There are several design ideas that one can ‘borrow’ from Khairul Aming’s success in selling his new product ‘Dendeng Nyet Berapi’. In this post, I share three tips you can apply for academic presentations. This is a re-blog of my FB post written on February 3, 2024.
I find it interesting to note some similarities in the designs and approaches used by Khairul Aming in his recent live video that sold 80K packets in 3 minutes to Steve Jobs’.
If you watch the late Steve Jobs’ presentations unveiling iPhone and Apple products, some aspects seem similar. For example, a clean minimalist approach was adopted with the use grey/black background. And the use of just a few words.
In Khairul Aming’s video, the text consisted of one (long) word in the first line followed by six words in the second line. And the location.
*Screen capture image credit: Astro Awani*
Then, the products were arranged in a V-pattern if you notice. Well, if you don’t, look again… Subtle but effective non-verbal communication that led the viewers’ eyes to the centrepiece.
Three Tips on Slide Design for Lecturers
Here I’d like to share three tips on slide design that lecturers can learn from Khairul Aming’s recent live video:
1. Keep your slide designs simple.
When you give a lecture, drill on the essence of the topic. Just a few words are enough to convey the key points.
Like Khairul Aming’s video, just a few words on the backdrop were enough.
Enough to tell viewers what’s on sale in that 3-minute video.
Enough to make viewers click and buy.
Enough to get them all sold out.
So keep things simple when it comes to designing your slides. If possible, spend more time for student activities that hone on critical thinking, communication and peer-learning.
2. Contrast
means clear differences between two or more elements
Creating a good contrast between the text and background is very important. So that the concepts and meaning you want to convey stand out. And make them memorable.
Khairul Aming used a white text against a grey black background. The design for Dengdeng Nyet Berapi has a black text on a yellow background. And everyone can see the yellow products against the background in the video. Clarity is key in making sure everyone knows what’s on sale in the short video.
Remember that old lecture slides that use the typical plain yellow text on blue PowerPoint background. Difficult to see, unfortunately… And it’s already 2024.
3. Use the right font
I covered a selection of suitable fonts for professional-looking slides in my presentation workshops, mainly delivered for lecturers at Universiti Sains Malaysia. If I’m not mistaken, the font for the text in the background was Helvetica Neue. If so, this font family is widely used in many corporate branding. It gives a presentation a modern and contemporary outlook, so it’s a well-chosen font in Khairul Aming’s video.
Many lecture slides would use Arial (ok~lah) or Times New Roman (fine for journal articles) or Calibri (the default font in PowerPoint) – it’s not so nice (a bit stiff in my opinion).
Well… Guess it’s time to rejuvenate old presentation slides with these three tips taken from the designs and approaches used in Khairul Aming’s video on Dendeng Nyet Berapi. They are also applicable to postgraduates.
And the same design approach would be useful to lecturers who wish to promote themselves and their work at conferences, websites and social media.
Where less is more.
More clarity.
More meaningful.
More impact.
Semoga bermanfaat.
If you find them helpful, feel free to share this post.
Dr Aisyah Saad
www.draisyah.com
