Reading the chapter on presentation design I found it to be pretty interesting. Many of the thing I've already learned, such as the ideas that when giving presentations you want them to be visually stimulating, to make something that will stick in the mind of the viewer, rather than just slide after slide of boring text and bullet points (which is fairly humorous because I have seen a few teachers and even professors do this, seemingly unaware of the boring effect it has on viewers). It's still nice to read and review however, and there are smaller points that it makes - such as to avoid 3D images and other distracting visualizations - that make you go "Mmhmm, makes sense..." while you read.
One of the more interesting parts was towards the end where it goes over "The Big Four." While these are more things that many people (although obviously not all) are typically aware of in the back of their minds, it's still very useful to have actually spelled out for you, especially the relationship between contrast and repetition, which if used together correctly I can imagine could yield some fantastic results.
Overall I wouldn't say that there was anything in the chapter that was a real mind-blower, but it is very nice having something like this actually written out, with main points and everything. It helps to understand EXACTLY what sort of effect you might be looking for with something and allows to to create a sort of check-off list or a sort of "presentation palette" for when you do create a presentation of your own.
One of the smartest ideas that I have ever heard says to plan all presentations using analog technology (paper and pencil first) before trying to get behind a computer. It saves time in the long run.
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