Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles

Relevance

This chapter is from the book

Backgrounds

A great deal of the visual impression of your presentation comes from the background you choose, so choose it carefully. If you can’t find a template that suits your material, there are lots of graphic tools in PowerPoint and Keynote to create your own background. You can also invest a few dollars in images from a vendor such as CreativeMarket.com or iStockphoto.com.

There are two important things to remember:

Choose a background that complements your talk, one that is relevant to it, not a background that contradicts or confuses it.

Work with the background—don’t just randomly pile stuff on it.

Below-left you see the actual opening slide as the presenter created it; on the right, she added a nice background image that she bought for $3 at iStockphoto.com, and we used an interesting and relevant font (Apocrypha) instead of the default Arial. You can see what a dramatic difference it makes, and you can imagine the difference in the audience’s immediate perception.

04fig05.jpg

You will learn in the next section that all I did with the type in the way of design was to add contrast—a contrast of the size of font and a contrast of color.

And don’t be afraid to put your name on the introductory slide—your audience wants to know who you are.

04fig06.jpg

Hmm, a presentation about purchasing a home on a background of the open ocean. My brain, all through the speaker’s talk, will be constantly trying to process the connection between the ocean and a suburban house.

04fig07.jpg

Here’s a guideline to remember: If it looks hard to read, it is. This example is hard to read even on your computer, so please consider how much more difficult it will be on a screen in a large room. Besides making the text difficult to read, this irrelevant background does nothing to clarify the topic.

I realize that it’s often hard for new designers to allow empty space on the slide, but you must learn to let it be there. Random shapes or images can actually make it more difficult to place and organize text effectively.

Part of the ubiquitous problem of inappropriate backgrounds and their use is that many free PowerPoint templates disobey this very guideline, leading many to think it’s perfectly okay to put a lot of wimpy text on a busy background. Take this free template, for example:

04fig08.jpg

The text is directly on top of the distracting (and irrelevant) background; you assume that since a “designer” created it this way, it must be okay. Never assume that. This slide (and most templates) gives you five levels of bullet points, as if anyone in the entire room could ever read past the second one. Heck, you can’t even read past the second one. Use your own common sense.

But templates are getting better. If you have an old version of PowerPoint, it would behoove you to upgrade so you can get the new templates that are included with the application, and then download some new ones from either the Microsoft site or from the many sites that provide PowerPoint templates. Choose the templates with a consciousness about the purpose of your presentation; choose a background that supports your message.

See Chapter 15 for some sources for good templates.

The more complex the information, the simpler the background

Occasionally there is no way around the necessity of putting a lot of data on one slide. Just keep in mind that the more text, charts, graphs, or images that you must put on the slide, the simpler your background must be.

It’s not necessary to have exactly the same background on every slide in your deck (see Chapter 8 for more on that topic), so if you’ve got a graphic theme you really like that ties your slides together, you can get away with eliminating parts that are not necessary when you have a lot of data on one slide.

04fig09.jpg

It’s not hard to find the irrelevant and unnecessary items on this slide (left). Make a habit of really seeing the individual elements so you can make decisions about what can go and what should stay.

When is a busy background okay?

A busy, complex background can be perfectly great if the data on that slide is large enough and bold enough to be understood—and if that background is relevant. When you see a busy background that works (it doesn’t confuse the message, you can read the text, etc.), ask yourself why that is? Put it into words; the more often you put into words what works and what doesn’t work, the easier it is for you to automatically create better slides.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020