I used to think a strong slide was mostly a writing and design problem: clear title, good chart, clean layout. I still think those things matter. I just think the deeper problem is cognitive load.
John Sweller’s work is about learning rather than consulting decks, and Richard Mayer’s multimedia-learning research focuses on instruction. But the constraint translates well: working memory is limited, and bad information design spends it on navigation instead of reasoning.
More detail can make an analysis feel less rigorous.
If I did ten analyses, why not show all ten? Because the audience then has to decide which three actually matter. That sorting is cognitive work I have pushed onto them.
If the audience has to figure out “what this means,” the slide is not finished.
The goal is not to make everything simple.
Complexity can be real. A reimbursement model can be complicated. Evidence can conflict. Ten stakeholders can have incompatible incentives. Clarity means simplifying the navigation without flattening the tension.
My favourite test is to read only the slide titles. If the argument does not survive, I probably have a collection of pages rather than a story.
REFERENCES / FURTHER READING
- Sweller J. Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning. Cognitive Science. 1988. Cognitive Science — Cognitive Load During Problem Solving ↗
- Fiorella & Mayer. Principles for Reducing Extraneous Processing in Multimedia Learning. 2021. Cambridge — Principles for Reducing Extraneous Processing ↗
These are personal research notes and commentary. I link the underlying sources so the evidence can be checked directly.