What Is a Presentation Designer?
Good presentations have an immediate impact. You probably remember the great ones, but the mediocre ones will be hard to recall. The bad ones – well, we all know why we remember the bad ones, and it’s not for any good reasons. So as well as an immediate impact, you need them to have the right impact.
A presentation designer uses their knowledge of graphic design and experience in marketing and communication to create compelling presentations for their clients. Freelance presentation designers are specialists in helping businesses produce clear, persuasive presentation decks and related collateral for high-stakes meetings and communications. They help your audience to understand your message more quickly - and remember it longer.
Creating a great presentation isn’t just about choosing a nice template
Investors, potential clients, and employees are increasingly expecting high-quality, clear, and concise information to accompany presentations. As it gets harder and harder to attract and retain people’s attention – and to stay front of mind - a presentation designer’s role is pivotal.
It’s not just about creating some pretty slides for people to look at. A good presentation turns on clarity, flow, visual cues and hierarchies, and persuasive
communication. Your message needs to be received, remembered, and acted upon.
With your decks:
First impressions count
What you are communicating should be clear
You want to engage people immediately and keep their attention to the end
Your message should be persuasive
You need consistency within your brand and throughout your presentations
You can get a competitive edge
You want them to cause minimal time and stress
An experienced presentation designer will do all this – and more - for you.
What does a presentation designer do?
Presentation design is a niche area of graphic design. Not all graphic designers design presentations, and not all presentation designers are trained graphic designers. Great presentation designers are trained in graphic design and have a deep understanding of marketing, communication, and pitching as well.
By specialising in one aspect of graphic design they can become highly skilled at what they do and make a significant contribution to the success of a pitch or presentation. Freelance designers use various tools including PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote. They will be able to push these tools to the full extent of their technical capabilities and get better results far more quickly.
A presentation designer will take your content – whether it’s in a text-only or slide format already - and turn it into a compelling presentation. They can convert existing InDesign or PDF files to PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote files that can be edited. They also design templates for clients to use in-house. This keeps things consistent, professional, and always on brand.
What are the key skills and strengths presentation designers bring?
Presentation designers bring the following skills and strengths to shape effective presentations:
Visual communication: distilling complex ideas into simple, impactful visuals.
Storytelling and structure: shaping the narrative and pacing of presentations.
Brand awareness and consistency: slides that look and feel consistent with other company materials.
Technical design proficiency: using layout, typography, and other media to create and enhance templates.
Attention to detail: keeping consistency, which is key.
Calmness under pressure: experienced presentation designers are used to working to tight deadlines in pressurised environments.
With a skilled, experienced, and trained presentation designer you also get:
Strategic input: creating a great presentation is not just adding some visual polish.
An understanding of audience needs and business goals: presentations will be designed to fulfil a brief, not just to be a presentation.
The ability to collaborate with copywriters, brand teams, and executives: being able to work well within a team is vital.
An understanding of how design impacts results: ensuring presentations are more quickly understood and more memorable.
Who hires presentation designers?
Anyone who needs a professional presentation, pitch deck, or other sales material can hire a presentation designer. It saves time and stress and frees you or your employees up to do more cost-effective day-to-day tasks. As presentation designers are so specialised, they can be versatile across different sectors.
Most freelance presentation designers work with both large and small companies. This can include everything from marketing teams, agencies, and corporate departments of large organisations to small startups and individuals like coaches and consultants.
Presentation designers create numerous assets, including bespoke pitch decks, investor presentations, slides for internal reports and presentations, webinars and workshops, and can also ‘white label’ their work for agencies, for example.
Why you should work with a freelance presentation designer instead of doing it in-house
There are many reasons to work with a presentation designer. The most basic one is that a small investment can mean the difference between winning or losing a huge pitch or investor. And these types of presentations can come with a lot of stress and time needed. It makes sense to outsource the task to an experienced professional who spends their working life creating presentations, instead of asking an employee to do their best with limited time, skills, and software.
A professional, clear, succinct, and consistent presentation can impress a sense of credibility and professionalism on those receiving it. It can turn a bland or dry subject into a memorable and meaningful presentation. It’s easy to lose or understate a message in cluttered or poorly formatted slides.
Do you need a presentation designer?
By doing it yourself you’re risking more than just producing a sub-par presentation. Even good in-house marketing departments are unlikely to have the experience – or time – to create a presentation that has the impact you need.
Where could you save time and money – and stand to make far more – by employing a highly skilled and specialised freelance presentation designer? Is it in your next pitch to a potential client or investor? A keynote speech? An internal presentation to employees?
power your point works with clients on an ad-hoc or monthly retainer basis and covers the full range of freelance presentation design services. We can often even turn presentations around in limited timescales when urgent delivery is required, although the longer we have, the better.
How are your presentations looking? Are they doing what they’ve been designed to do? Get in touch to see how we can make yours even better.