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Less-Is-More Blog by Pierre Khawand

Accomplishing More With PowerPoint: Using SmartArt Graphics in Microsoft PowerPoint to enhance your presentation instead of hindering it!

Posted by Pierre Khawand on Thu, May 06, 2010 @ 04:54 PM

SmartArt graphics can be very effective and yet they can be overused or misused and therefore backfire instead of enhance your presentation.

Examples of good uses of SmartArt Graphics

This SmartArt Graphic (Continuous Block Process) clearly illustrates the sequential nature of these funding rounds:

PowerPoint tutorial SmartArt Graphic

The following SmartArt Graphic (Upward Arrow), which we use in our collaboration technologies workshops, shows the spectrum of purposes that one can have for one's blog.  The upward arrow depicts the increased value that blog authors can get from their blog as they start to move beyond publishing information into engaging and motivation their audiences:

PowerPoint Tutorial SmartArt Graphic


Example of not so good uses of SmartArt Graphics

This SmartArt Graphic here is ambiguous. It is not clear what the relationship is between People, Technology, and Process. The pyramid can be interpreted differently by different people. This will cause the viewer to have to think and make assumptions. As Steve Krug puts it in his book Don't Make Me Think, this will distract and confuse the user.

PowerPoint Tutorial SmartArt Graphic 
 

What do you think of this SmartArt Graphic?


PowerPoint Tutorial SmartArt Graphic

Do you have examples of SmartArt Graphics (or charts/visuals) that are well done and some that are not? E-mail them to training@people-onthego.com. We will collect them and publish the results in a future article.

Additional Resource

 

Topics: Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft PowerPoint Training