Introduction

Whether you’re creating your own slides or using an open access template, have you considered how the design of each slide impacts the learning experience?

When creating slides, many people focus on making them visually appealing. While that’s important, it’s not always enough to promote learning. Good slide design helps students learn by reducing mental effort and improving comprehension.

This guide introduces four design principles you can apply to your presentations:

  • Contrast
  • Repetition
  • Alignment
  • Proximity

By strategically integrating design principles into your slides, you can support learning in a meaningful way.

Learning Outcome

By the end of this guide, you will be able to:

  • Recognize inclusive visual design principles that help reduce cognitive load and improve comprehension of PowerPoint slides.
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Contrast

“If two items are not exactly the same, then make them different. Really different”
(Williams, 1994, p. 53).

If two elements (type, colour, size, line thickness, shape, space, etc.) are not the same, then make them very different so they contrast one another. This creates an organized hierarchy among the elements for your eye to follow (Williams, 1994, p. 53). However, be sure to use contrast sparingly and strategically to make certain elements stand out.

There are three key ways to create contrast:

1. Text

Use large, bold text for titles and smaller text for details. By contrasting large text with small text, you create an organizational hierarchy (Williams, 1994, p. 53). In the example below, a large and bold title naturally draws the eye first, helping organize information and focus attention (Weinschenk, 2020, p. 37). The eye then moves down to the smaller text, which typically contains less important details. This structure signals the importance of concepts and their relationships, allowing students to scan and grasp the content before reading in detail.

A PowerPoint slide that features a heading (large black text), body text (medium black text), and sub-text (small black text) to illustrate hierarchy.

Also, choose typefaces that are clear and easy to read. Both serif (more formal) and sans serif (more casual) typefaces work equally well. Research shows there is no difference in comprehension, reading speed, or preference between the two (Weinschenk, 2020, p. 40).

2. Colour

Use color to strengthen visual hierarchy. In the example below, using the same content but adding color transforms the message. The organizational hierarchy now more clearly signals what to view first (the bold, colorful title) and last (the small grey text at the bottom).

A PowerPoint slide that features a heading (large black text) with a yellow background, body text (medium black text), and sub-text (small medium grey text) to illustrate hierarchy.

Further, keep these color considerations in mind:

  • Sufficient contrast: Ensure sufficient contrast between the text and background so all students can read your material with ease. You can use WebAIM’s Contrast Checker (opens in a new tab) to verify your colour choices.
  • Purposeful selection: Choose colors purposefully, considering cultural meanings. For example, “in Eastern culture, the colour red means good luck while in most Western cultures red means danger” (Hammond, 2015, p. 23).
  • Convey meaning in multiple ways: About 9% of men and 0.5% of women are colorblind so don’t use color alone to convey meaning (Weinschenk, 2020, p. 25). Be sure to provide additional ways to interpret information beyond color (e.g. letters, patterns, symbols, etc.).

3. Shape

Shapes can be used to create contrast and are often classified as geometric or organic.

Geometric shapes have clear, defined edges that may be symmetrical (e.g. triangles, rectangles, circles, etc.)

Geometric shapes like triangles, circles, and rectangles in various colours

Organic shapes have more natural, flowing, irregular, or asymmetrical edges and often relate to things found in nature.

Organic shapes with asymmetrical edges in various colours

You can combine geometric shapes (triangles, rectangles, circles) with organic shapes (natural, flowing forms) to create visual interest and draw attention, as illustrated in the following examples.

Two PowerPoint slides that use shapes (both geometric and organic) to draw attention

Check Your Understanding

In the H5P activity below, drag the white vertical bar in the middle of the screen to the left and right to see two different slide designs – one that applies the text contrast principle and one that doesn’t. Which slide design is more effective at conveying the message?

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Repetition

“Repeat visual elements of the design throughout the piece. You can repeat colour, shape, texture, spatial relationships, line thicknesses, sizes, etc.”
(Williams, 1994, p. 14).

Repeat visual elements throughout your presentation to create consistency and continuity. This includes things like fonts, colors, shapes, or spacing. Repetition makes your slides feel cohesive and helps students recognize that all slides belong together.

Example 1

 In the following example, the font, colour, and heading style is consistently applied across the slides which makes them feel like they belong together.

A series of 3 PowerPoint slides that showcase a consistent yellow heading with black text for the title

Example 2

In the following example, slide elements such as a horizontal line, use of highlighted words, and a feature colour of yellow are included throughout the slides in purposeful, consistent ways.

A series of 3 PowerPoint slides that showcase a consistent dark grey background, white heading titles, and yellow accents across the slides

On the contrary, when design elements change drastically from slide to slide, it creates a confusing and disjointed experience. In the following example, the font, colour, and heading style is inconsistently applied across the slides which makes them feel like they don’t belong together. Do you see and feel the difference?

A series of 3 PowerPoint slides that showcase a variety of design choices like different fonts, sizes of text, alignment styles that make the slides feel disjointed

Check Your Understanding

What elements on the following Agenda slide could be repeated across additional slides to create repetition? Click and drag each word into the spot that matches the corresponding slide design feature (the spots will appear when you start dragging a word). 

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Alignment

“Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every element should have some visual connection with another element on the page”
(Williams, 1994, p. 14).

Humans like to see order as it creates a calm, secure feeling (Williams, 1994, p. 35). Every element placed on a slide should be carefully considered otherwise it can create a chaotic feeling.

Choose one alignment style (left, center, or right) and use it consistently across each slide. Left alignment is most common for body text and slide titles and images are often left or center aligned.

A series of 3 PowerPoint slides that showcase three different alignment styles - left, center, right

When placing multiple elements on a slide, ensure each element aligns with another on the slide. For example, align elements by their edges (top, bottom, left, and/or right).

A PowerPoint slide that showcases how aligning the top and left edges of a series of images makes it feel more cohesive

When organizing multiple elements, imagine a grid dividing your slide into columns and rows. Place your titles, images, and text within these sections. This creates balance and clear organization (Goring, 2022).

Example of a slide grid

A PowerPoint slide that features a grid where the title section spans across the top third of the slide and then the two sections below are split 2/3 and 1/3

Example of slide design using that same grid

A PowerPoint slide that uses a grid where the title section spans across the top third of the slide and then the two sections below are split 2/3 and 1/3 to design the material

Check Your Understanding

Look at the slide below and think about where you would envision grid lines. Then, drag the white vertical bar to the right to make some dominant grid lines appear. Did they match the ones you were imagining?

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Proximity

“Items relating to each other should be grouped close together. When several items are close in proximity to each other, they become one visual unit rather than several separate units” 
(Williams, 1994, p. 14)

When placing content on your slide, group related items close together. When items are near each other, they become one visual unit rather than separate pieces. This helps students understand relationships between elements.

Before considering proximity

Since all the information is all evenly spaced, it doesn’t give us a sense of how the elements work together.

A PowerPoint slide that showcases 4 lines of text that are spread apart, indicating no relationship between the lines

After considering proximity

By grouping related elements together, we understand the first two elements relate to one another and the last two elements relate to one another.

A PowerPoint slide that groups 2 lines of text at the top and 2 lines of text at the bottom to indicate a relationship

Both closeness (proximity) and distance (lack of proximity) indicate relationships, so use white space intentionally. With no white space, it’s difficult to quickly determine what information belongs together. In the following image, there is no proximity or lack of proximity between any elements so it takes more mental processing to determine what information belongs together.

A PowerPoint slide that contains exam and assignment details all on separate lines and spread apart

Using proximity to purposefully create white space gives our brain the necessary space to process and understand how elements on the slide relate to each other.

A PowerPoint slide that contains exam and assignment details grouped into related materials so it's easier to process which content belongs with which element

Check Your Understanding

The following slide design doesn’t follow the principle of proximity. Think about the changes you would make. Then, drag the white vertical bar to the left to reveal a new design that follows the principle of proximity.

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Conclusion

Presentations are often designed to tell a story about certain content in an interactive and captivating way. But, careful consideration is required when designing it. We hope you see how the design decisions you make when creating slides impact the overall learning experience. 

Connection to Competencies

The Designing PowerPoint Presentations for All guide supports the B.C. Post-Secondary Digital Literacy Framework (opens in a new tab) by helping educators create clear, accessible, and pedagogically effective slide decks that enhance student learning. The guide aligns primarily with the Creation and Curation competency, as participants learn to apply visual design principles that increase clarity and reduce cognitive load. It also connects to Ethical and Legal Considerations, since designing inclusive slides requires attention to accessibility standards and equitable learning practices. Finally, it touches on Digital Scholarship by strengthening instructors’ ability to use presentation tools thoughtfully to support teaching and communicate content in ways that improve student engagement and understanding. Together, these competencies support the intentional design of inclusive and effective presentation materials that enhance learning and promote equitable access to course content.

The eight Digital Literacy Competencies in an octagon shape with the Creation and Curation, Ethical and Legal Considerations, and Digital Scholarship wedges highlighted

This graphic was created using the “Digital Literacy Framework Competency Stamp Generator” by Luke McKnight, Briana Fraser, and Katherine Cheung and is licensed under CC by 4.0

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References

Goring, R. (2022, February 8). Presentation design principles for better PowerPoint design. Bright Carbon. https://www.brightcarbon.com/blog/presentation-design-principles-better-powerpoint-design/

Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Corwin.

Weinschenk, S. M. (2020). 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (2nd ed.). Peachpit Press.

Williams, R. (1994). The Non-Designer’s Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice. Peachpit Press.

Pictures Used

Photo by Justin Veenema on Unsplash

Photo by Pauline Loroy on Unsplash

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

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