12 Most Common PowerPoint Design Mistakes to Avoid

Creating a PowerPoint presentation is not an easy task. There are many things that you need to take care of, especially if it’s a super important presentation. Everything needs to be just right. But sometimes, even when your presentation content is good, they can fall flat due to some common design mistakes. Not everyone has the eye for good design, but anyone can learn how to avoid mistakes. So here are some common PowerPoint design mistakes that you can avoid in your next presentation!

Starting off with the most common issue you’ll find on presentations:

Too Much Content in Your Slides

Your presentations slides are supposed to complement what you say. They are not meant to be read out aloud. You absolutely do not have to cram your slides with text and images, since it can overwhelm the audience and makes it hard for them to identify key points.

A solution for this is to reduce the text, split the most important giveaway of a slide into a FEW bullet points. Use concise phrases, and not more than 6-8 words per line, and around 6 lines per slide.

While we’re talking about bullet points…

Too Many Bullet Points

Too many bullet points in your presentations is also a common presentation design mistake people often make. Just because you’re asked to have more bullet points instead of a wall of text in your presentations, doesn’t mean that you must put a ton of bullet points either. Do not rely too heavily on bullet points, it can make your slides monotonous and your presentation a snoozefest. Mix it up with visuals, charts, and infographics.

Poor Image Choices

This part is self-explanatory. Use good quality, relevant images. Do not use irrelevant stock images since they can detract users from the message, and your slides will end up looking unprofessional and amateurish.

Going Overboard with Animations

Just because you can, does not mean that you should. Sure, it’s easy to whip up some cool looking morph transitions, and animations. But use them only when necessary. Too many animations in your slide can also be a distraction to your audience and can appear gimmicky.

If you are adding animations to your PowerPoint presentations, make sure you make them subtle. These animations should enhance the flow of your presentation. Keep this in mind the next time you’re thinking of animating every single piece of content on your slide (I’ve done it too).

Color Trouble

Now here comes something that many people struggle with. I too have a long history of being bad with colors, especially when I was starting out with creating presentations.

People often use colors that are either too vibrant, or don’t complement each other. Sometimes the chosen colors won’t even have enough contrast. These are problems that you can easily fix.

Choose a color palette that ensures readability, and is visually harmonious.

Here are some additional resources that can help you:

How to Create Color Palette for Your Next Presentation

Best PowerPoint Color Palettes and Color Themes for Presentations in 2024

20 Best Colorful PowerPoint Templates to Use in 2024

To ensure there is sufficient color contrast, make sure you use contrasting colors for the background and text (or other elements) on top. Poor contrast can make it difficult for audience members to read what’s on your slides.

There are many color contrast checkers available online. Check out WebAIM’s contrast checker to get started. Choose 2 colors, and check if they have sufficient contrast before using them on your slides.

Using Decorative Fonts

A lot of people tend to go overboard with font choices. They either choose a font that they think looks “cool” or “decorative” but what they’re really doing is sacrificing readability. Such fonts can reduce legibility and appear highly unprofessional.

My advice? Stick to clean, sans-serif fonts. Do not use too many different types of fonts either. Choose a few fonts that go well with each other, and use it for the entire presentation. This gives your slides a more consistent design, and helps it look professional and well-designed.

Using Default PowerPoint Templates

Now if you’re someone who uses PowerPoint templates to speed up your PowerPoint presentation, congrats, you’re doing it right. But a lot of people make the mistake of only using the standard templates provided by PowerPoint. When you do this, it’s a lot more difficult to find a template that suits your presentation well. Plus, you’d find way more varieties of templates outside of the default templates from PowerPoint.

To find the right templates for your presentation, you do not even need to move out of PowerPoint. A simple add-in like this one, can give you access to tons of themes and templates that you can add to your presentation with just a click. These templates are all easy to work with, and since there are more options, you’re way more likely to find something right for your presentation.

Using Complicated Visualizations

Your presentations should be as simple as possible (except in some scenarios). So while setting up charts or graphs, make sure that you don’t make them too complex, since it can confuse the audience. Simplify data displays and use clear labels whenever you can.

Inconsistent Formatting

Another common issue that people usually make while creating presentations is to do with consistency in formatting, or lack of thereof. People use different fonts, font sizes, and styles across their slides, giving them a very inconsistent and shabby look. This creates a disjointed experience and can confuse the audience.

Here’s what you can do instead to maintain design consistency in PowerPoint. Make sure you stick to the colors you’ve chosen for your presentation. Choose 2-3 fonts for your entire presentation, and fix font sizes and styles as well. And no matter what, stick to them. Doing this will ensure that your slides are consistently formatted, which will make your presentation look much better.

Neglecting White Space

You should not be filling every part of your slides with content. This will make your slides look cluttered and can overwhelm the audience. Make sure to leave ample amounts of white space on your slides, to give it a more de-cluttered and professional look. I’ve got an article on this that you can check out here.

Elements That Are Misaligned

Click on View in the ribbon and click on Gridlines and Guides. These will give you reference lines on your slides that you can use to properly align all the elements in your slide. You can even turn on the Ruler to do this. I highly recommend you do this, especially if you’re new to presentation creation and design.

Ignoring Accessibility Guidelines

Accessibility is important when it comes to PowerPoint designs. It ensures that your presentation can be easily accessed and understood by all the members of your audience, including those with impairments and disabilities.

This mainly involves adding alt text to your images, using colors that have sufficient contrast, and more. I’ve got a detailed article for you here.

Avoiding these common design mistakes, and you can design PowerPoint presentations that effectively communicate your message. Remember, the goal is to support your narrative with your slides and not to overwhelm your audience with them. Keep these mistakes in mind the next time you create a presentation, and make sure you avoid them.