Slide design: 15 rules for decks people remember

Good slide design starts with one rule: one idea per slide. Say that idea as a short sentence at the top, support it with a single image, chart or a few words set large, and move the detail into what you say or into an appendix. Build at 16:9, 1920×1080 pixels, use one background system and two typefaces throughout, and decks become calmer, faster to follow and far easier to remember. The fifteen rules below cover the rest.

Structure: rules 1 to 4

1. 1

   1. One idea per slide

   If a slide makes two points, it is two slides. Slides are free; attention is not.

2. 2

   2. Write headlines as sentences

   "Revenue grew fastest in the north" beats "Regional revenue". Someone flicking through should get the story from the headlines alone.

3. 3

   3. Outline before you open the software

   Write the headlines in a list first. If the list does not tell the story, no design will.

4. 4

   4. Know whether it is presented or sent

   A spoken deck can be sparse. A deck sent as a PDF must stand alone, so it carries more words, set in a clear hierarchy.

Slide size and layout: rules 5 to 7

5. Build at 16:9. Almost every screen, projector and video call is widescreen now, so 1920×1080 is the default. Use 4:3 at 1600×1200 only when you know the room has an older projector. Changing the ratio after you have built a deck breaks every layout, so decide first.

6. Use a grid and keep margins wide. Keep content at least 80 to 100 pixels from every edge of a 1920×1080 slide, and align titles to the same position on every slide so nothing jumps when you click forward.

7. Leave a third of the slide empty. Space is what makes the important thing obvious. If a slide feels full, it is too full. Visual hierarchy explains why the eye needs room to find the point.

Type on slides: rules 8 to 10

8. Make text bigger than feels right. Someone at the back of a room or watching on a laptop in a small window needs large type. On a 1920×1080 slide, these sizes are a sound starting point.

9. Two typefaces, no more. A heading face and a body face, used the same way on every slide. Presentation fonts has tested pairings.

10. Cut bullets to fragments, or cut them. Three short bullets is the limit. Better still, turn the list into three slides or one diagram.

Colour and backgrounds: rules 11 and 12

11. Use one background system. Pick a ground and stick to it: perhaps a bold version for title and section slides and a calmer version for content slides. Changing backgrounds on every slide makes a deck feel assembled rather than designed. Presentation backgrounds has many ideas.

12. Contrast is not optional. Projectors wash colours out, and many people watch on dim laptop screens. Keep text well clear of the WCAG contrast minimums, and never put text over the brightest part of a gradient or photo.

Images, charts and endings: rules 13 to 15

13. One image, shown big. A single photograph filling the slide beats four thumbnails. Crop with intent and put the headline where the image is calm.

14. Make every chart answer one question. Put the answer in the headline, highlight the one bar or line that proves it, and grey out the rest.

15. End on the ask, not "Thank you". The last slide stays on screen during questions, often for minutes. Use it for the one thing you want people to do or remember, with contact details. Pitch deck design and keynote slide design show strong endings for investors and stages.

If you build the deck in Gradiently, rule 11 takes care of itself: the Studio has pages for decks, and one Mark carries the same background across every slide while moving its calmest area behind your words. The Designer can lay out first drafts from a description, and with Pro you can export the deck as a PDF and resize key slides into social posts in one step.