In this course, you’ll explore essential design principles and learn how to apply them with clarity and purpose.

The principles of design help make better slides by ensuring content is clear, engaging, and visually balanced.

They guide how elements are arranged and styled, so slides are easier to understand and more impactful.

For example:

Contrast highlights key points and improves readability.

Hierarchy directs attention to the most important information first.

Balance and proximity group related elements logically, reducing visual clutter.

Repetition creates consistency, reinforcing your message and brand.

Each principle will be explained clearly using example slide designs followed by simple step by step walkthroughs.

We'll also cover presentation specific considerations such as:

Alignment to keep slides tidy and professional.

Using typography to enhance readability and help convey the right tone or personality.

How animations can enhance communication and engagement if used thoughtfully.

Creating a colour scheme to create effective, professional, and visually appealing presentations.

Ways to visualise your content because people understand and engage with visuals far better than with text alone.

Together, these principles help audiences focus, follow, and remember your content more effectively.

You will then use this knowledge to develop your graphic design skills to build persuasive and visually impactful slide layouts.

Using practical examples, you'll see how these principles come to life in everyday design scenarios but asking questions such as:

What are they trying to say?

What can I simplify?

How can I show this better?

What grabs my attention?

Will the audience remember my message?

You'll explore best practices for structuring content, using whitespace effectively, choosing the right visuals, and creating slide decks that tell a compelling story.

Techniques covered include converting bullet points to slide layouts using Smart Art, reducing on on screen content to to provide more impact, and grabbing attention with big figures and icons,

We'll also show you how to make better tables, charts and maps, create timelines and visualise processes.

Finally, we'll cover interaction and animation using the Slide Zoom, Morph Transition, links and highlighting techniques.

Whether you're designing a pitch deck, a report, or a campaign presentation, this course will help your communicate ideas with greater clarity and confidence.

Lu Xiaomin

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