After successful careers across marketing, communications and design, we set out to bring our passion for presentations — and specifically, how information is presented — to the wider market.
Too often, we watched good, well-researched strategies fail. Not because the strategy was weak, but because it was delivered poorly. We saw promising product launches fall flat, not for lack of a good product, but because the launch never made clear what that product actually meant for the customer. More often than not, this critical job was left to whoever happened to be free to do it, rather than to a presentation specialist. We’ve learned that audience buy-in is often the difference between success and failure. That’s why our mission is simple: help people and businesses turn their presentations into visual stories that engage and inspire and it is our mission to help everyone, everywhere to be proud to present. There’s no better feeling than when we successfully help our customers achieve and exceed their objectives. I love creativity. I love science. I love psychology. I love telling stories. And I love helping people present their ideas in a way that is so compelling that their audience wants to lean in and hear what they have to say.
In 2014, David JP Phillips gave a TEDx Talk that’s since become one of the most- watched pieces of presentation advice online: “How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint.” So why, twelve years on, do so many presentations still look cluttered with too much text on screen? Why have so few presenters actually taken Phillips’s advice?
Sixteen by Nine have been helping people tell compelling business stories through creative PowerPoint presentation design and strategy since 2018 and below are some of my favourite insights, based on years of research and practical implementation, that I hope others will find beneficial as we try to, once and for all, avoid death by PowerPoint.
1: Present with the right mindset
Remind yourself that you are here to give. This is essential for the successful delivery of your presentation. This should be front and centre when you start to build your content. Don’t be concerned about what you want from your audience, think about the value you can give to them.
2. The F Pattern
Most audiences, looking at a ‘typical’ slide will track the content in an F shaped pattern. First a sweep across the top of the slide, followed by a vertical scan down the left.
This means that a presenter’s most important message will be most effective if positioned in the top left zone of the slide. Anything buried in the bottom-right is likely to be missed or not seen as important.
3. The Z Pattern
Interestingly, when a layout is high in imagery with minimal text on screen, the eyes move is a Z pattern. Sweeping across the top, diagonally to the bottom left, then across to the bottom right. Scientifically, this is the dominant pattern for highly visual slides.
This means that for visual slides, structure your key message, supporting visual and call to action along this diagonal path.
4. People scan, they don’t read
Eye tracking studies have found that most people don’t read text word for word, especially on a first viewing. A reader of a slide will scan titles and run through the content looking for keywords to assess whether it is worth their full attention. A cognitive trait called information-seeking behaviour.
This means that text-heavy slides will not provide the impact needed to pass a “scan test”, a real Darwinian Esque PPT survival of the fittest. Slides should ensure engaging headlines, short/punchy subtitles and body copy that is succinct and to the point.
5. Size matters
Scientific research has proven that large elements on screen will attract attention first. Indeed, the human brain subconsciously organises the visual elements it is looking at.
This means that your key heading or hero statistic should be the largest element on a slide. If everything is the same size, nothing will stand out.
6. Contrast commands attention
Have you ever wondered why emergency signs use bright colours against a black or white background? It’s because contrast commands our attention and is the primary driver of where our attention finally lands and keeps being drawn back to.
This means one should look to deliberately use contrast within their presentation slides to direct the audience’s eye to what matters most. A boldened number, key word or a highlighted sentence will make your communications stand out and be rememberable.
7. Visual Hierarchy and the importance of placement
Elements higher up the page tend to be noticed first. Whitespace also plays a significant part in the effectiveness of a slide’s message. Elements with more breathing room around them command more attention than those that are surrounded by content.
This means, to create a slide that really lands, place your key messaging in the upper half of the slide and give it space to breathe. A truly impactful presentation slide definitely follows a less is more approach and this is backed up by science.
8. The correlation between cognitive load and a slide’s effectiveness is real
Eye tracking research reveals that slides containing significant amounts of text on screen are hard for the viewer to process the information on them effectively. Fixation durations, irregular eye movement patterns and repeated revisiting of the same areas indicate that a viewer will find it much harder to process the onscreen messaging to working memory than a slide that is content light.
This means that cluttered, poorly structured slides don’t just look bad, they measurably increase cognitive load and reduce a presentation’s effectiveness.
The science is clear: attention is earned, not assumed. Position your message, size it right, add contrast, give it space to breathe, and lead with what you’re giving your audience, not what you want from them. Small shifts, backed by real research, are what turn a slide people sit through into one they remember. Death by PowerPoint isn’t inevitable. It’s a choice, and it’s an easy one to stop making.
Ready to make your next presentation unmissable? Get in touch with Sixteen by Nine and let’s build it together.
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