It must have been a sign that at the moment I sat down to begin writing my blog, emails began circulating about precisely the same topic. With so many discussions flying around the subject, I truly believe that it’s high time PowerPoint got a closer look.

So what is it about the PowerPoint software today that either fills us with a sense of comfort or sends us into a frenzied rage of wanting to destroy our laptop? How is it that some people absolutely love it, can’t live without it and others cry at the request to develop yet another PowerPoint presentation?

I must admit, that I probably represent the majority of the design population when I say that I passionately, vehemently dislike PowerPoint. In fact, I would rather copy a whole dictionary by hand than create a PowerPoint presentation from scratch.

Sound a bit dramatic?

Well it’s not really if you simply hear me out. I’m from the school of thought, or rather from a design college, that deems the use of the computer in the formative years as detrimental. We were trained to rely on our minds and our hands, so it is not at all surprising that when we were allowed to finally use the Mac we created some pretty awful stuff. It didn’t take long before we got bored and naturally fell back in line.

Most designers rely on the information to dictate the format. That’s how we have been trained to think. We receive data, analyze it, re-assess it and meticulously present it, always keeping the end user in mind. PowerPoint, however, seems to enforce a certain set of rules that almost dictates how content should be displayed. It feels like a constant struggle to align, re-size and include the relevant information needed to create a compelling story. I’ve seen some really strong designers finally claim victory after a whole week’s struggle with the software. So it’s not to say that one can’t master the art of PowerPoint. It’s just that unfortunately, most people don’t. We are still bombarded by messy presentations that seem to have no structure or cohesive flow to them, because of people who simply rely on a program to do the hard work for them.

I wouldn’t go so far as to declare PowerPoint the “enemy”, let alone blame it for international fatal disasters. After all, there is always someone steering the donkey.
But I would be very curious to ban PowerPoint for a week or two and really see how the delivery of information can get back on track.