Leave special effects to the movie makers
Don’t you just love bullet points flying in from the left, humorous sound effects and clip art.
You do?
Well, they do have their place in the right circumstances, but more often than not all these are overused.
Yes I do speak from personal (guilty) experience!
Consistent transitions are useful for consecutive slides displaying a horizontal process – they can give the effect of one large, wide slide.
Effects for emphasis are ok as long as they’re kept to a minimum and not used ‘just because I know how’.
Stale, overused clipart is better replaced with an original photograph or one from a stock photo site.
- Effects can emphasise specific points
- Overuse of effects ruins the effect!
- Pick 2 or 3 point to which you want to draw specific attention
- Avoid clipart that’s built into PowerPoint – it’s all been used before
Animations / transitions may be used to emphasise process, precedent or structure quite effectively, as long as they’re integrated seamlessly.
Guideline 9 = Use special effects only when necessary
Find the previous articles here.
Take a look at some of our slideshows.
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