The President’s SOTU Slide Presentation

Did you know that the President gave a slide presentation Tuesday night? Barack Obama did not pull an Andrew Cuomo and use actual slides behind him, but there were indeed accompanying graphics and visuals to his State of the Union address. As in years past, the White House released an “Enhanced” State of the Union video presentation available on their website.

The White House’s solution to visually communicating the President’s message is to place vertical graphics next to the video at selected points. If you haven’t seen how the visuals support and enhance the speech, definitely take a look.

This is a technique that I really loved initially, but this year the White House’s graphics department seemed asleep at the wheel. Believe me, I know how quickly these graphics were probably created, but while there were a few moments in which the visuals truly aided the message, I felt as the entire approach lacked the touch of a skilled information designer.

There was confusing use of highlights—is the focus the blue or the red figures…?

There were color combinations that would get you kicked out of a freshman year design course—red text over blue “vibrates” and is a rookie mistake…

There was lackluster imagery, cheesy text effects and overuse of all caps…

And downright confusing stats and graphics…

What was good?

Some very direct charts and good colors…

Good use of imagery and humor…

And humanity and a sense of the personal…

I personally don’t look forward to the day that projection screens are installed behind the President for the State of the Union, but it may just be inevitable.