Neurodesign and Presentations

for Retail News Magazine 9/2019

The Purpose of a Presentation Is to Capture the Audience, Persuade Them of Your Idea, Service, or Product, and Deliver the Message Clearly and Memorably.

There are countless techniques for creating engaging presentations. Yet we often default to tools that overload our audience’s mental channels, resulting in confusion. Fortunately, we can lean on simple principles of neurodesign—which connect neuroscience with design—to make our communication clearer and more effective.

Illustration Over Content

When we treat slides as illustrative tools rather than dense content blocks, we reduce the mental effort required from our audience. This frees them to focus more on the actual spoken message.

However, slides that consist solely of text—especially when the presenter just reads from them—are ineffective. Presentations succeed when led by an experienced speaker using carefully designed slides.

While aesthetics matter, the functional aspect of presentation design is key: information must be organized in a way that is understandable to the brain.

Focus on:

• The most important elements,

• The logical flow of slides, and

• Smooth transitions between ideas.

Adopt a minimalist approach for live delivery, and offer detailed breakdowns for follow-up via email.

Hierarchy Rules for Easily Digestible Slides

• Avoid placing text over images.

• Emphasize key info by:

  • Enlarging essential elements,

  • Isolating them with white space,

  • Adding frames or outlines, or

  • Using high-contrast colors.

Memory tip: Place the key message on the first slide—it’s the most remembered.

Humans evolved to understand images before language, which supports the idea that we learn better through visuals.

As Aristotle said:

“The soul never thinks without a picture.”

Best Practice: Image Left, Text Right

Place images on the left and text on the right. This layout improves comprehension, as the brain processes information more easily this way. Our left visual field receives greater attention.

Also, avoid multitasking illusions:True multitasking doesn’t exist when it comes to two mental tasks. It’s just rapid switching between listening and reading—what’s known as divided attention.

Simple layouts let the audience look at an image while listening to the speaker, without overload.

The Limits of Short-Term Memory

As presenters, we know the material. For our audience, it’s entirely new. That’s why it's crucial to:

• Create logical connections between slides,

• Break the presentation into digestible parts,

• Add pauses, and

• Use recap slides to reinforce prior points.

Conclusion

The way your slides are designed can make or break your presentation.

Your goal as a speaker must always be message clarity and effectiveness.Design your presentation structure so that key information reaches your audience simply and memorably.

By using neurodesign principles, we can minimize mental effort and ensure the message is both understood and remembered. Only then can we call a presentation successful.

Reference:Bridger, D. (2017). Neuro Design: Neuromarketing Insights to Boost Engagement and Profitability. Kogan Page.