MS Office, and PowerPoint for presentations, are wonderful tools. They are easy to use, surprisingly adaptable and compatible to different systems etc. But there are also a few flaws in these programmes that can lead to a bad design or presentation, if you’re not careful.

The thing is, if you’re using a preset or default template, layout, design, wordart or clipart the chances are your audience has seen them ALL before… about 10 years ago. And that does not make for a professional and convincing presentation, does it?

Today, customisation needs to be on top of the ‘To-Dos’ for any design and presentation. DO NOT use preset designs or templates. DO use customised designs that match your brand and what you stand for. This means use your logo, your brand colours and most importantly, let your presentation design reflect and communicate what your brand stands for. By including these elements into you presentation you start to connect with your audience.

We need to connect with our clients and our audience – otherwise known as relationship building – it’s the backbone of business. We need to build a relationship with our clients and customers. One of the ways we do this is visually, for example having photos of your team on your website allows your clients to develop a relationship with you, even before they pick up the phone. That’s because an image can portray not just words but feelings. If you’re consistent with communicating those feelings in all your designs, over time, our brains will associate those feelings with your brand, and you’ll have made a lasting impression. A favourable impression.

So if you’re designing a presentation or document, keep these things in mind:

• DO use customised colours that are consistent with the rest of your branding
• DO use your logo where possible and applicable
• DO use fonts consistent with your other branding and logo (for a presentation make sure it’s readable from a distance)
• DO use images that reflect the feelings you’d like to have associated with your brand
• DO NOT use preset or default design templates (we have seen them all before)
• DO NOT use clipart or wordart, they are simply cheesy and boring

Do you feel stuck now and a bit demotivated continuing to design your presentation? Don’t despair, just send us an email and let’s have a chat to see how we can make it easier for you. We can create those customised templates for you that you can use over and over again (and they won’t get boring) they will represent your brand perfectly.