What Does a Pitch Deck Designer Do?

Organizing your pitch deck is crucial to get that sweet yes from your investor. You need a killer design for that to happen. Essentially, you start with integrating your brand’s logo, colors, and fonts. Next, ensure that you have data to support your claims. Highlight the best numbers and make sure they stand out. Finally, add images, graphs, or charts to mix up your media. While you can do that yourself, a pitch deck designer can do it better. Now that you know what goes inside a pitch deck, know how a designer can create a stunning pitch deck to help you secure funding.

Table of Contents

• 1st Benefit: Pitch Deck Designers Help Tell Your Story
• 2nd Benefit: Pitch Deck Designers Create Seamless Graphics
• 3rd Benefit: Pitch Deck Designers Craft Presentations Beyond Standard Practice
• Best Practices: How Should a Slide Deck be Designed?
• Pricing: How Much Does a Pitch Deck Design Cost?
• Finding a Pitch Deck Design Service that Does it All For You
• Unlimited Designs to Power Your Business

1st Benefit: Pitch Deck Designers Help Tell Your Story

A creative pitch deck designer knows how to tell a compelling visual story. Formal presentations have a reputation for being stuffy and boring, but this need not be the case. As long as you can articulate the main points, a business proposal designer can put that data into a narrative format.

Depending on the slide, a pitch deck creator may include elements that make sense given the content, such as:

• Custom illustrations
• Graphs
• Text
• Infographics

The key is to immerse your audience in what interests them from the beginning to the end of the presentation. Both the big-picture vision and the practical details are artfully laid out. 

It goes without saying that investors, clients, vendors, suppliers, and partners will all view your presentation from a different angle. They have their own unique concerns, so it may be appropriate to have a few different versions of your pitch deck ready to deploy. Some investors also recommend having a long version and a short version for different contexts (e.g., emailing vs. presenting in person).

2nd Benefit: Pitch Deck Designers Create Seamless Graphics

“Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.”

– Paul Rand

A business-focused founder might assume that the last thing they need is a designer. After all, you’re not presenting your artistic skills to investors or potential clients. You’re presenting your business model, products, services, and overall plan.

But when it comes to pitch deck services, it’s not about wacky illustrations or bold splashes of color. The point is not to detract from the topic. Instead, a masterful fundraising presentation expert showcases the critical points of your presentation in style. 

The presentation design may barely be noticed by the audience, yet it’s the very vehicle that delivers the information so clearly and persuasively. Ironically, the design elements the viewer doesn’t notice are sometimes the most effective of all, and that’s okay. Again, the design is not the show’s star but the communication vehicle.

See pitch deck design examples for inspiration.

3rd Benefit: Pitch Deck Designers Craft Presentations Beyond Standard Practice

Though your design doesn’t have to be dramatic, there’s nothing wrong with stepping outside the box. As startup pitch consultants point out, veteran investors have likely seen hundreds of pitch decks in their lifetime. There’s no reason you have to do presentations the way they’ve always been done.

Think about unique ways you can showcase your product or service. How can you instill confidence in your scalability? How can you demonstrate your unique value from a different angle?

Professional pitch deck designers elevate your presentations by going beyond basic slide designs, delivering compelling visuals that tell a story and capture your audience’s attention. Here’s why this matters:

• Custom Visuals: Instead of relying on generic templates, an investor presentation designer creates tailored designs that align with your brand and message.
• Data Visualization: Complex information is transformed into engaging charts, graphs, and infographics for better understanding.
• Professional Touch: High-quality designs add credibility to your pitch, making it stand out to investors and stakeholders.

You can also get inspiration from the impressive pitch decks of famous brands that got funded. But this doesn’t necessarily mean you should second-guess your own decisions if they differ from what a famous founder did. Every situation is different, and what works for one company may not work for another.

Best Practices: How Should a Slide Deck be Designed?

Designing a compelling pitch deck is crucial for impressing investors, stakeholders, or potential partners. Here are some key principles that your corporate presentation designer should apply to your pitch deck:

• Keep it concise: A pitch deck should be concise and to the point. Limit the number of slides to ensure you cover the essential information without overwhelming your audience. Aim for around 10-15 slides, excluding the title and contact slides.

• Tell a compelling story: Structure your pitch deck like a narrative to engage your audience. Start with a captivating introduction that grabs attention, present the problem or opportunity, explain your solution, highlight the market potential, demonstrate your traction or progress, and conclude with a clear ask or call to action.

• Maintain consistency and alignment: Ensure your pitch deck maintains a consistent visual style and follows a grid or alignment system. Consistency in formatting, colors, and typography will make your pitch deck look professional and cohesive.
  
• Use supporting visuals sparingly: Include product images, mockups, or customer testimonials to provide context and support your narrative. However, avoid overloading the slides with too many visuals or text, which can distract from the main message.

• Practice effective slide transitions: Use slide transitions sparingly and purposefully. Smooth transitions can help maintain the flow of your presentation and create a professional impression. Avoid excessive animations or transitions that may appear distracting or gimmicky.

Pitch Deck Design Do’s and Don’ts

Designing pitch decks isn’t rocket science. However, you will need an eye for design to create a winning pitch deck. Even without a degree in graphic design, you can make a stunning pitch deck design. That said, we list the best tips for designing your pitch decks and avoiding these design blunders.

Do: Keep it Simple

As much as you want to cram in EVERYTHING in your pitch deck, keeping it simple is the best way to persuade your investors. Before you design your pitch deck, you should create a draft or outline of what you should present. This helps you organize your thoughts and present key ideas to investors. Once you’ve organized your data, you can start designing your pitch deck.

Keep it simple through your brand colors. Plus, avoid adding text blocks, which can bore your investors. Try to keep your written copy to one or two sentences, highlighting the data or achievement. If you can, let charts or graphs speak for itself. Then, explain further to your investors while pitching to them.

Don’t: Make it Long

You have a couple of minutes to convince your investor to move forward and eventually secure funding. Their time and yours are precious down to the second. There’s no actual rule of thumb regarding how many slides should be there. However, keep it at a maximum of 20 slides. This ensures that you have enough information to present while still keeping the presentation around 10 to 20 minutes long.

Do: Pique Interest by Telling a Story

Presenting your pitch by showing data and how you can entice the investor to proceed with meetings and secure funding is easy! However, it’s best to tell a story when presenting your pitch. For instance, start with a problem you’re addressing. Then, narrate the process of how you went about with that problem. From there, provide your solution. Finally, show them the results. Once you have that outline, you can use it in your design through the slides. Again, you can add images or graphs in your presentation as if it were a visual storybook.

Don’t: Be Inconsistent

Designing a visually inconsistent pitch deck can be jarring when you present it to your investors. This is why branding is a must-have before launching your business. Imagine if you have a slide with your branding but another with a different look; it can affect how investors perceive your business. If you don’t have your branding finalized yet, you could opt for a simple design. This way, you can edit it once you have a branding guideline.

Do: Add Icons and Animations

Make your pitch deck presentation more engaging with icons and animations. Sure, images are a must. However, you can mix it up by adding icons. For instance, if your business is a fintech company, you can add icons like coins, rockets, and mobile phones. Besides icons, put animations, too! It can be boring to show your text or images in one go. Adding animations can emphasize points. Plus, it can add more dynamic how you speak. For example, when you present the next slide, you can animate the text as you talk about your next point.

Pricing: How Much Does a Pitch Deck Design Cost?

Pitch deck design costs vary and typically range anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars for more in-demand designers. Freelancers will normally charge you a flat fee or an hourly fee ranging from just $10/hr up to $200/hour.

Some fledgling startups spend thousands on a full pitch deck (not just the design). In this case, whoever you hire is looking into brand strategy, business planning, copywriting, and pitch deck design. The slide count can affect the price, with extended pitch decks costing more. But nowadays, time is money. Most startups opt for a shorter pitch deck; their audience probably appreciates the brevity. While yes, you want to share as much detail as possible to make a compelling case, it’s easy to go overboard and overwhelm your audience who hasn’t bought in yet.

At Penji, we offer unlimited graphic design for a flat monthly fee so you can get all the designs you need in one place—whether for social posts, event flyers, packaging, merch, presentations, or anything else. We’re not just a pitch deck design agency—we’re an everything-your-business-needs design agency.

Finding a Pitch Deck Design Service that Does it All For You

If you’re looking for a professional pitch deck service or a pitch deck agency, you have many options to choose from, like:

1. Slidebean – offers a pitch deck builder and services
2. Unicorn Pitch – provides master slides, infographics, and more
3. Base Templates – offers custom templates for pitch decks and more
4. Pitchdeck.com – has designed over 10,00- pitch decks
5. Slidepeak – promises deadlines within 24 hours

A successful presentation design includes many elements:

• Problem and solution
• Promising market data
• Sound financial modeling and projections
• How do you have a leg up on the competition
• Team’s past accomplishments
• Clear, confident ask 
• Contact information

Whether you plan to use PowerPoint, Google Slides, or another presentation tool, a pitch deck designer can do the grunt work. A designer not only gives you a crisp slide deck but a relaxed, confident demeanor when pitch day arrives.

At the end of the day, your presentation isn’t the only thing pulling the strings. Investors will notice how you engage, your experience, your professionalism, and any follow-up communications you have together. Patience will help you stay optimistic. When your request for funding reaches the right people at the right time, you’ll get the support you need.

Looking for more pitch deck design tips?

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