From the course: PowerPoint Data Visualization: High-Impact Charts and Graphs

Contrast creates emphasis

From the course: PowerPoint Data Visualization: High-Impact Charts and Graphs

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Contrast creates emphasis

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- [Narrator] One of the most important things you can do to make your charts more effective is steer your audience to what's important and what they should be paying attention to. So if you think back to our earlier discussion about preattentive attributes, we're going to use those to help create emphasis and to highlight specific information in our charts. Emphasis is really about contrast, and contrast is mostly about size and color. Now, if you are looking at these two slides, which one would you say is more compelling? I mean, of course it's going to be the one with the bold white text on that dark blue background, and that's because of contrast. Contrast identifies the important information on your slide. Your eye will naturally look to the area of most contrast. It's one of the easiest ways to add visual interest to your charts, and it makes your audience want to look at the information you are presenting. The important thing to remember is that for contrast to be effective, it has to be strong and it has to be bold. Magazine ads are a great place to see different ways to create contrast. So let's try and experiment. What do you look at first when you look at this ad? Most people look at either that huge text or that really big bottle. Why? Well, it's because they're huge. But seriously, those are the most contrasted areas on the page, so your eye gravitates to them. Even if that headline isn't in your language, you still know where to look because it's the biggest, the boldest, the most contrasted text on the page. Size is a really good way to create contrast. Some people look at the logo first. Why? Well, it's because it's a different color, so it stands out against all that black and whit. Color is also a really good way to create contrast. And then finally, you start to notice all the smaller text, which is obviously for additional information and details. But that big bottle and that big text, those are really the focus of this ad. Contrast can be size, it can be shape, it can be color, it can be positioning, it can be a lot of different things, but size and color are two of the most effective strategies that you have for creating emphasis in charts. And when you create contrast, you also create a hierarchy of information. You know that that big bold text is what you're supposed to read first, and that it is the most important thing.

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