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The text on a slide should not be exactly the same as what the lecturer has just said. It is much more about a vivid description of the concept and an illustration to support the participant's understanding.
Visualizations help us enormously in understanding and remembering content. Therefore, we should try to visualize our content intelligently. However, illustrating content only makes sense if the right proportions are presented and no wrong ideas arise. Therefore, always ask yourself first, "What kind of content do I have, and what kind of relationships/contexts are there?" Then decide on the right kind of presentation.
Important considerations:
Highlighting the really important content
Considering the type of presentation
Ensuring the correct presentation of directions or developments
Taking indexed meanings (such as color codes) into account
Ensuring that participants are always able to locate the appropriate material and understand which section and from which perspective they are seeing the content
Showing the correct relations and proportions
Always remember that the first impression results from the colors and the picture, and the text is read after that.
Highlight important facts
Highlight important facts
Ask yourself if you have highlighted the really important facts and not too few or too many of them. You can emphasize something by using colors, size, and arrangement.
Do:
Here, the numbers are very well visualized and linked to a picture.
Mind the gap!
Because we read from left to right, it would be better to write the topic (‘Nephrotic syndrome’) at the beginning (in the first gray box) and not in the last gray box. The slide would then read, ‘Nephrotic syndrome in children < 5 years of age.’
Type of Presentation
Type of Presentation
Ask yourself if you have chosen the right type of presentation.
Charts
Charts
Do:
Because the development is over time, a line chart is a better representation than other kinds of charts.
Realistic Images
Realistic Images
Do:
Realistic images are important for the practical transfer of knowledge.
Mind the gap!
Realistic images can contain too many details.
Especially for beginners, realistic images can be difficult to understand (e.g., microscope images). In this case, it is better to start with an abstract image first so that participants know what to look for in a realistic image.
Usage:
Consider highlighting important parts.
Various examples can help participants to better understand the characteristics (e.g., different images showing a specific skin disease).
Illustrations
Illustrations
Do:
The illustration makes it possible to emphasize characteristics and hide unimportant details.
Mind the gap!
Illustrations must correspond to reality to the extent that a transfer of knowledge is possible.
Make sure that the presentation is not too abstract.
Usage:
Illustrations will especially help beginners or inexperienced people to understand the content.
It is important to combine illustrations and realistic images well so that participants can develop a realistic idea of the concept being presented.
Logical Pictures
Logical Pictures
Do:
Logical pictures are used to illustrate complex content and relationships.
Mind the gap!
Logical pictures, however, require knowledge of encoding.
Usage:
Good labels can help participants to understand logical pictures.
Symbols or abbreviations must be generally understandable.
Don't: In this picture, good labeling is missing, so the picture is not easy to understand. The level of knowledge of the target group also plays an important role in the labeling.
Mind the gap!
Charts often help us to understand numbers better, but they must always be clear. Do not forget that diagrams require a certain amount of prior knowledge.
This diagram is also very complex: It includes dots, bars, and a graph. Therefore, it is important to show and explain the diagram step-by-step.
Correct Presentation of Directions or Developments
Correct Presentation of Directions or Developments
Ask yourself if the presentation of directions or developments is adequate. For example, do arrows always show a direction or a development or suggest a movement? Make sure that the information that an arrow represents is correct.
Do:
The green arrows show another way of representation.
Mind the gap!
The red arrows here suggest that you are back at the beginning after the 3rd step.
Mind the gap!
Here, the arrows suggest that the process goes further after the 4th step. Consider whether the statement made by the representation is correct.
Indexed Meanings
Indexed Meanings
Ask yourself if you have been aware of indexed meanings, such as color codes. Colors provide a quick orientation (e.g., on a map) and often have clear meanings (e.g., oxygen is blue, blood is red, and lymphatic fluid is green).
Do:
The different colors visually distinguish the pros and cons. If colors are used consistently and intentionally, they enable a quick orientation. This saves cognitive resources for participants.
Mind the gap!
Have you thought about the meaning of the colors here? In many cases, green stands for right and red for wrong.
Mind the gap!
The different sizes here suggest that ‘Contra’ is stronger or more important than ‘Pro’, although three points are listed on both sides. The size of the illustrations plays a role here that we first understand visually and then become aware of in the text.
Perspectives
Perspectives
Ask yourself if participants are able to locate parts of illustrations and can understand which section and from which perspective they see the material.
Mind the gap!
Where is the front and back on this slide? The lack of such labeling makes the picture difficult to understand at first glance. This picture will distract from the lecturer's explanations and require participants to use unnecessary cognitive resources to understand it. In the worst case, the picture will be misinterpreted.
Do:
If it is not clear from the context which section of the body is shown, insert a picture that helps to locate the section.
Relations and Proportions
Relations and Proportions
Ask yourself if you have represented relations and proportions adequately. If we cannot estimate the size correctly, for example, we lack a concrete, tangible image in our heads. To classify something well, we need a realistic picture.
Don't:
This skin disease is difficult to understand because it is not possible to see how big the skin redness is by looking at these pictures.
Do:
Because the size and distribution of the rash can be easily seen, this presentation is clear and easy to understand.
Mind the gap!
Even with specifications such as ‘heavy,’ ‘large’, ‘sporty’, etc., we do not have a concrete or uniform picture in mind. It is better to be more concrete about what is needed in illustrations. For example, say ‘> 90 kg’. Instead of ‘heavy’. say ‘as heavy as the average man’ if the statement is to be more pictorial and does not have to be more concrete.
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