Toward a heuristic for teaching the visual rhetoric of pitch decks

Communication Design Quarterly Feb 2020

Toward a heuristic for teaching the visual rhetoric of pitch decks

Sean Williams ; Clay Spinuzzi ; Curtis Newbold

Abstract

This study examined how three successful entrepreneurs/investors assessed the visual rhetoric of actual pitch decks from novice entrepreneurs. We compare their evaluations to the result of a heuristic for assessing visual rhetoric, Color CRAYONTIP. While the pitch deck is recognized as a key artifact in entrepreneurship, no studies have specifically addressed the visual design of the deck nor the key design skills novice entrepreneurs should implement to effectively persuade potential investors of the idea's promise. This preliminary and exploratory case study begins a dialogue on this topic by performing a visual analysis of seven novice decks which were deemed successful by experienced angel investors. The analysis revealed five key skills that appear to account for the success of these decks with the reviewers: rhetorical awareness, typography, color, photography, and contrast.

Journal: Communication Design Quarterly
Published: 2020-02-13
DOI: 10.1145/3363790.3363791
CompPile: Search in CompPile ↗
Topics: qualitative research multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

Cabezas et al. (2024)

Slide Structure of Pitch Decks From an Accelerator Program

Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (1)

Galbraith et al. (2014)

The Impact of Presentation Form, Entrepreneurial Passion, and Perceived Prepare…

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Also cites 26 works outside this index ↓

10.1109/IPCC.2012.6408605

↗
10.4324/9780203811931

↗
10.1111/etap.12255

↗
10.1016/j.jbusvent.2015.04.002

↗
10.5465/amj.2009.36462018

↗
10.1080/13691060802151945

↗
10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.01002.x

↗
10.1016/0883-9026(93)90015-W

↗
10.1177/0001839215597270

↗
10.1016/j.ijme.2013.08.001

↗
10.1109/MCG.2017.4031060

↗
10.4324/9780203305683

↗
10.1177/2329488414525444

↗
10.1145/1959022.1959023

↗
10.1109/TPC.2016.2607818

↗
10.1177/002194369703400104

↗
10.1037/a0023986

↗
10.1145/985600.966013

↗
10.1002/col.21858

↗
10.1162/003355399555945

↗
10.1145/2775441.2775455

↗
10.1017/CBO9780511557842

↗
10.1596/978-1-4648-0202-7

↗
10.1016/j.jbusvent.2014.08.001

↗
10.5555/533429

↗
10.1142/S0218495811000805

↗

CrossRef global citation count: 4 View in citation network →