all typefaces.

“Typefaces that are spaced tight for print (Times, Helvetica, Narrow, Britannica Bold, Tekton,,Lucinda Bright) would not work well as screen fonts.

As type-meister Daniel Will-Harris points out, both Georgia and Verdana typefaces are carefullyspaced so the characters never touch – and that makes them especially readable as screenfonts.” p. 27, Burmark

Everything

BACKGROUND 1

We are experiencing a new literacy. “According to Time Magazine, for example, the vocabulary of the average 14 year-old dropped from 25,000 words in 1950 to only 10,000 words by 1999.” p. 8, Burmark.

Educators have long known that “Combining visual images with written text can help students remember what they read.” p. 9, Burmark.

“…the use of visuals in instructional materials takes on a larger dimension than when simply thoughtof as decorative supplements to text. The simple use of visuals with text can provide that dual codethat can, in turn, increase comprehension.” p. 9, Burmark.

“They (Levie and Lentz) also calculated that groups using illustrated texts performed 36 percent better than groups using text alone on measured criteria.” p. 10, Burmark.

Everything 2“In a recent issue of its monthly newsletter, Meeting Guides, 3M reviews additional research on “ThePower of Color in Presentations”• Color visuals increase willingness to read by up to 80 percent.• Using color can increase motivation and participation by up to 80 percent.• Color enhances learning and improves retention by more than 75 percent.• Using color in advertising outsells black and white by…88 percent. p. 10-11, Burmark

p. 20, Burmark

FONT ON THE WEB

Everything 3READABILITY3