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ARCHITECTURE PRESENTATION BOARD TIPS

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Our Top 10 Important Tips for

Architecture Presentation Boards
A great design can be mediocre if it is not presented well. In order to
win over a client, planning officer or committee it is vital the scheme
is clearly conveyed and easy to understand. In a way its like a sales
pitch, you are selling your design, ideas, concept. Your presentation
of drawings can assist a clients imagination, or help win a
commission, they should clearly communicate the three dimensional
elements of your design. Your drawings, graphics and presentation
boards have one main purpose – to communicate your design, and if
your presentation looks good, but doesn’t do its job – you may need
to think again.

1 – Representing Architecture
Your presentation board must use graphics and text to represent
your design idea and clearly communicate the details and essential
aspects of the scheme. It is important to be efficient with the
production of drawings, and only use what is necessary to convey
your idea. Quality is better than quantity as quantity can lead to
confusion. View your project as if for the first time, and consider how
easy or difficult it is to understand the concept, the main elements
and essential aspects of the scheme.

Bring your work together as a unified selection of drawings with a

format, scale and style that work together to create a logical and
comprehensive view of the project. Different graphic styles and
inconsistencies can cause a lack of clarity and confusion.

In general we read design presentations from left to right and from

top to bottom, so consider the story of your design and how it will be
read. Show the progression.

2 – Structure
Before you start creating your presentation boards, take a moment
to organise your work. What are you trying to convey? What
drawings / images do you have to show as part of your criteria? What
are the key elements in your design that you would like to portray?

Collect together the information – even list out all the images to be
included and what text you would like to put it, then you can start
planning the structure of your boards. This will really help you
visualise what information will be on your boards and how you are
going to communicate your design.

3 – Orientation, setting and size

Are you restricted to orientation of your presentation boards? Make
sure you know whether your boards are supposed to be presented in
landscape or portrait orientation.
How will the boards be viewed, will they be displayed in a sequence
so they follow on from one another, or if you are not sure this is
something you need to consider.

What size are your presentation boards going to be? Make sure you
know if you are limited by the size of the boards.

4 – Layout of the architecture presentation

board
Grids

Consider using a grid to help you organise the visual elements on

your board. You can use a simple grid or something more complex. A
grid helps you to organise the elements on your page and produce
consistency across the architecture presentation board set.

Once you have decided on your page size and orientation you can
set about creating a grid that suits your needs. The grid can include
space for title bars, page numbers, other information that needs to
appear on each board. Using a program like InDesign is great as you
can set up master pages as templates so you only need to create the
grid once and it can then be used on numerous pages.
Hierarchy

Consider the visual hierarchy. You will want some of your images to
receive more visual attention than others, in order to communicate
your idea. You can do this by giving certain images more space in the
grid than others.

When you view your presentation board, you want something

viewable from a distance (impact image) 6ft away, and up close. This
communicates your visual hierarchy.

Layout Essentials

I would recommend sketching out your layout of your architecture

presentation board before you start, so you can get an idea of the
possible configurations you can use and what might work best. A
small storyboard sketch or small scale mock up of the presentation
works well as you can adjust the layout until you are happy with the
arrangement and alignment.

Make sure you plan your board so that you can see the relationship
between the drawings. For example sections and plans should be
aligned so it is clear to read.

Make sure every instance of a plan is of the same orientation (north

point always in same place) otherwise it can get very confusing for
someone who has not seen the project before.

When showing plans and elevations/sections together, it is beneficial

if they are of the same scale and in line. However, if one drawing is
more important than the others then it makes sense to show that in
a different scale.

Just because its a pretty architecture presentation board, don’t

forget to include your symbols! Scale bars, and north points often
get forgotten, but are important to be included in order to make
your drawings and information clear.

Don’t forget to explore relationships between each board, and how

they will be read together. Number the boards so it is clear to see the
progression if the boards are not going to be displayed.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Visual hierarchy – some of your images want

more visual attention than others #presentation” quote=”Visual
hierarchy – some of your images want more visual attention than
others #presentation”]
5 – Background
Try to keep your background plain, unless it is featuring one of your
key images. Architecture presentation board backgrounds can get a
little busy and make it difficult to see the key details of the board.

A white background will make your images and text stand out and
look professional. Most of the board images I am sharing in this post
feature white backgrounds, it is clear to see why. The information
comes across well, and the background makes the visuals pop of the
page. A background image can often be distracting, so make sure all
the information is crystal clear if you decide to go down that route.
 
6 – What to include in your architecture
presentation board
Well this is tricky as it depends on the work you have done, and what
the project brief requires of you. That being said, make sure you
select the images and drawings that explain your design. Imagine
you are viewing this project for the first time, what would you want
to see in order to be able to understand it?

Usually the basics will include floor plans, and elevations, maybe
some sections. Some sort of perspective view, 3d drawing, render.
Then maybe a focus on some of the key features of your design,
perhaps with brief sentences explaining if required. Hand drawings
and development work can be good to include if relevant/required.
7 – Information – Title, story, content
Do you need to have a title bar? If so, consider a consistent title bar
throughout your boards, giving a sense of professionalism, and
orderliness. Don’t forget to include your details – name, title of
project etc and whatever else is applicable.
8 – Text 
Its tempting to get carried away with multiple fonts but please,
don’t! Stick to one font, maximum of two. Use font sizes to create a
hierarchy on the board – e.g. large font for your titles, a bit smaller
for subtitles and standard size for the remainder of your content.
Make sure your chosen font and size is readable! Keep your
sentences short and punchy. No one is going to want to read an
essay on your presentation board. A picture paints a thousand
words!
Consider how to align your text within its text box. What is easier to
read? Think about text spacing, and hyphenation and how it appears
on your architecture presentation board.
9 – Colour
The standard architectural style – particularly for students appears
to be black white and grey! Grey grey grey! I understand why people
sway that way, but sometimes its good to break out and use a bit of
colour. I remember going to a student show not so long ago and
overall it was just so bland. Every single board looked the same, a
collage of grey! I agree there is a place for simplicity, and grey
can give a professional atmospheric board, but try to inject some
colour. How is colour reflected in the design? If the architecture
presentation board is predominantly in black and white or grey, does
this make the design feel cold? Consider how colour will have an
impact of the overall feel of the scheme.
10 – Some Extra Tips
Give yourself time. It’s a real shame when you have spent
weeks/months on a design project, and leave yourself an hour or two
to put it together for your architecture presentation boards. Such a
waste. By denying your project the time and care of developing a
structure and a plan for how you present your work, you are
effectively deducting grades there and then. By showing a well
thought out presentation, with a clear process and design result,
which is easy to engage with you will greatly increase your chances
of showing how good your design is and why it should receive a
stellar grade!

Use negative space. Don’t fill your board with useless information,
use the negative space to set off your design and make it stand out.

Use a program you know. The last thing you need to be doing is
learning a whole new software program whilst in the panic of putting
your boards together. If you have allowed yourself enough time, fair
enough. I would recommend InDesign or Photoshop, but Microsoft
Word or Pages on the Mac will still give you good results if you are
more comfortable using them. Powerpoint or Keynote on the Mac,
can be good options, but just check they can print to the size you
require the boards to be.
 I hope these tips help you come up with some really good
architecture presentation boards, and show off your work to its
best. I have put together a Pinterest board that I am constantly
adding to completely dedicated to Architectural Presentation
boards. Check it out below:
Our Pinterest Board

Please share your knowledge!! Comment below to offer more tips

and advice to our readers!
Click on the button below to download this post as a printable pdf
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23 Comments
Caine on September 23, 2015 at 6:34 pm

Really great Emma,

Both in the tips and tricks but also in the observation and
selection of images used.

(nice to see them properly credited).

An extra tip; when including precedent studies, make it

clear what is precedent

rather than proposal by grouping, using a background

colour or outline, and if they

are on multiple pages keep them to the same place on

each page.

Although your tutors are familiar with most precedents,

confusing a precedent

with proposal is embarrassing for all of us!

Reply

Emma on October 1, 2015 at 11:21 am

Hi Caine,

Thanks for your comments – much appreciated.

Reply

Nolie D. Tajores on March 23, 2021 at 4:03 am

 I WAS ABLE TO USE THIS IN MY CLASS EMMA.
WITH DUE RESPECT AND PERMISSION. MY
STUDENTS WERE IMPRESSED WITH YOUR
COLLECTION OF IDEAS. TNKS.

Reply

Aya on September 25, 2015 at 8:53 pm

Thank you so much for this post, I’ve always had a bit of a
problem with my boards and this will surely help me in
the long run.

Reply

Jeffry on December 18, 2015 at 10:10 pm

with what for a program do u make these portfolios ?

Reply

Jeffry on December 18, 2015 at 10:12 pm

Those presentation boards look awesome! 🙂

what for a program is used to do something like that ?

Reply

Emma on December 21, 2015 at 8:38 am

Hi Jeffry, Boards like these can be achieved using a

number of programs, most commonly inDesign or
 Photoshop. If you don’t have access to this
software you can also use things like powerpoint or
keynote – although you may be more limited with
functionality.

Reply

Stephanie on May 9, 2016 at 12:30 pm

Hi, just wondering what do you recommend to be the

best way of getting images onto presentation boards?
drawing/ rendering the design then scanning, then
editing/ enhancing on photoshop? or using revit to draw
and render and transferring these to the boards?

If you could reply to this, it would be muchly

appreciated! thank you

Reply

Emma on May 9, 2016 at 6:29 pm

Hi Stephanie,

Thanks for your comment. I think a lot of it is down

to what you are comfortable with, and what stage
of your project you are presenting. If you are
presenting initial ideas then hand drawings /
sketches would be suitable for your boards. These
would be best scanned in, and adapted in
photoshop, adjust the levels and so on, to get the
 effect you are looking for.

However, if you are presenting final work, perhaps

some digital renders would be more relevant.
Having said that, if you are comfortable with your
drawing skills and have chosen to present your
project as hand drawn work, then by all means you
should draw and hand render your work to then
scan in. I would recommend digitising all hand work
and putting together on photoshop/inDesign, as it
creates a more professional outcome – and also
means you can adjust things as you wish.

So, consider your time constraints, what can you

achieve in the time you have. Consider what you
want the desired outcome to be, and what stage of
the project are you presenting. It may be that you
use a combination of hand drawings, sketch up
models, and final revit renders. There is no correct
answer, just do what works well for you, and what
you will be able to do at the best of your ability.

Hope this helps – and best of luck with your work!!

Emma

Reply

Aizad on September 23, 2016 at 1:13 pm

Heyyy how about capitalisation? Does all the writing

should be in caps or it could include lower and upper
case??? Thanksss
 Reply

Emma on September 26, 2016 at 8:30 am

I think that is down to personal choice and how you

want it to look. No strict rules on this. Just make
sure you are consistent.

Reply

shabee on October 11, 2016 at 11:12 am

how about manual presentation formats?

Reply

Xiaotenglim on November 17, 2016 at 2:24 pm

thank you so much for all the tips! Appreciate it:)

Reply

Emma on November 17, 2016 at 2:54 pm

You’re welcome 🙂
Reply

Nurul husna bt zakariya on August 4, 2017 at 11:44 pm

I had receive the pdf copy.however it doesnt contain any

image
 Reply

Emma on August 7, 2017 at 6:25 am

Hi Nurul, the pdf doesn’t have any images as it is

for printing without using too much ink. If you want
images you can print directly from the article web
page.

Reply

lil curie on August 7, 2017 at 8:46 am

Great post..Very helpful. Thanks

Reply

Anand on October 25, 2017 at 1:05 am

Hey,

Thank you so much, this has been really very helpful as it

has always been a task to understand the requirements
and needs that have to be considered for architectural
sheet presentation as we have a lot of information to put
in but what matters is giving the information a hierarchy
as to what needs to be included or not .

Appreciate it.

Reply
 Emma on October 25, 2017 at 6:24 am

Thank you Anand.

Reply

Malinga on February 17, 2018 at 8:30 pm

Hello Emma, thanks… I have a presentation next week,

could you please send me a downloadable copy of that,
thanks

Reply

bohtyee on March 5, 2018 at 5:49 am

can I take your post because your post very exelent

Reply

ahmad on June 8, 2018 at 12:15 am

can i know what is a standard word size for an a1 size

presentation board???

Reply

Emma on June 8, 2018 at 6:27 am

Hi, it will depend on many factors, like the font you

are using, the intended purpose of the
 presentation board, how much text you are putting
on there etc.

Reply

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