About 15 years ago, I worked in a department where my skip-level boss held a quarterly business review (QBR). In these QBRs, my peers and I presented our accomplishments for the last quarter and our plans for the next quarter. One quarter, one of my peers, “Mike” (name changed to protect the guilty), presented a 30-page deck, not that unusual for the 90 minutes we had to present. What was unusual was Mike’s slide design. Every slide was 3-5 bullet points with a bean person for each bullet. For those of you who haven’t met a bean person, bean people, aka screen beans, are the chunky stick figures that used to come standard with PowerPoint. I counted over 100 bean people in his presentation! Here’s a mock-up of what one of his slides might have looked like:
Two months later, Mike was no longer with the company.
Now, do I think that the Human Resources paperwork cited, “Excessive use of bean people” for his termination? Probably not. Do I think his poor communication skills contributed to his downfall? Absolutely!
What’s Wrong with Bean People?
- They’re unprofessional, and frankly, cheesy
- They are (were) overused
- The thing they are trying to illustrate is often a stretch
And don’t be fooled by the modern reincarnation of bean people. This faceless creature is no better:
How to Use Illustrations Effectively
Clip art misuse is so rampant I know managers who have banned their team from using it. But we shouldn’t throw out the
with the 
. Note the ironic use of cheesy clip art. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then illustrations can help you communicate more effectively and efficiently.
- Choose professional illustrations. If the illustrations look amateur or cheesy, your presentation will look amateur.
- Use illustrations to reinforce your point. Analogies are a powerful way to communicate. Choose an Illustration that visualizes your analogies.
- Be consistent. Just like you shouldn’t mix pastel colors with neon on the same page, you shouldn’t use illustrations with conflicting styles.
- Keep it simple. Choose the simplest image that illustrates your point. Anything extra will create “visual noise,” distracting your audience. If you’ve ever been hypnotized by the moving cat GIF in someone’s presentation, you know what I mean.
- Choose icons instead. Icons are simple, professional illustrations that make it easy to accomplish the first four points. So if you want to illustrate a baby and bathwater, choose these instead.
Don’t be like Mike. If you use illustrations effectively, your audience will remember more of your presentation, and you will improve your influence. If you don’t, you just might get fired.