{"id":1307,"date":"2017-12-02T12:20:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T12:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:59:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:59:04","slug":"dont-overlay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/","title":{"rendered":"don’t overlay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don’t overlay multiple images. Images can only be viewed in isolation<\/a>. Superimposing one image over another is visually confusing and may lose the value of both. Consider carefully if all images are required at the same time and either fully cover one with the other or change to a new slide. Clarity and simplicity give the understanding. If the only purpose of overlaying an image is to show that somehow the two are connected, this is better done in speech than visually. Don’t overlay multiple images.<\/p>\n

The use of animation in presentations can add value and explanation. Clearly, this needs to be as carefully applied as the use of colour; some presenters show their enthusiasm but little insight. One of the most common uses is to overlay multiple images atop each other, appearing by some animation magic. Remember text is an image too. If this effect is desired, the change must be both subtle and effective. Ideally, it should be consistent. The result should be clear and uncluttered. Moreover, the whole effect should be itself required, not just possible. Ask, “why?” for every slide and for every step in animation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"don't<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The action of overlaying images as “building a story” is clear to the presenter constructing the piece. This clarity may be carried forward as the piece is delivered but visually the whole image that is constructed becomes increasingly confusing to the audience, despite the explanation. The human eye can only focus on one thing at a time and despite trying otherwise the image above makes that nearly impossible. Each step may be essential in the process (ask “why?”) but importantly ask why is one image laid over the next and not presented individually? If the images are too small, remove them. If they aren’t important enough to merit a single slide, remove them. Don’t overlay multiple images.<\/p>\n

There is value in developing an image in real-time with the audience, particularly in data slides<\/a>. That may be adding a punchy piece of text, a defining value or zooming into a particular segment. Use this sparingly and with simple additions that blend to the established image such that the resultant whole is a single image, not a patchwork. If there is a need for more than one addition, there is probably a need for more than one image. Don’t overlay multiple images.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the p2 is to support the message. The message should be clear. Images can help in that if they are clear. Don’t overlay multiple images thinking this will add clarity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t overlay multiple images. Images can only be viewed in isolation. Superimposing one image over another is visually confusing and may lose the value of both. Consider carefully if all images are required at the same time and either fully cover one with the other or change to a new slide. Clarity and simplicity give […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[305,304],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-p2","tag-data-slides","tag-overlay"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nDon't overlay multiple images in a presentation for clarity or explanation.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The purpose of the p2 is to support the message. Don't overlay multiple images thinking this will achieve clarity or explanation. Use animation sparingly.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don't overlay multiple images in a presentation for clarity or explanation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The purpose of the p2 is to support the message. Don't overlay multiple images thinking this will achieve clarity or explanation. Use animation sparingly.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"p cubed presentations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-02T12:20:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/overlay.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1265\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"927\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ffolliet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ffolliet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ffolliet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ffolliet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ffolliet\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56\"},\"headline\":\"don’t overlay\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-02T12:20:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/overlay.png\",\"keywords\":[\"data slides\",\"overlay\"],\"articleSection\":[\"p2\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/\",\"name\":\"Don't overlay multiple images in a presentation for clarity or explanation.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/overlay.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-02T12:20:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"The purpose of the p2 is to support the message. Don't overlay multiple images thinking this will achieve clarity or explanation. Use animation sparingly.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/overlay.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/overlay.png\",\"width\":1265,\"height\":927,\"caption\":\"don't overlay\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/dont-overlay\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"don’t overlay\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/\",\"name\":\"p cubed presentations\",\"description\":\"every great presentation is the product of its message (p1), the supportive media (p2) and the delivery of that (p3).\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56\",\"name\":\"ffolliet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"ffolliet\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp\"},\"description\":\"At work I'm a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon. That involves Surgical Oncology, Neonatal Surgery and Trauma. There's also a lot of teaching and mentoring. None of this actually makes me particularly clever. I'm pretty heavily into improving presentations and long for the world to lay down the weapon of bulletpoints and embrace creative and engaging presentations. I lead presentation workshops and am currently working up a book on presentations. I did a wee thing at TEDx Stuttgart in 2014 of which I'm quite proud https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/watch?v=qFza3W87eDg Outside all of that I struggle to keep fit, cycle a bit and the odd triathlon. I'm a father, singer, laugher, learner, sharer, blogger, thinker, strummer and much more.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/ffolliet\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ffolliet.com\\\/staging\\\/author\\\/ffolli5_wp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Don't overlay multiple images in a presentation for clarity or explanation.","description":"The purpose of the p2 is to support the message. Don't overlay multiple images thinking this will achieve clarity or explanation. Use animation sparingly.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Don't overlay multiple images in a presentation for clarity or explanation.","og_description":"The purpose of the p2 is to support the message. Don't overlay multiple images thinking this will achieve clarity or explanation. Use animation sparingly.","og_url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/","og_site_name":"p cubed presentations","article_published_time":"2017-12-02T12:20:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1265,"height":927,"url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/overlay.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"ffolliet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ffolliet","twitter_site":"@ffolliet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ffolliet","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/"},"author":{"name":"ffolliet","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56"},"headline":"don’t overlay","datePublished":"2017-12-02T12:20:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/"},"wordCount":435,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/overlay.png","keywords":["data slides","overlay"],"articleSection":["p2"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/","url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/","name":"Don't overlay multiple images in a presentation for clarity or explanation.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/overlay.png","datePublished":"2017-12-02T12:20:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T12:59:04+00:00","description":"The purpose of the p2 is to support the message. Don't overlay multiple images thinking this will achieve clarity or explanation. Use animation sparingly.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/overlay.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/overlay.png","width":1265,"height":927,"caption":"don't overlay"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/dont-overlay\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"don’t overlay"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/","name":"p cubed presentations","description":"every great presentation is the product of its message (p1), the supportive media (p2) and the delivery of that (p3).","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/79a90ae46194ce42b3eb9cc53dc61b56","name":"ffolliet","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp","url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"ffolliet"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-p-cubed-logo.webp"},"description":"At work I'm a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon. That involves Surgical Oncology, Neonatal Surgery and Trauma. There's also a lot of teaching and mentoring. None of this actually makes me particularly clever. I'm pretty heavily into improving presentations and long for the world to lay down the weapon of bulletpoints and embrace creative and engaging presentations. I lead presentation workshops and am currently working up a book on presentations. I did a wee thing at TEDx Stuttgart in 2014 of which I'm quite proud https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qFza3W87eDg Outside all of that I struggle to keep fit, cycle a bit and the odd triathlon. I'm a father, singer, laugher, learner, sharer, blogger, thinker, strummer and much more.","sameAs":["https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging","https:\/\/x.com\/ffolliet"],"url":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/author\/ffolli5_wp\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3550,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/3550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ffolliet.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}