Why Consultants are Obsessed with Aligning Things
When I was in consulting, I built a lot of slides, but one thing I didn't really understand was why everyone was obsessed with alignment. Every box, every chart, every bullet point had to be perfectly aligned, and at the time, I thought everyone was crazy. But now, I don't know—maybe they were right. Let me explain.
In graphic design, when you align two objects together, you connect them logically. Here on Apple's website, notice how this text is all left-aligned, which connects all these lines of text together. Scroll down the page a bit, and you can see even more connections. All of this is very intentional, and it creates a clean look that's clear and easy to understand.
On this McKinsey slide, the principle of alignment is also pretty clear. The subtitles are aligned with each other horizontally but also aligned with each of these icons vertically. Then, the icons are top-aligned with their corresponding blocks of text. The result is a nice, organized slide that's easy to understand. So next time you're building a slide, take the extra step to make sure everything's aligned. Your boss will thank you for it. Actually, they probably won't—but do it anyway.
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