Today’s class covered key presentation skills for our major project pitches, and it was a great reminder of how to deliver a clear and confident talk. We focused on the basics: nerves are normal, stand with good posture, make eye contact, and use open body language.
A big emphasis was on simplicity—keeping slides clean, using images instead of text, speaking in plain English, and sticking to the 5–7 minute limit without rushing. Good alignment, minimal transitions, and limited typefaces all help keep the design professional. Finishing with a strong quote was another nice tip.
We also discussed two ways to start a pitch: outlining what you’ll cover, or getting straight into it. The second approach pairs well with the recommended structure: vision, problem, validation, and the potential solution—backed up with stats, aims, methodology, and a timeline. Finally, preparation is key: bring backups, test the setup, and practise until it flows naturally. Overall, the session highlighted that a strong pitch is simple, focused, and well-rehearsed.
We also had a session from Big Motive, who gave us our brief for Design Week in April:
“Make other designers care about adhering to accessibility standards in their work.”
We were split into groups and assigned different topics from the Understanding Accessibility website. My group focused on Media, so we began by listing all the different types—images, video, audio, text, graphics, animations, etc.—and discussing the many ways each one can become inaccessible online. This sparked a bigger conversation about why accessibility often gets overlooked in digital design, especially when similar barriers wouldn’t be acceptable in real life.
That idea became the core of our concept: if inaccessibility wouldn’t pass in the physical world, why should it pass on the web? From there, we explored how we could bring inaccessible media into a real-life setting to make that disconnect more obvious.
Our group developed an idea for an “inaccessible media gallery”—a physical exhibition that showcases common accessibility failures in a tangible, confrontational way. For example:
The aim is to make designers feel the frustration, confusion, and exclusion that inaccessible media creates—something people often overlook when everything stays behind a screen.
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