The summer term begins tomorrow evening… and that means the end of reading for pleasure. My new 20 pound textbook arrived in the mail earlier this week, and after browsing the first few chapters, I know I’m going to have to spend the next twelve weeks forcing myself to read. Don’t you hate it when the fun is sucked out of reading?
Fortunately, blogs and websites give me short and sweet nuggets of information to carry with me throughout the week! This week, I was happy to read about the new Duarte brand story as well as another important “stop boring your audience” reminder from Garr Reynolds…
Diandra Macias explains the Duarte brand story in “New Building, New Brand,” explaining that the idea for a whole new look came when the company moved into a new building. Macias talks us through the process of how the logo was redesigned explaining color, font, and style, and she shares a 13-second video featuring the old and then new look.
“No excuse for boring an audience: Advice on giving technical presentations” by Garr Reynolds highlights the importance of an engaging message. Reynolds highlights five books that focus on technical presentations specifically, and he points out an article from 1985 written by Jay H. Lehr. ”Let There Be Stoning!” is a terrific examination of public speaking and presentation, and a free copy is available online here.
Last, but not least, is Joshua Johnson’s “10 Tips for Designing Presentations That Don’t Suck.” The article contains advice to help the novice slide designer create a more effective Keynote or PowerPoint. My favorite advice was Tip #5: Watch Your Readability! I’ve always wanted a more concrete way to tie in “shapes,” and “skinny bar”/”fat bar” will help me teach this to my students more effectively.
What great articles have you been reading this week?
