Some guidelines for making your presentation diagrams more understandable, efficient and visually pleasant.

1. How To Make
Awesome
Diagrams
u r
F o r yo
slides

2. Me
Enrique García Cota
I do software at Splendeo
@otikik

3. © http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrimperial/121370739/
Disclaimer
● I'm not a designer.
● I've just done lots
of diagrams in
presentations.
● These guidelines
work for me.
● “Right” and
“Wrong” are used
in that context.
Don't take them
personally.

4. 1. Lines
© http://www.flickr.com/photos/twinysam/4988273864/

5. Never use 0pt line width
Wrong
Right
Visible from the far end of the room

6. Have consistent line width
Wrong
0.06'' 0.32''
0.10''
Right
0.06''
0.06'' 0.32''
Maybe two very different widths; not more

7. Use only one line ending
Wrong
Right
People at the far end won't see the difference

8. Use one dashed style
Wrong
Right
Guess

9. Arrows instead of lines
vs.
When? See example on next slide

10. Use connectors, not straight lines
With lines
With connectors

11. Shapes instead of lines (sometimes)
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
vs.
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
They look better on simple workflows

12. Colors instead of outlines (sometimes)
vs.
Useful to reduce the number of colors

13. 2. Shapes
© http://www.flickr.com/photos/alessandropinna/1423128740/

14. Use a grid
Wrong
Right

15. Align when possible
Wrong
Right

16. Size means Importance
Wrong Right
Not Very Not Very
Important Important Important
Important

17. Size means Hierarchy
Wrong Right
Face
Face
Eyes Nose Mouth Eyes Nose Mouth

18. Size means Relative Size
Wrong Right
Elephant Duck Elephant
Duck

19. Size doesn't mean “long name”
Wrong
A Long Name
Right
A B* A A ...
* Long Name
Long Name Long Name

20. Different Shape = Different Type
OK Better
? ?
Yes No Yes No

21. Maximum number types: 4

22. If you need more, use images
OK Better
A B C
Warning! Finding appropriate images takes time

23. Transparencies, Shadows & Gradients
Don't
They take a lot of time to get right, and
most projectors won't show them anyway

24. © http://www.flickr.com/photos/24241587@N05/5184820807/
3. Nesting

25. One nesting level per slide
Wrong
Unique slide

26. One nesting level per slide
Right
Slide 1

27. One nesting level per slide
Right
Slide 2

28. One nesting level per slide
Right
Slide 3

29. One nesting level per slide
Right
Slide 4?
Is this level really needed?

30. But, won't adding slides
increase the presentation
complexity?
Yes, it will.
But less than nested shapes.

31. Complexity →
→
ting
Nes
Sli d es →
1 slide /
1 nesting level

32. If you need everything in one place
You are not making a
presentation
Consider other formats

33. © http://www.flickr.com/photos/yetti/8743214/
4. Color

34. Color count
Fill + Text + Lines - Background
Fill = Green + Red = 2
Hi Text = White = 1
Lines = Black = 1
Background = White = -1
Bye! 2+1+1–1=3

35. Color count should be ≤ 3

36. The magic of combinatory
I'm only using three
still but here colors
combi-
can make many nations

37. When in doubt, use Primary colors
Red Yellow Green Blue
#c5000b #ffd320 #008000 #0084d1
In LibreOffice: Chart 11, Chart 3, Green, Chart12
These are awesome for diagrams

38. Color is great for Stress or Status
Wrong Right
OK OK Alert OK OK Alert
Alert
Alert OK OK Alert
Alert OK OK
OK Alert OK OK Alert
Alert OK

39. Color is not great for lines
Wrong Right
More easily seen from far away

40. Use bright background colors
Wrong Right
Some projectors don't handle dark slides well

41. Don't use pale colors in foreground
Wrong Right
Gray 10% Gray >20%
To projectors, any pale color = white

42. Printing: Black and White
OK OK Alert OK OK Alert
Alert OK OK Alert OK OK
OK Alert OK OK Alert OK
Black and White = information loss

43. Printing: Graceful Degradation
OK OK Alert
Alert OK OK Alert
Alert
Alert
Alert OK OK Alert
Alert OK OK
OK Alert
Alert OK OK Alert
Alert OK
Use contrast and borders to compensate

44. 5. ext
© http://www.flickr.com/photos/rahulchhiber/5177233766/

45. First and foremost:
Are you an
optometrist?

46. us feel like this.
Then don't make
©http://www.flickr.com/photos/sveinhal/2182773789/

47. Smallest font size:
20px
Otherwise it's impossibly difficult to read from far away

48. Only one font
Wrong
a a a a
Right
a a a a

49. Exception: Typographic diagrams
Nice Yuck

50. Bigger shape ⇒ Bigger or equal text
Wrong Right
Letters Letters
A A
Otherwise text size contradicts shape size

51. Italics: Don't bother
Wrong Right
a a
No one will notice the difference

52. Bold: Don't mix it
Wrong Right
a a
a a
a a
Again, the difference is hard to notice

53. a hard to re
d, n
te
of
esp
is
ec iall
Oblique text
when y
Use horizontal text
up
font.
sid
l
al
d
e
ow
sm
n and with
a
© http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/1156232979/

54. That was it!
© Enrique García Cota

55. Go
Now And
Make
Some
Awesome
Diagrams!

56. Now Go
Make
Some Awesome
Diagrams!

57. © Enrique García Cota
Thank you!