Slideshare of the Day: Start-up of You

This week in Professional Communication and Presentation, we’ve been discussing the visual resume project. A visual resume can be a great addition to your online portfolio. As wel learned during yesterday’s mini-discussion, it can also be an amazing way to blend the print resume with the digital form, as Victor Petit does in his QR code visual resume:

QR CODE – Content-rich Resume from Victor petit on Vimeo.

But, before one can develop an amazing and unique approach to the visual resume (one benefit to the rise in this approach is the plethora of good examples out there, but a detriment is that it’s now a bit more difficult to set oneself apart), one must know what one wants to convey to the target audience of the visual resume, whether it is a client, company, or collaborator. Students often struggle the most with this aspect of resume building due to anxiety over perceived or actual inexperience. However, young people are not alone in this–all of us must deal with the anxiety of knowing just who and what we are as professionals. I am lucky enough to have a career that is also my bliss, but that doesn’t mean that just like my students, I don’t struggle with finding my place as a professional.

This is where Top Presentation of the Day, Start-up of You by Co-founder and Chairman of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman comes in. Having just uploaded a successful 110-slide presentation, I had to check out this mega deck–I am happy I did. I haven’t made enough use of LinkedIn, and after perusing this immersive deck, I don’t know why. This summary of the book Start-up of You poses a very simple idea–that all of us need to think like entrepreneurs–not just those who function in that same role. Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha firmly believe that our success as professionals depends on recapturing and maximizing entrepreneurship–of our own careers. I have added the book to my Nook list of reads, and you should too. But in the meantime, if you haven’t already, check out the excellent deck below:

Is Design Typography? 52 Presentation Tips by SOAP

Photo Credit: arnoKath via Compfight cc

In yesterday’s Professional Communication and Presentation class, Alex’s students were given the task of designing their decks for tomorrow’s Worst Case Scenario Demonstration speech.  Several students came to me for input, and I discussed typeface choice with most of them. You may have heard the phrase, “design is 95% typography,” but what does that mean? Does that mean that all of those minute decisions we make about shapes, images, colors, and textures are worthless if we make the wrong choice of type for a presentation? Does that mean we should devote 95% of our design time to choosing typefaces? When Oliver Reichenstein made this claim in 2006, he was primarily focused on type in web design. However, we can draw a few lessons about type in presentation design from his message (check out the follow up to Reichenstein’s landmark article here.):

1. While presentations are a visual medium, the best way for audiences to retain visual information is to pair an image with text. So, one must consider readability and usability when designing type in a presentation.
2. It’s not about having as many typefaces as possible at your disposal. It’s about knowing how to best use the type you have. That’s typography.
3. Treat text as a design element and consider the user’s experience.

Photo Credit: sillygwailo via Compfight cc

Today’s deck, “52 Presentation Tips” by SOAP Presentations is an interesting addition to the ongoing debate about the role type plays in design.

SOAP’s approach is dynamic, the advice relevant (considering how many presentations on Slideshare still follow the Death by Bullet approach, we clearly need more champions for the cause like SOAP), and I find the overall design to be engaging and immersive. However, at times, I found the use of type to be disconcerting and the top down flow of information, in which words twist and wind down the middle of a 3-part vertical grid, made the content difficult to read quickly or easily. In the end, while I loved what I was seeing, I had trouble processing it quickly using Duarte’s glance media rule. However, this is intended to be an eBook and not a traditionally displayed and presented presentation, so SOAP’s design choice still makes sense. What do you think? Is dynamic/kinetic type useful in a presentation? What role does typography play in your presentation design?

Love the Visual Resume–Seriously!

Today’s deck comes from my favorite superteacher, Alex Rister. The visual resume began as a fun side project for me and then became a mission–help my students create a more dynamic picture of their qualities as professionals online. In teaching the visual resume, I draw inspiration from the success of others, namely David Crandall and Alex Rister. Both of these individuals have successful visual resumes.

1. She uses story to convey her unique perspective

Alex tells audiences the story of how she found her calling as communications guru and public speaking teacher. Instead of just starting with “I was born…” she begins with a bigger idea–innovation, and then illustrates how she is part of this new age of innovation.

2. She designs unified visuals

Alex uses color, type, shape, and alignment to create something that is uniquely hers. Alex’s use of pink against the vintage images is classy yet whimsical. Her choice of Komika Axis speaks to her personality–this is Alex’s signature typeface.

3. Her visual resume does more than what any traditional resume can do

Alex uses this medium to highlight not only her extensive leadership and teaching experience and professional work as an educator, but also as a means of sharing her ideas on communication, work, and the world at large.

Check out Alex Rister’s visual resume, as well as her other amazing deck (which is a required reading in our Professional Communication and Presentation course), Seven Deadly Sins of Visual Design.

Slideshare Top Presentations of the Day

I am currently in love with my two partners for Top Presentations of the Day, designer and illustrator Mars Dorian, and Andy Whitlock, strategy director at Poke London. Check out their fantastic decks below for some excellent tips on standing out on the web and creating presentations that do not induce suicide.

Mars Dorian, “How to Stand Out Online”

Andy Whitlock, “How to Do Presentations that Don’t Induce Suicide”

Tweak of the Day: The SOTU Visualized

As I gear up for slide design day in class, I peruse slideshare.net for examples of the elements of design: contrast, hierarchy, proximity, unity, flow, and whitespace. Here is Obama’s recent SOTU address visualized. Give this rich deck a moment to load!