1:
Font size is too small.
The smaller the font size
in the body or title
text, the more you’re encouraging presenters to
include
more text which is generally
not a best
practice.
2: Weak contrast
When you
combine the smaller text and weak
contrast, the titles are essentially invisible and worthless.
3: Custom fonts.
I’ve blogged about how you
can add a custom font to your presentation. I
like using non-standard
fonts in certain situations; however, I’m against
using them as default fonts in corporate PowerPoint
templates.
4: Off-center bullets.
Designers
will often reduce the size of the bullet character as a percent of
text
(e.g., 70%) when they want a smaller bullet. They don’t realize that
changing
the size of the bullet mark will create a bullet that isno longer
centered on the line. The better approach is to find a smaller version
of
same object (circle, square, dash, etc.) in one of the standard fonts
(wingdings, webdings, normal text, etc.).
5: Large file size.
If the template designers
are sloppy, they’ll include a hi-res image for a
background and inflate the
baseline file size of all your presentations
(much to the annoyance of your IT
department). If your empty
presentation template is over 1 MB, you’ve got this
problem. You’ll want to
have the designer save the background image at a lower
resolution to
reduce the file size of your presentation files.
6: Default color theme.
Each PowerPoint template
should have a color theme that matches the
corporate brand colors. You can create a custom theme
for colors under the Design > Colors tab.
7: Mismatched shape formatting.
Often so much emphasis
will be placed on the slide background, layout,
color themes, etc. that
designers forget to create a standard format for
shapes or objects that matches
the overall presentation template (e.g.,
fill
color, outline color, text font, etc.)
8: No blank slide.
With the increased use of
images in PowerPoint presentations, many
presenters will appreciate a layout
option for a simple blank slide.
Template designers often neglect to include
this option, but it should be a
standard option in any good PowerPoint template
9: Uses standard footers.
In PowerPoint 2007 and
2010, Microsoft mistakenly (in my opinion) made
the footers editable when
you’re designing your slides. This can be a
major pain in the butt when you
accidentally select a page number footer
when you’re re-positioning different
objects on a slide.
10: No light/dark background options
Sometimes you might need a
light background presentation for an internal
meeting or you might need a dark
background for a presentation at an
industry conference. Good presentation
templates should have both light
and dark versions available for the presenter
to choose from.