In this seminal post, Jilles Oldenbeuving presents some his 16 rules to craft and present decks better. They’re, quite frankly, a must-read for anyone who needs to convey information, not just for those of us making decks, as they can easily be transposed to other mediums.
In fact, they aren’t without reminding me of the excellent Dieter Rams’ 10 principles of good design. No builds and using fewer words, for instance, is all about unobtrusive design. although more specifically applied to communications.
Perhaps my favourite in the list, however, is the importance of following up. “Always share the slides” should be a given, yet it is still too often forgotten, and an unnecessary source of friction.
Finally, death to the pie chart is one I pondered about, but that I cannot easily fault. The reality is that a time series will always give the viewer more information. The only objection could be that they can lack clarity, but this could also lead to more questions, making the time series a better choice still.