Tufte Kitten Kill Count http://tkkc.org Every time you make a PowerPoint Edward Tufte kills a kitten posterous.com Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:13:00 -0700 Up and to the right; up and to the right is never wrong http://tkkc.org/up-and-to-the-right-up-and-to-the-right-is-ne http://tkkc.org/up-and-to-the-right-up-and-to-the-right-is-ne

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:34:00 -0700 Not exactly Don Draper http://tkkc.org/not-exactly-don-draper http://tkkc.org/not-exactly-don-draper

A small selection of slides from CannesLions 2011 (which is a festival for 'creative' people, i.e. the advertising and marketing industry).

This presenter just doesn't seem to have cared at all.  Did they make this at 0300 while jetlagged?

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Next up a presenter does some sort of wheel thing with colors and stuff.

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I don't have any idea what's happening here.  I think it's some sort of story.

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And finally, someone saw some seaweed on the beach at Cannes.

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Source: 100+ Beautiful Slides from CannesLions '11

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:35:00 -0700 Sedation Presentation http://tkkc.org/sedation-presentation http://tkkc.org/sedation-presentation

No, really, a presentation about sedation.

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I bet you never thought you'd see the bullet point "Colonoscopy as a screening procedure gains popularity".

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I'm feeling sleepy.

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I guess this is something that doctors find fascinating.  Also, I refuse to make a joke about the author's name being Doufas.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:32:00 -0700 Pie chart. In 3D. At a bad angle. Exploded. http://tkkc.org/pie-chart-in-3d-at-a-bad-angle-exploded http://tkkc.org/pie-chart-in-3d-at-a-bad-angle-exploded

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From: Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Insight magazine.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:28:00 -0700 Safe! Fast! Painless! http://tkkc.org/safe-fast-painless http://tkkc.org/safe-fast-painless

Just like doing File -> Quit on PowerPoint really.

 

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From: Heart Check America sales presentation.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:39:00 -0700 Axes of Evil http://tkkc.org/axes-of-evil http://tkkc.org/axes-of-evil

In this PowerPoint slide showing reduction in forces in Iraq and their changing composition you get the impression that things are going to do down quickly.  Then you take a look at the Y-axis and realize that the distance between 5 and 10 is not the same as the distance between 10 and 20.  Then you look at the X-axis and realize it has no timings on it at all.

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Credit: Edward Tufte discussion forum

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:30:00 -0700 There's nothing funny about war, but let's use Comic Sans anyway http://tkkc.org/theres-nothing-funny-about-war-but-lets-use-c http://tkkc.org/theres-nothing-funny-about-war-but-lets-use-c

A 100 slide PowerPresentation by the US Army entirely written using the comedy font Comic Sans.

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I wish this were a joke.

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Credit: Gizmodo article US Army Declares War on Vision, Aesthetics, and Sanity with 100 Slide Comic Sans Powerpoint

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:21:00 -0700 A National Intelligence Failure http://tkkc.org/a-national-intelligence-failure http://tkkc.org/a-national-intelligence-failure

A PowerPoint presentation from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the US got out onto the Internet.  It contains many horrors.

Let's begin with an entire slide with a pie chart on it.  Surely just a single number would have done here?

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Also in the presentation is a wonderful slide with clip art versions of various problems:

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And then the full horror is revealed.  That slide may not look like much but in the actual presentation every single element on that slide is animated, using differnet animations (some sliding onto the page, some swirling in) and accompanied by sound: the sound made by the fairy Tinkerbell when she appears.

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Credit: Slate article Spy Central Slip-up.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:45:00 -0700 The Fog of War http://tkkc.org/the-fog-of-war http://tkkc.org/the-fog-of-war

No pithy comment here.  This one's serious.  Here's a US military slide mentioned in the New York Times article We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint:

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“PowerPoint makes us stupid,” Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. (He spoke without PowerPoint.) Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005, followed up at the same conference by likening PowerPoint to an internal threat.

“It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”

 

Hat tip: tomcrowley.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:31:00 -0700 Many levels. Different colors. http://tkkc.org/many-levels-different-colors http://tkkc.org/many-levels-different-colors

A simple example of the core PowerPoint death by multiple levels of bullet nonsense. 

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Credit: Words Matter.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:29:00 -0700 People who represent things http://tkkc.org/people-who-represent-things http://tkkc.org/people-who-represent-things

What are these people doing here?

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Credit: Talk Normal

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:27:00 -0700 Colors. Gradients. Arrows. Words. http://tkkc.org/colors-gradients-arrows-words http://tkkc.org/colors-gradients-arrows-words

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:24:00 -0700 It's OK. To. Have Bullets. In. The Middle. Of Sentences http://tkkc.org/its-ok-to-have-bullets-in-the-middle-of-sente http://tkkc.org/its-ok-to-have-bullets-in-the-middle-of-sente

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That slide would best be read by William Shatner.

Credit: here

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:21:00 -0700 I managed to get it all on one slide http://tkkc.org/i-managed-to-get-it-all-on-one-slide http://tkkc.org/i-managed-to-get-it-all-on-one-slide

There ought to be a medal for this sort of heroic "I'll make it all fit" effort.

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Credit: InFocus bad presentation style competition

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:19:00 -0700 Font-tastic http://tkkc.org/font-tastic http://tkkc.org/font-tastic

Hey, does this thing allow me to change the font size, color or orientation?  Why, yes it does.

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Credit: InFocus bad presentation style competition

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:09:00 -0700 Arrows, what we need are arrows http://tkkc.org/arrows-what-we-need-are-arrows http://tkkc.org/arrows-what-we-need-are-arrows

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Straight ones, round ones, lots of lovely arrows.

Credit: Flickr user jlaugesen

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming Tue, 20 Sep 2011 01:28:00 -0700 Welcome to the Tufte Kitten Kill Count blog http://tkkc.org/welcome-to-the-tufte-kitten-kill-count-blog http://tkkc.org/welcome-to-the-tufte-kitten-kill-count-blog

Fellow haters of PowerPoint unite!   Have you been bullet-pointed to boredom?  Sat through hours of irrelevant clip art?  Forced to decipher truncated sentences at 48pt?  Wondered if anything could be less exciting?

Edward Tufte's The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint was a wake up call to all who have suffered.  But it wasn't enough to stop the rot.  Then back in 2009 a guy called Mark Goetz suggested that Every time you make a PowerPoint Edward Tufte kills a kitten.  But still the slides keep coming.

Now the only solution is public expostion.

This is the site for all my fellow sufferers.  

Submit example slides with too many bullets, confused thinking, awful graphics, ridiculous fonts and more.  Anything to show the world what's wrong with corporate presentations.  Please remove or black out any identifying information on private presentations; this site is for fun, not for hurting people or shaming companies. 

To submit email a slide (or picture of a slide) to me.  

For each selected slide I will award a dead kitten count on a scale of 1 to 5 dead kittens.

PS.  This site is in no way associated with, nor endorsed by, Edward Tufte.  No kittens were killed in the making of this post.

PPS. I'm not just taking aim at PowerPoint here.  Apple Keynote can just as easily be abused.

PPPS. Or to put it another way...

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1483656/images.jpeg http://posterous.com/users/hgVVRe2g7yub8 John Graham-Cumming jgrahamc John Graham-Cumming