Cliché of the Week: Clip Art

November 11, 2008 By Doug Neff

True story: I was working with a client, reviewing his existing slides with him, and making notes as to what needed work. We came across a data slide containing a large piece of clip art, similar to the fellow you see here.
It was the only graphic in the entire presentation.
I impulsively reached for the delete key, [...]

Topic: Design, Message
Posted November 11th, 2008 at 6:45 pm by Doug Neff
Tags: Clichés, Design, story, Visuals

Presentations on a Plane

November 7, 2008 By Ryan Orcutt

We’ve all sat through it a million times.
Most of us outright ignore it.
We tune it out, turn on our iPod, and start perusing the aisles of the Sky Mall. Some people even spark up conversations while it’s happening.
Can you imagine a presentation less engaging than the airplane safety announcement?
The audience members (passengers) have completely disconnected [...]

Topic: Delivery, Design
Posted November 7th, 2008 at 9:50 am by Ryan Orcutt
Tags: announcement, plane, safety

Election Day!

November 5, 2008 By Nancy Duarte

After costing us more than the GDP of a small developing nation, election day has finally come and gone. A political cartoon seems in order. After all, cartoons have been used for persuasion and visual story telling for centuries. In my humble opinion, the best cartoons need the fewest words. The best ones are also [...]

Topic: Design, Message
Posted November 5th, 2008 at 5:06 pm by Nancy Duarte
Tags: audience, communication, metaphors, visual

Scarier than Halloween

November 4, 2008 By Nancy Duarte

The pumpkins and goblins have gone and all that’s left of Halloween is the 2 lbs you gained back from snacking on the receptionist’s candy. Today’s post about the scariest movie I’ve seen in a long time. No, it isn’t the umpteenth incarnation of Chucky. It’s far worse, it’s about our national debt and once [...]

Topic: Delivery, Design
Posted November 4th, 2008 at 3:55 pm by Nancy Duarte
Tags: brand, Halloween

Political Signs are like Slides

By Nancy Duarte

A gal named Laura Macias is running for City Council in Mountain View. I’m not sure who she hired to design her political signs but they look like really bad PowerPoint. When you drive by the corner of Grant and Cuesta, there’s a cluster of signs and you can read all of them but hers.

She [...]

Topic: Design, Message
Posted November 4th, 2008 at 11:24 am by Nancy Duarte
Tags: critique, Design, presentation