Type you can read from the back · Kode bersama Martin

If it cannot be read from the back, it is as if it were not on the slide.

The nicest sentence in the world is useless if the back row cannot see it.

Type at school is not fashion. It is size and shape that survive a projector, sun on the board and bad glasses.

Today you set the title so big that you can read it from the other end of the room. The body so it is not a notebook.

Fancy type looks cheerful on your laptop and falls apart on the wall. Arial, Calibri or the theme font — boredom that works.

Example: signature type size 18 vanishes from the back. Arial 40 for the title and 28 for three words even the last row can read.

If the sentence will not fit large, the sentence is long. Shorten it. Do not shrink the type. Today you set the numbers in the Font bar and check them three metres from the monitor.

Adam put the title in type that looked like a signature. From the back it was a line.

Ema put Arial 40 on the title and 28 on three words. The teacher from the last row nodded that they could read it.

Adam argued that his type was “personal”. Personal was unreadable. After the lesson he changed the font in the Font menu and made it bigger. He left personality in the speech. The wall wants calm type. The class is not a calligraphy show.

💡

Set size before colour. Colourful small text is still small. Metres first, taste later.

Size, bold, one font

In Google Slides you select the text and at the top choose Font and a size number.

A school slide title take 36 to 44. Body 24 to 32, rather higher than lower. Under 20 does not belong on the wall, even if “more fits”.

Bold (Ctrl+B) helps a title. Italic weakens from the back. Do not use it on a whole sentence.

Keep one font family for the whole presentation. Two at most: one for titles, one for body. Even that is a luxury.

Turn off shadows and type effects. A shadow eats readability. If the sentence will not fit large, shorten the words. That is the key reflex. Type serves the sentence. The sentence does not bend so a paragraph can fit.

Ema has the title “Bees carry pollen”. Arial 40, bold. Under it three words size 28.

Adam has the same sentence in fancy type 18, so a notebook subtitle fits too. From three metres Ema’s sentence lives. Adam’s vanishes.

The teacher marks Ema, even if Adam had more facts in the notebook. Facts you cannot see are, at school, as if they were not there.

So type is not decoration at the end. It is the first decision after layout. No colour will save small type.

⚠️

Do not copy type from an internet poster that has ten fonts. Sekolah can carry one, two at most. More is a mess.

Four things you will build in this course

The course has four small projects. You do not have to do them all at once. Today you add only this:

🎯 A hobby in 5 slides

Five slides about something you like doing. One sentence about what it is. No paragraphs from your notebook.

Hobby: the hobby name in big calm type, not a fancy logo.

📚 A report

Eight slides for school: a start, three proofs, an end. The title on every slide is a sentence, not “Slide 3”.

Report: a sentence 36+, not a textbook 14.

📊 Survey results

A chart from a table (not a screenshot from chat) and under it where the numbers come from.

Survey: a number in the chart must be readable from the back, same as the title.

⚖️ A defence

You say one sentence, show proof, answer “and what if…”. If you do not know, you say I don’t know.

Defence: the sentence on the slide big, so the panel sees it before you finish saying it.

Measure type with distance

You set title and body to school minimums. You check it with metres, not with a feeling at the laptop.

Open a slide with a title. Select the title. In the Font bar choose Arial, Calibri or the theme font — nothing handwritten. Set size to 40. If the sentence wraps onto three lines, shorten the sentence. In PowerPoint almost the same: Home, font and number.
Select the body under the title. Size 28. Delete words so at most two short lines remain. Ctrl+B only on the title. Turn italic off if it is on.
If you copied from the web, select the text and Format → Clear formatting. Then set font and size again. A foreign website brings a foreign font 11. Sekolah does not want it.
Step back from the monitor to the end of the room. Or shrink the browser zoom to 50 % and step back. Can you read the title without squinting? If not, go to 44, or shorten more. Do not go under 36 on a title.
Present (F5). Read out loud only what is on the wall. Esc. If you wanted to read more, that more belongs in notes, not in smaller type.

Type as a rule

Lock in the minimums so you do not hunt them again on every slide.

Write on paper: title 40, body 28, one font. Leave the paper by the computer.
Find a word on the slide in a different font from copying and unify it.
Shorten one sentence that forced you to shrink the type. Leave the size.

Now you 💪

The title is at least 36, the body at least 24, better more.
There is no fancy type that vanishes from the back.
If the text would not fit, I shortened the sentence, not the size under the minimum.

✅

Done when: The title can be read from the other end of the room and you can say the sizes you keep.

What to take from this lesson

The back row is the measure, not your laptop.
Title about 40, body about 28.
One calm font family.
Only small would fit? Shorten the sentence.
Salining from the web brings a small font. Clear the format.
Namas in the examples (Ema, Adam) are made up. Do not put your number, email or photo on a slide.