Presenting Information: Displaying a table

When displaying a data table, particularly one which is information rich, a dark background reduces glare and makes it easier for the viewer to read the data. Compare the two examples below:

Below are some simple rules for displaying a table in PowerPoint

• Remove excess lines
• Highlight key data either in colour or with a faded background. This is important to allow the viewer to quickly discern the relevant and important data points.
• Emphasize relationships
• Do not trust MS Excel defaults for any graphic or table
• Use a sans serif font (such as Helvetica or Trebuchet)
• Fade your lines to a lighter colour than the text (eg. White text and grey lines). Doing so makes the table easier to read

Compare this before and example that illustrates some of these basic changes:

Example B is a much more readable table.  Additionally, the viewer of the slide can easily recognize what will be discussed. *Granted, there are some definitions and a title missing, but the main point, that a few visual changes can greatly improve the readability, should be clear.

Edward Tufte discusses these ideas in much greater depth in his book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

Presenting Data: Tabular and Graphic Display of Social Indicators by Gary Klass, Illinois State University, has an excellent description of what makes a good table and how to interpret data. There discussions on how ambiguous data is represented and the distortion it causes is especially interesting.