Typography as a metaphor for slide design

Neil Enns was one of the participants in my recent Microsoft meeting. (Neil works in Microsoft Office Labs, home of the intriguing experimental program pptPlex, which we discussed at some length during the meeting.)

Neil made an interesting observation, comparing typography to slide design, by quoting Robert Bringhurst's excellent Elements of Typographic Style:

Typography exists to honor content. … In a world rife with
unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it
will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has
drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of
statuesque transparency.

Let's try paraphrasing that so that it is talking about slide design:

Slide design exists to honor content. … In a world rife with unsolicited messages, a slide must often draw attention to itself before its message will be understood. Yet in order to be understood, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Slides with anything to say therefore aspire to a kind of statuesque transparency.

Thanks Neil.