SlideBlog

When placing elements on a slide it is important to think about what elements you want the audience to notice first, second and so on. One way to achieve this is to add contrast to the elements to really emphasize your message or you point so your audience can immediately get it.

Many times we create contrast unintentionally and according to the law of informative change, people expect changes in properties to carry information. This basically means that any stylistic difference between two elements carry some sort of information. So unintentional contrast can confuse or contradict the intended message. Any stylistic choice has the potential to suggest importance, urgency and value. So it is important to have a purpose for any and all stylistic changes/choices you make in your slides.

Below are several examples of how one can create contrast between elements on a slide. Choosing which one to use depends on your message and what you are trying to emphasize.

Sources: Slideology, Presentation Zen Design

To use layering techniques means to place objects (shapes, images, text etc.) on top of each other in a layering fashion and perhaps add some shadows to some objects. This can create a sense of depth by making some objects appear to be on top of others.

By adjusting the color and contrast of objects, it is possible to create a sense of depth on the slide. For example, on a light background, darker-colored objects appear to be in the front; meanwhile  lighter-colored  objects appear to be further into the background of the slide. The opposite is the case with a dark background:  lighter objects appear in the front, and darker objects appear in the back.

Below are a Before and After showing how to create depth by adjusting the relative scale of objects.

Before:

After:

Image Credit: chesnutt

When using a full bleed image with text written on top or just text on top of an image, it can sometimes be difficult to obtain the necessary contrast between the image and the text. This makes it difficult to read the text.

One way to increase the legibility and contrast of the text is to place a shape (rectangle, circle, triangle etc.) between the image and the text. It can really add a nice effect if you make the shape somewhat transparent. You can use any type of shape, it all depends on the point your slide is making, the style of the presentation, the content of the image and the text. Below is a before and after where adding a rounded corner shape makes a huge difference for reading/seeing the text on the slide.

Before:

After:

Image Source: saso