Using space well is a sure sign of a professional designer or at least the sign of someone who cares about the quality of their work. And how to see and use space properly is probably the hardest thing to teach anyone. For our purposes let’s define space as how far or near one element is to another in a layout or slide. Or how close a line of type is to the next line. Layout space is composed of both the elements involved and the “negative” area between them.

The only rule I ever heard that made any sense is this: Elements that relate to each other should be close together. Elements that do not relate to each other should not be close together. That’s a little helpful but it doesn’t go far enough.

Here are my suggestions:

• Observe what others do in terms of spacing and positioning.
• See and learn what seems right and natural — what works — and what doesn’t. You will start to develop an educated eye for spacing and design.
• Finally, be fussy with your slides and layouts. Fine-tune the space between elements, between lines of text, between elements and borders/margins and between boxes and the text they contain. Keep fiddling with your work until it looks and feels right.

Realize that the time and effort you extend will pay off nicely in a more polished and professional presentation.

If you are a communicator on any level, can you afford to overlook the power of images, the emotions they elicit or the profound stories they can tell? Images can touch us and motivate us beyond almost any medium. Combine them with your words and they become just about unstoppable. Ask any parent. Ask any grandparent.

As a designer I love fonts, lots of fonts. But for most business presentations a highly-legible, versatile font like Arial is a wise choice. Here’s why:

• It is a sans-serif font, with clean, square ends that are clear and sharp when projected, even in less than perfect conditions.
• Sans-serif fonts are usually seen as honest and factual — Arial is an excellent example.
• Arial is very legible — easy to read in small sizes, against confusing backgrounds and in poor lighting conditions.
• Arial comes in a full range of weights: Arial Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic plus a full family of Arial Narrow; and Arial Black.
• In a slide deck Arial Black is particularly useful for big, bold headlines.

The downside is that Arial is viewed by some as mundane and unexciting. But in visual presentations, where legibility and versatility are critical, using the full family of Arial makes for a sensible choice.

As often stated here, the number one crime of PowerPoint abuse is this: Loading up the screen with endless text, then tuning your back to the audience and reading the copy word-for-word. Everyone hates it and they will hate you for doing it.

There is an instance, however, when reading from the screen is appropriate and even desirable: When you show and read a short quote.

Quotes can be a powerful way to make a transition, support your content or to introduce a new point. You can utilize someone else’s words and their credibility to reinforce your ideas. And when you then turn to verbally read through a brief quote it can be a dramatic and potent way to emphasize the special meaning of those words.

Think of yourself as the tour guide for your presentation. When you turn and read these great words from the screen it is as if you are looking at a work of art and saying to your audience “Let’s stop and together admire these wonderful thoughts.”

Bear in mind you should use a short quote, maybe less than 15 words and you may only be able to get away with this once or twice in a presentation.