Too blue?

Feb 14, 2011

Hi guys,

I created this presentation for one of my graduate courses and am in need of your opinion - did I go overboard on usage of the blue tones throughout my presentation? How can I make it better?

Thank you!

Tram

8 Replies
Robert Kennedy

Tram,

It actually looks pretty nice.  THe blue is a nice shade.  I would offset it in certain areas with a little splash.  For instance, you have a picture of children in a classroom, with a pie chart on the board, I would make the colors on the pie chart slices different.  On you main image with the skull, see how the orange in the brain brings that brightness to the pic? I would consider looking at ways to add that same vividness to your other people elements.  The blue is fine for the text and the shape elements.

But, you have placed things well and it is really an overall good looking preso.

Steve Flowers

I think your presentation looks dandy. The blue tones aren't necessarily compatible but your proximity / separation make it come together pretty well.

If you get stuck on color combinations, http://kuler.adobe.com is a good place to resolve it through a "mathematic and scientific" helper Plugging in your core / focal color will provide you with some helpful complements. There are even some nice presets available to browse.

As Zara recommends a purple usually complements those blue tones pretty well. As would subtle use of an orange tone. A tool like the color selection tool linked above will help in picking colors that have a mathematical affinity. These aren't always right on for an audience, but they provide pretty good suggestions / starting places.

James Brown

Not a bad application of CARP. A little too much text for me. When I say that, this would be good for "Slide Show" but if I were presenting this in person, I'm the presentation; not the power point slides. Seth Godin is defiantly is a person everyone can take some pointers from, and  my only other critique would be is the need for image credits. If you developed all them or if they are public domain, no issues, but if you did not create them, make sure you specify that in your credits. I.e. Slide 15 Human mind MS Clip Art.

I'm surprised you left out Seymour Papert, George Simmons, and Howard Gardner.  They are important people when you address the realm of modern learning theories but that's just my scholarly opinion. IMHO, Seymour Papert actually could have proved the constructivism learning theory back in the late 60's if he only had been equipped with all the tools we have today. Truly a man ahead of his time.

Holly Eva

I really like it, but I do wonder if you could accent the pictures a bit that have multiple shades of blue since images are often not as amazing on a projector as they appear on your computer screen (limited resolution capabilities). Perhaps infusing some reds across lighter shades (or purples like Zara was talking about) will help balance it out and make it more visible for your audience.

Laura Lowden

I think you've done a great job with the ppt, but I have a suggestion for the blues....

I really like the blue and gray that you use throughout the ppt (for boxes, graphics, arrows, etc.).  I think the blue title bars, chapter cover slides, and main slide is what is causing the friction in your ppt blues.

I'd suggest using the same gradient tones from the boxes (you know.. the rounded text boxes) at the top.   Here's a picture to show you what I'm talking about.  To be even more picky, if you really like that head image, I'd take it and make the background transparent and put it over the title bar so you don't have the two clashing blues...  

Amy Kesman Rossi

I agree with the others - I think it looks good. You have a *lot* of content, so using shades of blue lends some simplicity to the presentation and keeps the background from overtaking the material.

As a side note, your font in the boxes on the Attribution slide did not show up correctly at all on my computer. Make sure you have embedded the font (Save As > Tools > Save Options) or replace it with a more standard one if this will be viewed on anyone's computer besides your own.

Tram Vu

Hi! Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions!! I submitted the presentation without making further changes to it but will definitely take in consideration to add additional colors to my presenations in my future assignments. 

Just as an update, I received an 80/80 points plus an additional 4/5 extra credit points and the following comment from my professor:

"Tram, I must communicate to you that I am *so* impressed by your Unit Two Assignment deliverables!!! The obvious quality and significant effort that you integrated into your deliverables is indeed representative of your graduate-level efforts. I was especially interested in your personalized philosophical belief system slides, and appreciated the quality of the referential support integrated. The only point of feedback that I noted was in the Reference List when Wenger's first name was spelled out (instead of merely the initial of "E.") ... but this is the only point of concern that I noticed. Wow, brilliant!!! I also enjoyed and appreciated the movie slideshow that you offered. Thank you! Caroline"

Thank you, again, everyone for your input!!

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