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

by Garr Reynolds

Images can improve recognition and recall, and images combined with text can make for an even stronger message—as long as the text and images reinforce the same message. Photographs are powerful on their own and can be used to form their own narrative, but when we combine text with photos, we alter the meaning just a bit. The placement, style, and meaning of the text within the picture all have a part in guiding the viewer’s interpretation of the image. This goes both ways, of course. An image can also change the meaning of text. Notice in the simple examples that follow how the meaning changes. The photograph alone may have several different meanings depending on your interpretation; once we add text, the message changes.