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ARCHITECTURE PRESENTATION BOARD TIPS

You can get this post Architecture Presentation Board Tips as a

printable pdf – click on the button below to get your copy!
Click here to download!
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 (no
images just info)!
Click here to download!
 
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23 Comments
1. 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!
C
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
2. 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
3. Jeffry on December 18, 2015 at 10:10 pm

with what for a program do u make these portfolios ?

Reply
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. shabee on October 11, 2016 at 11:12 am

how about manual presentation formats?

Reply
8. 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
9. 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
10. lil curie on August 7, 2017 at 8:46 am

Great post..Very helpful. Thanks

Reply
11. 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
12. 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
13. bohtyee on March 5, 2018 at 5:49 am

can I take your post because your post very exelent

Reply
14. 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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