Using Whitespace and avoiding Logo-fication

Its strange how most TV channels these days have a ticker/ banner scrolling down the bottom of your screen which most people hardly notice. I don't think there's a single cricket match in India where the bottom of the screen isn't hijacked by advertisements. This doesn't seem to bother us anymore though. We've just switched ourselves off to these forcible interruptions into our experience. The same goes for news websites and other such resources on the interweb. Take a look at the example below -- this could be just about any website. We've gotten really good at subconsciously ignoring all of these unwanted encroachments into screen real estate. What we do see and focus on is the actual site content annotated as (2) on the picture alongside.(Please click on the thumbnail for an enlarged picture)

This thinking has made its way into how audiences respond to presentations -- we've got used to seeing such blatant misuse of slideware through the use of company names/logos (3 times on a slide in the case below), headers, footers, page numbers et all that we've switched ourselves off completely to these regions on slidespace. I'm going to ask you how many times you actually pay attention to these sections of a slide. That'll give you a fair indication of the utility (or the lack of it) of such practices.



There's a strong thought process especially in marketing circles to advertise the company logo/ name on each slide and the usual point is, "You won't use that space on the slide, so why not advertise our name out there?" That's exactly the point. I don't want to use that space. There's an amazing virtue of visual design called 'Whitespace" which we seem to have forgotten. There's a lot said about this topic and Garrey Reynolds mentions the Japanese principle of "Hara Hachi Bu", which literally translates into "Eat only until 80% full." The wisdom also translates into presentations where you could say, "Use only 80% of your slide space" or "Use only 80% of the time on hand." If you look at the most effective visual design, you'll notice that there's a tremendous amount of whitespace that allows the design to not only breathe, but also lets the main elements stand out. One of my theories about why Google is such a popular search engine is how simple and clear the main search engine page is. Its an excellent example of the use of whitespace. There's no chance whatsoever of missing the main point.
So, the point I'm trying to make is that you need to keep a lot of space on your slides empty for the main elements of your visual to stand out. If this means that you use a larger number of slides, so be it!

Now there's of course a reason why companies started to use their logo on every slide.

• A strong sense of identity of where the presentation came from. I want to break this problem into 2 parts:
  
  • Internal presentations: I just don't see the point of using the company logo in internal slide-decks. Everyone knows which company they work for! So what's the fuss all about. Its quite easy -- give your visual some space to breathe.
    
  • External presentations: These presentations are trickier, so I'll break these up into two further situations:
    
    • Cient Presentations: Your clients hopefully know who you are since they either called you or are entertaining your call. In such situations, there's really no need to announce your company name on each slide, since that does nothing to strengthen your message. Instead, use a title slide that mentions your company name in no uncertain terms and spend some time talking about your firm if necessary. As you go forward, use consistent typography and a consistent color palette to help provide a unique brand proposition.
      
    • Conference/ Trade Fair style presentations: This is a trickier situation. You obviously cant control how long someone sticks at a talk, so how do you ensure brand recall?
      
      • Distribute a flyer: Having a takeaway from the talk will ensure that people remember what you spoke about and what your firm stands for. Ensure that an assistant gives out these handouts to people on their way out.
        
      • Use transition slides: Transition slides are visuals that you use when moving from one topic to another. These are usually breadcrumb slides that tie together the entire presentation. You can use your logo on these slides. The idea is to handle your presentation as many small presentations. This helps you engage those with short attention spans and less patience and also helps you reiterate your brand name/logo, without compromising on whitespace.
        
      • Ensure that you're the right person to represent your firm: This is a bit of a difficult question to ask yourself; "Am I the most engaging speaker for this topic?" If your answer is "No!", then its perhaps a good idea to renounce your ego and let someone else represent the firm.
  • Consistency/ Repetition: Having a theme that repeats your logo obviously forces some consistency in your visuals. It does so at the cost of whitespace however and at times irritates people. You can strike a fine balance by using theme that reflects your brand identity in the best way. Think of a color palette and typography that best describes your firm. What kind of pictures describe your corporate culture? How do your images reflect business as usual in your company? If someone were to enter your firm, will they see most of the colors you are repeating on your slides? Most importantly, how can you construct a message that's so simple and resonant that every point circles back to your original story?

Now you can still argue about the people that'll just walk past your presentation at a trade fair and not take notice of your logo. Isn't it worth bombarding them with your logo? Now my question is -- why do you want to target these people who don't care about your presentation? In the first place, is your message strong enough to attract this person? Beyond you wanting to attract this person, is there a reason this person should be attracted? Have you tried to address that WIIFM? If this person couldn't care enough to stay on between two transition slides then do you really think she's interested? If your flyer cant capture this person's attention, then do you really want to irritate her, by continuing to bombard her with unwanted displays of your logo?

Its important to remember that displaying logos has started to become a thing of the past. In the recent TED conference no presenters used the logo of their organizations on their slides. You may argue that they are famous speakers and I must tell you that many of them are not. Many of them represent organizations that they aren't even famous for representing. Isn't it worthwhile then, for them to use decks with organization logos on each slide? As it turns out, it isn't. Bill Gates didn't logo-fy his presentation with the name of his foundation. Jill Tarter (not many people knew of her before January) didn't use any SETI logos on her slides. Sylvia Earle (not many knew her either) didn't interrupt people with logos in her amazingly visual presentation either. They however had a very strong message and hence there's no forgetting what they stood for. Why then, do services firms continue to over-advertise and that too in presentations?

I'd like to hear the different situations in which you've had to use logo-fied decks to make your presentations. Do the above reasons cover your situation? If not, please do let me know of your particular situation so that I can learn from it and think through strategies to incorporate the use of whitespace in such scenarios.