PowerPoint Design Tips: 10 Rules Every Professional Should Know

Great presentation design isn’t just about making slides look pretty. It’s about making your ideas clear, memorable, and persuasive. Whether you’re pitching investors, training a team, running a sales call, or speaking at a conference, the design of your slides can make the difference between holding attention and losing it.

But most presentations fail for the same few reasons: too much text, the wrong visuals, cluttered layouts, or simply not following proven design principles. In fact, presentation design rules and PowerPoint design tips are among the most common things people search for when looking to improve their slides, because rules make presentation design feel more approachable and repeatable.

10 essential powerpoint design tips for better presentations

In this guide, we’ll share 10 proven PowerPoint and presentation design tips,  including the classic rules professionals swear by, and a few they’ve learned to break. You’ll learn reliable ways to structure your slides, choose visuals, and design for instant clarity, so your audience stays focused on your message from the first click to the final Q&A.

Tip #1: Follow the 5/5/5 rule for text-heavy slides

The 5/5/5 Rule is one of the easiest ways to avoid the dreaded “wall of text” on a slide. It says to use no more than five words per line, five lines per slide, and no more than five consecutive slides that each contain five lines. The idea is simple: give your audience just enough text to support what you are saying, not enough to distract them from listening.

One common challenge we hear from clients is that they are unsure how to get the text on their slides down to a more manageable amount. The 5/5/5 rule is a great way to help focus your editing efforts and challenge you to think critically about your content. The result can be a cleaner and clearer presentation!

Of course, like any rule, it is not perfect for every situation. A quote, a chart, or a slide with critical instructions might need more words to be useful. And for some hybrid or leave-behind decks, 5 words per line might not work. 

The point is not to apply this to every slide in every presentation. Rather, it’s to use it intentionally as a tool to help you clarify your slides. For a deeper look at this key powerpoint design tip, see our full article on the 5/5/5 Rule in PowerPoint.

Tip #2: Use the 10-20-30 rule for refining your slides

The 10-20-30 Rule, made popular by former Apple executive and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, is a simple guideline for creating presentations that are short, focused, and easy to follow. It calls for using no more than 10 slides, presenting for no longer than 20 minutes, and using a font size of at least 30 points.

The goal is to prevent information overload and force you to focus on only the most important points. It’s a powerful approach, but a very difficult one to get right. If you actually created a presentation following this format, you’d find that it feels aggressively minimal for most people. 

In order to really make the rule work, you can’t just force an existing presentation into this format. Instead, you need to develop your content specifically to suit these unique limitations. For example, taking a 30 slide presentation and just trying to cram it into 10 slides without doing some major trimming is probably not going to work. 

Training sessions, detailed product demos, and multi-day workshops often require more slides, more time, and smaller font sizes for detailed visuals. However, formats like a keynote or even a virtual meeting can benefit from a highly streamlined approach like this rule offers.

Discover how to adapt this format for different audiences in our in-depth breakdown of the 10-20-30 Rule.

Tip #3: Follow the 7x7 rule for quick readability

The 7x7 Rule is one of the most widely shared presentation design rules. It says to use no more than seven words per line and no more than seven lines per slide. The purpose is to keep slides easy to read and prevent them from becoming text-heavy.

Like the 5/5/5 Rule, this one is all about reducing clutter and making slides easier to read. The difference is that the 7x7 Rule focuses more on individual slides, while the 5/5/5 Rule is better for structuring a presentation as a whole.

Think of this less as a rule you need to meet and more as a maximum limit. You do not need to try to fill every slide with seven bullet points. Instead, use the 7x7 Rule as a ceiling for text density, making sure no single slide becomes overloaded.

Find more examples and a deeper dive into this PowerPoint design tip in our full article on the 7x7 Rule.

Tip #4: Avoid the most common presentation mistakes

There are a few common obstacles that can cause a great presentation to be less effective than it could be. Over and over, we see clients struggling with the same core issues:

• Overloading slides with text so the audience reads instead of listening

• Aggressive color choices that distract the eye

• Distracting animations that pull attention away from your message

• Generic or low-quality images that feel out of place or inauthentic

Once you are aware of these challenges, it’s easy to understand why they happen. Often, people rely on old slide decks, outdated templates, or default design settings in PowerPoint. Over time, those small compromises add up to a presentation that feels unprofessional, forgettable, or just plain ugly.

The good news is that once you know what to look for, these issues are simple to spot and fix. Start by taking a moment to review your slides and ask yourself “does every element on this slide help the audience understand my message.” If the answer is no, it is time to update it.

Get the full list of the most common slide design mistakes — and how to fix them — in our full article on Common PowerPoint Mistakes and How to Fix Them.

And if you’d like to see a few examples of these ideas in action, our presentation design portfolio shows examples of how we’ve transformed client decks into polished, effective presentations.

Tip #5: Choose fonts that enhance readability

Choosing fonts for a presentation is a deceptively complex task. Most presenters can rely on brand guidelines, but even within a single font there can be many different styles and weights to consider.

If you don't have an established brand font to use, the safest approach is to choose clean, professional typefaces and stick to one or two throughout your deck. Sans serif fonts like Arial, Calibri, and Helvetica are excellent for clarity, while serif fonts like Georgia can work well for headings.

Font size is just as important as font style. As a general guideline, keep body text large enough to be read by anyone in your audience from anywhere in the room. Smaller font sizes can become illegible much more quickly than you might expect.

Finally, be mindful of emphasis. Bold, italics, and other forms of emphasis can draw attention to key words or phrases, but should be used sparingly so they do not lose their impact.

See which fonts made our top list (and why they perform so well in presentations) in The 4 Best Fonts for PowerPoint Presentations.

Tip #6: Use color strategically

Color is one of the most powerful tools in presentation design, but it is also one of the easiest to misuse. Poor color choices — especially low-contrast combinations — can make text hard to read, distract your audience from your message, and even weaken your brand.

Most corporate templates include a color palette, but that doesn’t mean you should use every color on every slide. A safe approach is to choose two or three main colors and use them consistently throughout your deck. One color should serve as the dominant background or base, another for primary text, and one accent color to highlight key points. 

Contrast is essential for readability. Light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background is generally easiest to read, but always check how your colors look on the screen or projector you will be using.

Finally, use accent colors with purpose. A highlight on a chart element, a keyword, or an important figure can direct the audience’s focus, but overusing accent colors can dilute their impact.

For a detailed breakdown of using color in presentations, see our post on the Best Colors for PowerPoint Slides.

Tip #7: Animate with purpose

Animations can add polish to a presentation and help guide your audience’s attention, but they can just as easily become a distraction. Overly elaborate effects, too much movement, or inconsistent styles can make your slides feel busy and pull focus away from your message.

You can certainly experiment with more advanced effects — building charts in stages, revealing bullet points one at a time, or highlighting key visuals with a subtle entrance — but for most people, a simple Fade animation or slide transition delivers the biggest impact with the least risk of distraction.

One thing to keep in mind is that animations can look smooth on your computer but lag or stutter in a live stream, so make sure to test your slides before you present.

For more on when animations improve your slides (and when to skip them), read our complete article on When and When Not to Use PowerPoint Animations.

Tip #8: Tell a story with your data

Charts and graphs need to do more than display numbers. To work effectively in a presentation, they should tell a clear story. Cluttered labels, dense legends, and too many data series make it difficult for viewers to see your point. If your audience has to work to figure out what the data means, your message will be lost.

Start by identifying the single takeaway you want the audience to remember from your data. Design your chart around that message, removing anything that does not directly support it. Use color and emphasis to guide the eye to the most important points, and avoid filling the chart with every detail.

And remember, clarity beats complexity. A simple chart that makes one point clearly is far more effective than a complex chart that leaves the audience guessing.

For examples and techniques that make data both clear and compelling, see our Guide to Better Data Visualization.

Tip #9: Use visuals to strengthen your story

Pictures are what make a presentation powerful. The right ones can create an emotional connection, spark curiosity, or transport the audience into your world. A generic stock photo, on the other hand, sends the message that they can tune out.

Always choose visuals that serve a purpose, like a photo that sets the tone for your topic, an illustration that simplifies a complex process, or an icon that reinforces a key idea can all help focus your audience’s attention. Avoid images that are there just to fill space. And keep your visuals clean and consistent. Use a similar style across all images in your deck, whether that’s photography, icons, or diagrams. 

Finally, give your visuals room to work. Avoid crowding them with too much text or other elements, and let them take center stage when you want your message to resonate.

Get more on choosing and using visuals that connect with your audience in Images for Presentations: PowerPoint Images 101.

Tip #10: Structure your story to keep attention

The best presentations don’t just share information — they take the audience on a journey. A well-structured story creates a natural flow that keeps people engaged and makes your message more memorable.

It can be as simple as thinking about how your slides connect to one another. Each one should feel like part of a larger narrative, not a collection of unrelated points. This doesn’t mean every presentation needs to follow the same rigid formula. It’s about being intentional with your pacing, your transitions, and the way your points build toward your key takeaway.

When you approach your content as a story rather than a checklist, you’ll naturally create a presentation that holds attention from start to finish.

For more on shaping a compelling narrative, see our guide to Presentation Storytelling 101.

From rules to results

Great presentation design is not about memorizing every rule or following every tip exactly. It’s not even about being a professional designer!

It’s about understanding the principles behind these guidelines and applying them in ways that make sense for your audience, your message, and your setting.

By combining proven design rules with thoughtful choices about your content, you can create slides that are both beautiful and effective. Small changes — like simplifying text, improving images, or structuring your narrative — can have a big impact on how your presentation is received.

If you want a presentation that not only looks great but also works hard for you, our presentation design service can help you put these principles into practice.

Ready to get started? Contact us today to talk about your next presentation.

About the author

Kyle Kartz is the Creative Director of Storytelling at VerdanaBold. He is an experienced copywriter and strategist, with experience driving major campaigns for global brands in multiple industries. He is passionate about communications, the outdoors, and cooking.