Why your lesson slides need a redesign and how AI can help
Death by PowerPoint is real. What good instructional design actually looks like and how to achieve it without being a designer.
Daniel Park
History Teacher, Edinburgh
The slide problem
The average teacher presentation has too many slides, too much text per slide, and inconsistent formatting. This is not a criticism — it is a symptom of time pressure. When you have 40 minutes to build a lesson, design is the last thing on your mind.
What research says about slide design
Cognitive load theory tells us that when slides are text-heavy, students split their attention between reading and listening. The result is that they process neither well. The most effective slides use minimal text, strong visuals, and serve as anchors for verbal explanation rather than scripts.
Five principles for better slides
1. One idea per slide. If you are tempted to use bullet points, ask whether each bullet deserves its own slide.
2. Use images that support, not decorate. An image of the trenches makes World War One more concrete. A stock photo of a lightbulb next to "Key idea" does nothing.
3. Consistent typography. Two fonts maximum. Headings in one, body in another.
4. High contrast. Dark text on light backgrounds, or light text on dark. Never mid-grey on light grey.
5. Less is more. A slide with 10 words is almost always more effective than one with 100.
How Pencil's Presentation Generator helps
Pencil generates structured slide decks with speaker notes, applying design principles automatically. The AI handles the layout and content structure; you focus on the teaching.
Try the tools mentioned in this article
Free to start. No credit card needed.
