Hi everyone. My name is Mike Massengale. I am a senior full time faculty member in the graphic design program. Today I am going to share some presentation tips for the classroom and beyond. Here are a few tips for all of you. These tips will aid in your classroom success. They are not hard things to do, but they are important. They are not only for your assignments, but great lessons to use in your professional career.

Respecting the design page.
Lining elements up and loving the grid. Finally, What’s the big idea.
First, let’s talk about Respect the Page. What do I mean?
Let’s start with this example. The rectangle represents an 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper.
We want you to respect the page. What does this mean?

We want you to have a margin.
Typically, a margin of a half an inch on all four sides of the page would be great. This will create a little white space or negative space around the outside edges.
We do not want you to have any objects including pictures or text in this area.
We call this the “danger zone.”
Why do we call it the danger zone?
Because we don’t want you to place text, objects or images up against the outside formatting edges. Why? Because this creates an odd tangent. An odd tangent traps the viewer’s eye and creates visual tension where you do not want it.
Now, a normal, everyday person is not aware of this mistake, but they do know subconsciously that something is not correct.
They may think something is weird. Something is off.
How do you resolve the problem?
Easy. Move all of the objects inside of the “danger zone.”
That’s it, that’s all.
This one adjustment will make your projects look better.
Another main topic that we want all of our students to be aware of is alignment.
We want you to line things up so that they are neat and organized in appearance.
Designers call this a “Design Grid.”
You get a little of this information in the Design Fundamentals class, but I like to reinforce the idea of the grid.
Now a grid is nothing more than a series of intersecting lines.
There is no standard size to use. You, the designer, make up your own grid. Actually, you don’t even draw one. It is invisible. Let me show you how it works. Here’s how to start.
Pick an object in your design to begin with.
That object may be a photograph, logo, text or anything else.
So, if you start with a base design like this, including a photograph, headline, sub headline, body copy, and a logo –
you want to organize the objects instead of just plopping them around. If you use the invisible grid what you might do is something like this image. Align the headline, sub headline and photograph up on the left side. That’s a wonderfully organized alignment. Notice a couple of other things on this example. The top of the photograph is lined up with the top of the body copy.
I’ve added another little photograph at the bottom so that I can show you how to shift the grid within the space.
Notice that the bottom of the photograph is lined up with the bottom of the body copy.
Again. This is making use of the grid.
And finally, the logo is lined up with the paragraph of text.
Notice that every object is aligned with another object.
As you can see alignments do not have to be boring.
They simply help organize your visual space.
You have a lot of freedom and flexibility when using a grid.
While we’re talking about a design grid, let’s talk about space too.
The space I’m referring to is in between the objects.
Just like the “danger zone,” you don’t want to jamb objects up against one another.
I see this occur very often in my students work.
They will slide a headline right up against a photograph.
This makes it difficult to read the headline because there is no space between the objects.
So, move the headline over and maybe up so that is aligns with the top of the photo.
There are no specific rules about how much space objects should have or not have,
but a rule of thumb I use, is to have at least a quarter of an inch between elements.
This is called negative space and negative space is just as important as positive space.
Notice that all of the negative space on this example is even.
It’s not exactly equal, but visually balanced.
So, just give your design a little space. This will help you create a stronger design.
The last point I’d like to make is about the “Big Idea.”
I’m going to give you a silly example in a moment.
You might actually giggle, but the example is not a huge stretch to what can actually occur in the class.
It can make a difference in your academic career.
The ‘Big Idea’ is what organizes all of your design elements and actions.
It succinctly expresses what you are trying to accomplish.
Everything that you do on the page works toward this one goal.
So you’re given a class project to design a logo for the following;
Create a brand identity for liquid soap that is all-natural and made in small batches on an old farm.
Notice the words that are highlighted. All-natural. Small batches. And, old farm. Then what you want to consider is this;
If your idea supports at least one of the criteria And does NOT work against any of the others, you can use it. Otherwise, you must get rid of it.
 
If it supports at least one of these criteria; All-natural. Small batches. Old farm.
And does NOT work against any others. Use it.

If it doesn’t match up to at least one of the key words, or it works against any of the ideas, then don’t consider using it.
This is not what you want to do. Fall in love with a concept or repurpose a graphic that does not fit the needs of the project.

This is what you don’t want to do.
A student might write, “My logo design uses a flaming skull with thorny red roses that has dripping blood that pools into the name of the soap.”
What am I going to write back? “What?”
“I thought the project was to create a brand identity for liquid soap that is all-natural and made in small batches on an old farm?”
Then the students reply might be something like, “This design captures the essence of their edgy design look and is sure to gain clients.”
I would then reply, “What?”
So, if the logo design is suppose to be about an all-natural soap made on a farm in small batches, what does a flaming skull have to do with an all-natural soap made on a farm in small batches?
Not much. Right?
So, you want to make sure that you’re focused on that “big idea,” and not stray away from it, because we all create graphics that we fall in love with.

I do this myself and I have a hard time letting it go sometimes. Many times we will pour our hearts and souls into those drawing, designs and concepts.
It’s hard to let go.
I’ve been doing this for thirty years and it still happens to me from time to time.
But, I’ve learned to tell myself, “Mike, you have to let it go, because it’s not working.
In conclusion if you remember to keep your graphic elements out of the danger zone,
use a design grid,
include space and focus on the projects goals,
you’ll find great success in the classroom.
I hope you have found this presentation on Presentation Tips helpful.
I encourage you to view our other presentations. Refer to the welcome package for the list of topics and links to the recordings.
We also hold a Live Q&A session at the end of each month and I encourage you to attend. Look for an invitation via email or in a course home announcement.
Questions can also be directed to our email alias. I’ve listed it here and it is Also listed in the New Student Guide.
Remember – we are here to help. We wish you much success.