A few weeks ago I put a post out on twitter about why I use black slides, and boy did people have opinions!

So I'm going to lay it out for you all here as well

I often get comments on the fact I use a dark background on my slides (it's actually very dark grey now) and I believe they a tonne of advantages over white background slides.

You always want high contrast between your background and your main/text colour. A very dark grey and a just off white are great for this.

Pure black and pure white can make the slide harder to read for various types of visual impairment and dyslexia.

Dark grey and off white - sexy right?!

But why not off white background?? - I hear you cry

Dark slides eliminate projected shadows.

When you are mid rant about the best methodology for plotting the decline of forests in the US you don't want your gestures throwing wild shadow puppets across the screen & distracting your audience.

Dark slides mean no shadows (unless you overlap the text/images)

Bright and shiny

And let's be honest, we've all been in a presentation where that big, bright square on the screen just steals all our focus.

This is understandable, human beings are distracted by bright things in dark spaces (and vice versa). We look at things that stick out or are different, and particularly at things which are bright.

A white background is essentially a great big spotlight on the wall and you can actually see your audience's eyes get dragged back to it rather than looking at you.

With dark slides, there's no distraction, allowing the audience to focus on the content.

Big bright lights are also tiring to look at, particularly on screen, making dark slides better for online talks and for folks with dyslexia (like me).

I don't get blinded

Following on from the idea of shadow puppets. If you've ever accidentally walked in front of a projector you'll have been blinded by the small sun that powers them! This is distracting not to mention uncomfortable.

As a result, you can't use any part of the stage that the projector covers without having to squint.

Dark slides mean much less bright light from the projector allowing you to move around more and better engage the audience.

OBJECTION!

It's a nightmare to print slides with a dark background!

...

Well don't

If you are doing hand outs they are better as a separate prose document. Let the slides be slides and the notes be notes, don't make them try to do two jobs.

Also PowerPoint has a handy feature which lets you invert the colour before you print.

Just go

File > print > Colour (dropdown) > Greyscale or Pure black & white

So give them a try and see what you think. Personally, I think the benefits out way the negatives (WHICH ARE NONE!)