Poor Example

Good Example

Type should be easy to make out and comprehend.

• Fine or thin lines may disappear when projected. Text needs to be heavy (bold) enough to provide good contrast to the background.
• Avoid fonts that are too bold. The type may run together making it difficult to read.
• Use no more than 2-3 typefaces and styles (bold, italic, etc.) per presentation. Use bold, change sizes, or vary color to distinguish differences.
• Use large text sizes. Text should be large enough to read without effort. For most presentation media, titles should be 36-48 point and text should be 24-36 point for computer screen shows and 35mm slides. For video, text should be a minimum of 30 point. For posters, text should be a minimum of 24 point for the body, and 72 point for the title.
• Different fonts may have the same point size but can vary in line length.

• Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase lettering. Using all capital letters are harder to read because words formed with capital letters are repetitious rectangles that offer few distinctive shapes to catch the reader’s eye.

• Avoid underlining. Use italics, change text size, vary style or alter color instead of underlining words for emphasis. Underlining interferes with the descenders of the letters and reduces the distinctness of the shape of the words making the word harder to read.
• Bullets should be easy to see.

• Keep the same size of the text or titles from one visual to the next during a presentation. Changing the title size may make some information appear more important.
• Minimize punctuation in visuals. Avoid commas, semicolons, or periods. Ideas should already be grouped and arranged visually. The formatting size, type style and weight, position and color should reveal the structure of the material.
• Generally, start all phrase or sections with capital; from there on all words should be lowercase. Title can be upper and lowercase and bolded, or all upper case though somewhat more difficult to read.
• Proofread visuals. And then have someone else proofread them for you.

• Place most important text at the top and in the brightest color. Arrange the material in a pattern related to how people read - left to right, top to bottom. Leave a larger margin at the bottom of the visual for material that is to be projected on a screen. This allows for extra room in case there are heads, tables, or chairs in the way of the projector.
• Use text justification commands to align text rather than using the tab keys or space bar as these may make text appear to be aligned on your computer screen but will not be on your output.

Build or disclose a visual sequence of slides or overheads.

• Use the animation features in computer software to create a build or reveal your information, one line at a time.