Fonts are very important to me within presentation design. I take my font choices seriously and a number of them are near and dear to my heart. “Choosing your font wisely” is actually my #3 tip in my eBook, Ten Tips and Techniques for More Effective Presentations. But why are fonts so important?
First and foremost, the font you choose says a lot about the message you’re trying to convey. A font like Helvetica is clean, simple, and legible. It’s not going to jump out and grab your attention, but maybe that’s not your goal. Maybe you don’t want to be radical. Maybe you want to be sleek, smooth, strong, and consistent. However, if you want to start a movement, you want an original font like Magnum or Birth of a Hero that grabs your audience’s attention and demands that they listen. They aren’t as legible and can’t be used throughout a lengthy presentation, but are sure to turn heads.
Second, the way you implement the chosen font can make or break your presentation. This goes hand-in-hand with your grasp of the content and time spent preparing/practicing. There’s no excuse for lack of preparation, so I’ll continue this post as if you know your content in and out. Since that’s now the case, you don’t need to put full sentences of text. Make sure you use a legible font size and don’t be afraid to go large. Some people ask me what the minimum font size is. Gun to my head – 30pt is the minimum, but if you’re worried if you’re font is too small, then it’s DEFINITELY too small. What I always say is…
I want to make sure you understand that font is just one component of many that create an effective PowerPoint or Keynote presentation, and your slides are NEVER more important than you, the living/breathing presenter. The most important information will be coming out of your mouth, not pasted onto a slide.
What are your favorite fonts? What original fonts do you use? How do you determine your font size?
