Reminds me of something I heard on nerdTV -- Podcast #1 Andy Hertzfeld

The part about Steve Jobs where he commented in a documentary that Bill Gates has no taste, when SJ later saw the documentary, he thought it was a little too harsh and he should call up BG to apologize ... quoting Andy Herzfeld
( 30mins into first show )
SJ: "... Bill I'm calling to apologize ... I saw the documentary, and I said that you had no taste, well I shouldn't have said that publicly, its true! but, I shouldn't have said it publicly ..."

That was part of it, for the rest, check out NerdTV, better you hear it from the show, funnier there.

NerdTV:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/nerdtv/shows/
(this is the second time i posted this link here :p )

The documentary: Triumph of the Nerds

Unfortunately those bad templates with bright colors and awful typography just being used everywhere in the world. It just looks so powerpoint from a mile away.

At one point at my former agency they asked me what should we do to improve our presentations. I said step one is to trash powerpoint templates. They looked at me like a murderer.

disgusting. i hate the rainbow palette.

Too scattered, too many colours, too many reasons that it's baaaad.
It's like trying to hypnotise people with those colours and stuff.

Definately bad sense of design principles. Tsk.

Golden bullet points? :O

I used to work for Oracle Corp, and I clearly remember our standard PowerPoint presentation template. There were standards of how many bullet points to use, the colors used, and the graphics used. The human brain can only remember 7 items at a time (test yourself, name 7 cigaret brands).

The tool itself is not bad (I wish Keynote had timed transition), it's the person making the slideshow that needs a slap on the side of the head.

Waleed
www.waleedsgallery.biz

You're telling me??

- Jeff Yamada
www.suborior.com

I wouldn't appear dead on the same stage with those slides

The main reason that Job's presentations look so good is that he uses Keynote which is easily the best tool for creating slides (unless you have a week or so to build a bespoke one in Flash/Director).

The trouble with PowerPoint is that they make it easy to create shite graphics and really, really, really difficult to create understaed visuals.

The world would definitely be a slightly better place if every copy of PowerPoint was removed.

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http://mijlee.com
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Check this out: http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/11/the_zen_estheti.html

It's an article about Zen and they compare Steve Jobs to Bill Gates..

Speaking of poor choices, if you ask me, I don't think the site that hosts the article, Writer's block or whatever, has much taste either. Just my opinion, but I feel it should be noted.

How do we get companies to ditch PPT in favor of nicely designed presentations built in Flash or whatever?
('cause if it's built in PPT, they're going to ruin it...)

I'm amazed that companies are OK w/ design firms creating brochures and web sites that they leave as-is, so why do they "need" all that control over presentations? It's mostly just onscreen versions of what the exact text they're saying...

Ah, powerpoint. Please die soon. :)

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Powerpoint is not a design application.

...was seeing a presentation about making a positive and effective impression. Topics like dress, how to shake hands, how to look people in the eyes when talking to them, not to fidget, etc.

The accompanying PPT presentation was ghastly: It looked like crappy MS template #13, stuffed w/ Arial Bold drop shadows, drop shadows, drop shadows. And--oh lord--the clip art...!

So wear a nice suite, shake hands like you men it, but don't bother w/ your presentation.

When did this become acceptable?

(Perhaps this is worth its own topic...?)

It's called 'business moving at the speed of sales'. Sales doesn't care if it looks good, just if it sells. Companies are following suit.

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Powerpoint is not a design application.

if a sale is made, isn't it fine?

i mean, we kind of are whores, not artists. So if we sell a Pinto, then that's success, no?

Mind you, I don't LIKE that, and I'm having a tough time stomaching an employer who says "butts in seats uber alles," but that's a tough one to argue against.

Or is it "Congrats on selling the Pinto. But let me design/build it better (i.e. not like yuck, not settling for PPT) and you'll be able to sell an ARMY of Porches!"

Sorry, they're starting to sneak the kool-aid into me when I'm not looking...
:O

I think the customer suffers when products start looking like they were designed in powerpoint. :) Design is about communication, and all I see with powerpoint is that it makes communication less fun and less direct or effective.

Sure, sales are great and they make business go, but I also think customers buy things that look good/are well designed. I think we're in a phase where salespeople are trying to do everything to save money. That will always ebb and flow (just ask my entire Creative Department that was sacked in favor of outsourcing which is actually MORE expensive!).

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Powerpoint is not a design application.

creatives being outsourced.
wow...

sorry about that.

i guess creative stuff isn't immune from that dreaded "cost-cutting" blade. Heck, airlines did it by cutting cockpits from three people down to two, so wht noy have Mr. MBA "design" his own PPTs, and replace Julia the art director from down the street w/ XXX the "art director" from...somewhere else.

Maybe my next bonus will be in lottery tickets.
heh