Whether you’re looking to tell better data stories, or you want to improve the look and feel of your charts, PowerPoint is a powerful, and often misused tool. When you understand how to use the functions of PowerPoint, you can unlock its true potential as an instrument for information design.
Led by Adam Frost and Tobias Sturt from leading creative agency Add Two, this interactive course will cover every aspect of the presentation process, beginning with finding and structuring your story, and then looking at how to design your charts and maps, and finally exploring how data stories can be improved with iconography, illustration and photography.
Practical, hands-on exercises are a key part of this course. You will be encouraged to bring along your own data and presentations to work on, although sample material will also be provided. At the end of the course, you will have a finished, beautifully-designed deck of your own, plus a variety of editable templates that you can re-use for any future projects.
Course content:
-
An introduction to the principles of data visualisation
-
Using copy in PowerPoint
-
Structuring a story across a deck
-
PowerPoint as a design tool
-
An understanding of the PowerPoint charting library
-
Creating non-traditional charts in PowerPoint
-
How to use iconography, illustration and photography
-
Supporting tools and further reading
This course is for…
Please be aware that although you do not need any specific technical expertise to participate in this course, your learning experience will be richer if you have a basic understanding of Excel and PowerPoint’s core functionality.
Week 1: The basics
-
PowerPoint as a storytelling tool – dividing your story between words, visuals and on-screen text
-
A tour of PowerPoint’s key design functionality: selecting, ordering, grouping, positioning.
-
A tour of PowerPoint’s charting functionality
-
Setting up PowerPoint templates and why they’re important. Establishing palettes, fonts, layout types.
Week 2: Storytelling essentials
-
Storytelling principes, cognitive load, and wireframing
-
Charting principles – matching story type to chart type
-
Creating standard charts in Powerpoint
-
Colour use in charting
Week 3: Advanced data storytelling
Week 4: Visual enhancements
-
Working with SVGs and external tools
-
Maps in PowerPoint
-
Photography, iconography and illustration
-
Builds and animation
-
Tips for testing and rehearsal
Tutor profiles
Adam Frost was formerly head of data visualisation at the Guardian’s digital agency. He is now content director at Add Two, an agency …….