The alternative design presented in this article responds to the call for intelligent use, especially with regard to the challenges of using PowerPoint or other presentation software to support the presentation of technical material. Building on a design that originated at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Gottlieb 2002), this alternative slide design also responds to many other criticisms that are likely familiar to anyone who watches significant numbers of presentations.

Two features distinguish the alternative design from the traditional design: the succinct sentence headline as opposed to a phrase headline, and the use of visual evidence as opposed to a bulleted list. Using a succinct sentence headline is not a new idea. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been advocating such a headline since the 1980s. Such a headline responds to the traditional design's failure to clarify the purpose of each slide. Likewise, relying on visual evidence is not new either--many advocates of the "intelligent use" of PowerPoint have made similar calls.