Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations (Voices That Matter)

by Garr Reynolds

Simplify as much as you can—but no more. It was Albert Einstein who said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Simplicity is our guiding principle. Simplicity means many things to many people. Scores of books have been written on the subject. For our purposes, simplicity means embracing most of the concepts discussed here to avoid the extraneous. It means making the conscious decision to cut unnecessary information and design elements. If you can do it with less, then do it with less. Yet simplicity is not only about subtraction. As MIT professor and designer John Maeda says, “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” You will find tools for achieving simplicity in many of the principles covered in this book, including hierarchy, unity, balance, the use of color and typography, and much more. All of these principles can help us achieve clarity of message and simplicity of design.