The HBR Guides Collection (8 Books) (HBR Guide Series)

111111

Think Like a

Designer

To make the point that design thinking goes “hand-in-

hand with fi nancial success” in business, Fast Company

cited an intriguing Design Council study in its October

2007 letter from the editor: “A portfolio of 63 design-

driven British companies . . . trounced the FTSE 100 in-

dex over 13 years.”

A chart like the one in fi gure 5-1 accompanied the letter.

What does this have to do with presentations? A lot.

Presentations are one of the most popular business

communication tools, second only to e-mail. They attract

clients and keep employees on track. And the most ef-

fective presenters think like designers. Good presenters

display data clearly, simply, and compellingly, as in the

chart in fi gure 5-1. They select visuals that ...