The video below was produced by the folks in Mozilla‘s User Interface (UI) department to explain why they are choosing to move from a tabs-on-bottom to a tabs-on-top layout in the next version of their popular web browser, Firefox. Their argument for tabs-on-top is well-reasoned, and I appreciate their taking the time to explain to their users why they’ll be making such a drastic change to Firefox’s look and feel. It also demonstrates just how much thought (DESIGN!) they’ve put into every aspect of their product, a trait that I recommend when it comes to building slides.

I particularly liked the way they illustrate the point about the Conceptual Model of Firefox. This happens in the video at around 1:25 minutes in. What I like is their use of color to make a fairly abstract point perfectly clear by color-coding the elements they’re discussing. This enables us to quite literally see why the tabs-on-top layout is superior. This would have been a tough point to get across in words alone.

When you build slides, always strive to show your audience as much as you can about what you’re saying. That’s why the slides are there at all: to supplement your words and communicate things that are just easier to understand when you see it. If you don’t have anything like that in your presentation, why not go slide-less?

via HolyKaw

via Dilbert.com

Great post today from Duarte on the trend of using complimentary colors in movie posters and how to do the same in your slides. Check it out.

via Duarte Blog

Color is an important part of any design. It’s incredible to see how complicated and nuanced something as basic as color choice can be. This video from Pantone shows a little glimpse into what it’s like to be in charge of the world’s color standards.

The commentary by John Maeda and Tina Roth Eisenberg is just bonus.

360° Color: A Peek Inside Pantone from Base on Vimeo.

via imjustcreative