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How to make awesome diagrams for your slides

134 points by kikito 15y ago

This meta-presentation can help anyone making a powerpoint with diagrams and/or flowcharts. It contains a set of very simple, easy to follow guidelines that should improve their visibility and attractiveness. I was meant to be a short presentation to help my brother with his work, but it kindof took a life of its own. It was promoted to Slideshare's front page in less than 12 hours.

mikeleeorg 15y ago
Nice. Although in slide 36, technically, he's using 4 colors: white, black, red, and orange.
- addandsubtract 15y ago
  He doesn't count the background as a color though. I'm more confused by slides 55 and 56.
  - anishkothari 15y ago
    Those slides just apply his "best practices" using the tips in his presentation.
adulau 15y ago
Maybe he should recommend the use of the "LaTeX Beamer class"[1] along with TikZ[2]. I used the duo on different scientific presentations and everything was always properly displayed especially with complex graphs or formula. [1] https://bitbucket.org/rivanvx/beamer/wiki/Home https://bitbucket.org/rivanvx/beamer/wiki/Home [2] http://www.texample.net/tikz/ http://www.texample.net/tikz/
teadrinker 15y ago
I really liked this. Thanks! Could I get a download link to the presentation that doesn't require me to sign up?
- kikito 15y ago
  You are welcome, I'm glad you liked it. Here's a dropbox link. It should be there 2-3 weeks. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18558160/How-to-make-awesome-diagrams-for-your-slides.pdf http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18558160/How-to-make-awesome-diagram...
cema 15y ago
Interesting way he counts the colors. Makes sense though, after some thought. Specifics: slide 34. Formula is (each item is a number of colors): fill + text + lines - background The minimal number would be 2, with text=1, background=1, and no lines and filled shapes. That is the case with pure text slides, typically B&W. When we draw lines and fill shapes, we may introduce additional colors, or what feels as adding colors to a purely B&W picture. We could also have portions of text and/or background color-coded. In any case, the author apparently counts the number of additional colors. He suggests the number should be small (no more than 3, see slide 35), in order for the viewer to keep the "color coding" manageable.
- FrojoS 15y ago
  Well, I guess, for most scientists, black and white aren't colors. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_black_and_white_if_they_are_not_colors http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_black_and_white_if_they_a...
kabdib 15y ago
Two tips: Use colors in /addition/ to other indications. Roughly ten percent of males are red-green colorblind and cannot easily distinguish colors that contain these colors (e.g., purple = blue + red = BLUE to them). Also, projectors are usually pretty crappy at colors. "If PowerPoint ever automatically chooses a smaller font for your text, you have too much on the slide." -- somebody wise
- kikito 15y ago
  Yes, this is something I should have written explicitly. Your advice is spot on, I should have included a "conclusion" in the colors section saying just that.
pygy_ 15y ago
This slide deck was brought to you by Enrique García a.k.a. Kitito[1], who's also the author (among other things) of the excellent "middle class" library, a class-based object system for Lua, and PÄSSION library collection, an OO-layer built on top of the LÖVE game framework. [1] https://github.com/kikito https://github.com/kikito [2] http://love2d.org http://love2d.org /shameless plug from a fellow löver.
- kikito 15y ago
  Hi pygy! :D I plan to do other awesome stuff
thomas11 15y ago
What software do HNers use to make good diagrams? We have one suggestion for TikZ so far, which looks nice, but I don't really want to get out the TeX hammer for every little diagram.
- apu 15y ago
  My slide decks are always in PowerPoint because I usually need to make some complex technical animations that are impossible to do in Latex. So then I just use PowerPoint's shapes, etc. to do it. (I can't wait for some web-based presentation software so I can finally ditch Powerpoint, but right now, with the extremely limited palette of animation ability on all of them, I'm forced to stick with PowerPoint.) For papers, posters, and other static media, I use Inkscape, which I love. And every once in a while, for a system architecture diagram that I need to crank out really fast, I'll use Dia, which is much less flexible, but ideal for that task.
  - keenerd 15y ago
    I always used whatever real animation tool (Anim8or, Blender, python+svg+ffmpeg) I was most comfortable with and rendered the animation to a non-looping GIF. Embeddable almost anywhere.
- sigil 15y ago
  I just used inkscape for the first time last night, worked out pretty well. See the first slide here: http://www.iobound.net/iocopy-talk/ http://www.iobound.net/iocopy-talk/ Another thing I experimented with for the first time is doing all the slides in html / css / js. The jQuery-Presentation plugin [1] works as advertised, and with css there was considerably less hairpulling when it came time to start tweaking layouts and positions. The content for each slide is written in markdown. You can see all the source for the presentation here [2]. [1] https://github.com/davist11/jQuery-Presentation https://github.com/davist11/jQuery-Presentation [2] https://github.com/acg/iocopy/tree/master/talk https://github.com/acg/iocopy/tree/master/talk
- nitrogen 15y ago
  If you find yourself out of other options, and Inkscape is crashing on you or you don't like the UI, you can try OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice Draw. It seems to work pretty well for flowcharts, though it doesn't come with very many symbols.
mashmac2 15y ago
If you're looking for even more depth on Powerpoint design, I highly recommend Nancy Duarte's slide:ology. All of these tips, more depth, plus the why for all of them. Presentation Zen Design from Garr Reynolds is another solid Powerpoint design guide.
anishkothari 15y ago
Very informative presentation, I went through it just for the heck of it and it was very interesting visually. A note on Slide 21 - the text says 4 Maximum Types of Shapes but only 3 are displayed.
- kikito 15y ago
  That was my subconscious. 4 is the maximum, but I'd actually steer more towards 1 or 2 types when possible. If the diagram is very complex and needs more types, I'd try to split it into several slides. I saw the slide and the "visual complexity elimination subroutine" kicked in. I'll try to fix that in a future version.
th0ma5 15y ago
My Android App, Edgy, allows you to make graph diagrams suitable for pre-press then using GraphViz on the desktop, and that can be really useful for describing complex relationships.
ryanlchan 15y ago
I've actually started regressing away from PowerPoint back into the 'chalk talk'. There's something incredibly powerful about being able to draw the idea in front of an audience which makes your presentation just that much more sticky, especially in this day of ubiquitous slides. As an additional benefit, I find that I have to put a lot more thought into what actually needs to get communicated when I have to physically write it out. Dan Roam's Back of the Napkin is a great book explaining how to communicate using a pen[1]. [1] http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/ http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/

134 points by kikito 15y ago

mikeleeorg 15y ago

Nice. Although in slide 36, technically, he's using 4 colors: white, black, red, and orange.

addandsubtract 15y ago
He doesn't count the background as a color though. I'm more confused by slides 55 and 56.
- anishkothari 15y ago
  Those slides just apply his "best practices" using the tips in his presentation.

adulau 15y ago

Maybe he should recommend the use of the "LaTeX Beamer class"[1] along with TikZ[2]. I used the duo on different scientific presentations and everything was always properly displayed especially with complex graphs or formula. [1] https://bitbucket.org/rivanvx/beamer/wiki/Home https://bitbucket.org/rivanvx/beamer/wiki/Home [2] http://www.texample.net/tikz/ http://www.texample.net/tikz/

teadrinker 15y ago

I really liked this. Thanks! Could I get a download link to the presentation that doesn't require me to sign up?

kikito 15y ago
You are welcome, I'm glad you liked it. Here's a dropbox link. It should be there 2-3 weeks. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18558160/How-to-make-awesome-diagrams-for-your-slides.pdf http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18558160/How-to-make-awesome-diagram...

cema 15y ago

Interesting way he counts the colors. Makes sense though, after some thought. Specifics: slide 34. Formula is (each item is a number of colors): fill + text + lines - background The minimal number would be 2, with text=1, background=1, and no lines and filled shapes. That is the case with pure text slides, typically B&W. When we draw lines and fill shapes, we may introduce additional colors, or what feels as adding colors to a purely B&W picture. We could also have portions of text and/or background color-coded. In any case, the author apparently counts the number of additional colors. He suggests the number should be small (no more than 3, see slide 35), in order for the viewer to keep the "color coding" manageable.

FrojoS 15y ago
Well, I guess, for most scientists, black and white aren't colors. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_black_and_white_if_they_are_not_colors http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_black_and_white_if_they_a...

kabdib 15y ago

Two tips: Use colors in /addition/ to other indications. Roughly ten percent of males are red-green colorblind and cannot easily distinguish colors that contain these colors (e.g., purple = blue + red = BLUE to them). Also, projectors are usually pretty crappy at colors. "If PowerPoint ever automatically chooses a smaller font for your text, you have too much on the slide." -- somebody wise

kikito 15y ago
Yes, this is something I should have written explicitly. Your advice is spot on, I should have included a "conclusion" in the colors section saying just that.

pygy_ 15y ago

This slide deck was brought to you by Enrique García a.k.a. Kitito[1], who's also the author (among other things) of the excellent "middle class" library, a class-based object system for Lua, and PÄSSION library collection, an OO-layer built on top of the LÖVE game framework. [1] https://github.com/kikito https://github.com/kikito [2] http://love2d.org http://love2d.org /shameless plug from a fellow löver.

kikito 15y ago
Hi pygy! :D I plan to do other awesome stuff

thomas11 15y ago

What software do HNers use to make good diagrams? We have one suggestion for TikZ so far, which looks nice, but I don't really want to get out the TeX hammer for every little diagram.

apu 15y ago
My slide decks are always in PowerPoint because I usually need to make some complex technical animations that are impossible to do in Latex. So then I just use PowerPoint's shapes, etc. to do it. (I can't wait for some web-based presentation software so I can finally ditch Powerpoint, but right now, with the extremely limited palette of animation ability on all of them, I'm forced to stick with PowerPoint.) For papers, posters, and other static media, I use Inkscape, which I love. And every once in a while, for a system architecture diagram that I need to crank out really fast, I'll use Dia, which is much less flexible, but ideal for that task.
- keenerd 15y ago
  I always used whatever real animation tool (Anim8or, Blender, python+svg+ffmpeg) I was most comfortable with and rendered the animation to a non-looping GIF. Embeddable almost anywhere.
sigil 15y ago
I just used inkscape for the first time last night, worked out pretty well. See the first slide here: http://www.iobound.net/iocopy-talk/ http://www.iobound.net/iocopy-talk/ Another thing I experimented with for the first time is doing all the slides in html / css / js. The jQuery-Presentation plugin [1] works as advertised, and with css there was considerably less hairpulling when it came time to start tweaking layouts and positions. The content for each slide is written in markdown. You can see all the source for the presentation here [2]. [1] https://github.com/davist11/jQuery-Presentation https://github.com/davist11/jQuery-Presentation [2] https://github.com/acg/iocopy/tree/master/talk https://github.com/acg/iocopy/tree/master/talk
nitrogen 15y ago
If you find yourself out of other options, and Inkscape is crashing on you or you don't like the UI, you can try OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice Draw. It seems to work pretty well for flowcharts, though it doesn't come with very many symbols.

mashmac2 15y ago

If you're looking for even more depth on Powerpoint design, I highly recommend Nancy Duarte's slide:ology. All of these tips, more depth, plus the why for all of them. Presentation Zen Design from Garr Reynolds is another solid Powerpoint design guide.

anishkothari 15y ago

Very informative presentation, I went through it just for the heck of it and it was very interesting visually. A note on Slide 21 - the text says 4 Maximum Types of Shapes but only 3 are displayed.

kikito 15y ago
That was my subconscious. 4 is the maximum, but I'd actually steer more towards 1 or 2 types when possible. If the diagram is very complex and needs more types, I'd try to split it into several slides. I saw the slide and the "visual complexity elimination subroutine" kicked in. I'll try to fix that in a future version.

th0ma5 15y ago

My Android App, Edgy, allows you to make graph diagrams suitable for pre-press then using GraphViz on the desktop, and that can be really useful for describing complex relationships.

ryanlchan 15y ago

I've actually started regressing away from PowerPoint back into the 'chalk talk'. There's something incredibly powerful about being able to draw the idea in front of an audience which makes your presentation just that much more sticky, especially in this day of ubiquitous slides. As an additional benefit, I find that I have to put a lot more thought into what actually needs to get communicated when I have to physically write it out. Dan Roam's Back of the Napkin is a great book explaining how to communicate using a pen[1]. [1] http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/ http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/