Presentation Zen [37]
Later, his neighbor stopped by to congratulate him. Then he mentioned that all passers-by could easily tell that the fish was really fresh. Mentioning the word fresh actually made it sound defensive as though there was room for doubt about the freshness. Now the sign just read: “FISH.”
As Vijay was walking back to his shop after a break he noticed that one could identify the fish from its smell from very far, at a distance from which one could barely read the sign. He knew there was no need for the word “FISH.”
By stripping down an image to essential meaning, an artist can amplify that meaning…
—Scott McCloud
Amplification Through Simplification
The Japanese Zen arts teach us that it is possible to express great beauty and convey powerful messages through simplification. Zen may not verbalize “amplification through simplification,” but you can see this idea everywhere in the Zen-inspired arts. There is a style of Japanese painting called the “one-corner” style, for example, which goes back some 800 years and is derived from concepts of wabi and sabi. Paintings in this style are very simple and contain much empty space. You may have a painting depicting a large ocean scene and empty sky, for example. In the corner, there is a small, old fishing canoe, hardly visible. It’s the smallness and placement of the canoe that gives vastness to the ocean and evokes at once a feeling of calm and an empathy for the aloneness the fisherman faces. Such visuals have few elements, yet can be profoundly evocative.
Learning From the Art of Comics
We can learn about simplicity as it relates to presentation visuals from unexpected places, including—and this may surprise you—the art of comics. And the best place to learn about the art of comics is from Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (Harper Paperbacks). In this popular book, McCloud repeatedly touches on the idea of “amplification through simplification.” McCloud says that cartooning is a form of amplification through simplification because the abstract images in comics are not so much the elimination of detail as they are an effort to focus on specific details.
A key feature of many comics is their visual simplicity. Yet, as McCloud reminds us, while casting an eye to the wonderful world of Japanese comics, “simple style does not necessitate simple story.” Many people (outside of Japan at least) prejudge comics by their simple lines and forms as being necessarily simplistic and base, perhaps suitable for children and “the lazy,” but not something that could possibly have depth and intelligence. Surely such a simple style found in comics cannot be illustrating a complex story they say. However, if you visit coffee shops around Tokyo University—Japan’s most elite university—you will see stacks and stacks of comics (manga) on the shelves. There is nothing necessarily “stupid” about the genre of comics in Japan at all; in fact, you’ll find “brainiacs” in all shapes and sizes reading comics here, and indeed around the world.
The situation today is that most people have not been exposed to the idea of making a visual stronger by stripping it down to its essence. Less always equals less in most people’s eyes. If we apply this visual illiteracy to the world of presentations, you can imagine the frustration that a young “enlightened” professional must feel when her boss looks over her presentation visuals the day before her big presentation and says, “No good. Too simple. You haven’t said anything with these slides! Where are your bullet points!? Where’s the company logo!? You’re wasting space—put some data in there!” She tries to explain that the slides are not the presentation but that she is the presentation and that the “points” will be coming from her mouth. She tries to explain that the slides contain a delicate balance of text and images and data designed to play a supportive yet powerful role in helping her amplify her message. She