How to Make Presentations Like Aon [A Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 3 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Our client Lowell asked us an interesting question while we were making their Aon presentation. He said,
"How do Aon presentations manage to look so organized despite having so much data?"
Our Creative Director answered,
"They let structure and brand consistency carry the weight, not flashy design."
As a presentation design agency, we work on many data-heavy corporate decks throughout the year and in the process we’ve observed one common challenge: people try to force creativity into slides that are meant to communicate serious, dense information, and the result is usually messy or confusing.
In this blog we’ll talk about how to make presentations like Aon in a way that balances information clarity with professional formatting.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
Why Aon Presentations Work
Aon presentations, at least the ones we’ve seen, are packed with information and data.
On the surface, this leaves little room for creative design. Yet, they work because every slide is carefully formatted to make that data readable and structured.
Here’s why they stand out:
Well-Formatted Slides
Even with dense content, alignment, spacing, and layout keep each slide clear and easy to follow.
Smart Use of Shapes, Charts, and Icons
Visual elements aren’t decorative—they organize data and guide the viewer’s eye.
Consistent Brand Colors
Using brand-approved colors throughout gives the deck a professional and unified look.
In short, Aon presentations prove that heavy data doesn’t have to feel overwhelming when structure and purposeful design take the lead.
For example, check out this presentation by Aon.
How to Make Presentations Like Aon
If you want to create presentations like Aon, the key is to accept one truth upfront: your slides are about communicating information clearly, not showing off your design skills. Aon presentations are data-heavy and leave almost no room for creative experiments. That doesn’t make them boring—it makes them effective. Here’s how you can apply the same principles to your decks.
1. Start with a Clear Structure
Before you even open PowerPoint or Google Slides, map out your content. Aon presentations work because every slide has a purpose, and every section flows logically.
When we design decks for our clients, the first thing we do is outline: what is the message, what data supports it, and how should it be sequenced.
Use a slide hierarchy: Start with the high-level message, then break it down into supporting points.
Group related content: Avoid scattering charts and tables across multiple unrelated slides. This keeps your story coherent.
Plan slide flow: Aon decks often have clearly defined sections, each with a mini-introduction slide. This ensures viewers know where they are in the story.
The takeaway here is simple: clarity comes from structure. Even if a slide is packed with tables or charts, the viewer can follow the story because the deck is organized logically.
2. Embrace the Data, Don’t Fight It
One reason Aon presentations are intimidating at first glance is the sheer volume of data. The temptation is to simplify or hide data to “make it look clean,” but that defeats the purpose. The goal is not minimalism—it’s clarity.
Prioritize key insights: Highlight the most important data points using subtle visual cues.
Label everything clearly: Charts, tables, and graphs should be fully labeled. There’s no room for guessing.
Use consistent units and scales: If one chart uses percentages and another uses absolute numbers, the viewer has to mentally switch contexts. Aon avoids that.
By accepting that your deck will be data-heavy and designing around it, you eliminate the stress of trying to “make it look creative.”
3. Use Shapes, Charts, and Icons with Purpose
Aon presentations rely heavily on visual elements, but they’re never decorative. Shapes, charts, and icons are tools to make data readable, not ornaments to fill space.
Shapes to organize content: Use rectangles, lines, or subtle boxes to separate sections, highlight key points, or create visual hierarchy.
Charts that tell a story: A chart should answer a question at a glance. Avoid adding every single data point if it doesn’t serve the story.
Icons for clarity: Small icons can replace repetitive labels or visually categorize information. Keep them consistent in style and color.
Remember, the goal is functional design. Each element should guide the viewer through the slide without adding visual noise.
4. Stick to Brand Colors and Typography
Brand consistency is a silent but powerful factor in why Aon presentations work. Fonts, colors, and icons are always aligned with brand guidelines. This gives even data-heavy slides a sense of professionalism and coherence.
Use 2–3 primary brand colors: Reserve one for highlights, another for charts, and a third for secondary elements.
Consistent fonts: Headings, subheadings, and body text should follow the same typography rules across slides.
Avoid random colors: Using multiple colors for charts or text just because it “looks nice” creates confusion. Brand consistency is clarity.
If your slides look uniform, viewers spend less time figuring out style and more time understanding content.
5. Pay Attention to Alignment and Spacing
Aon decks may look rigid, but that rigidity is intentional. Proper alignment, margins, and spacing are what make heavy content readable. Without this, even the most informative slides can feel overwhelming.
Grid systems: Use invisible grids to align text, charts, and visuals consistently.
White space matters: Don’t cram everything together. Adequate spacing around charts and text improves readability.
Consistent margins: Margins create breathing room and help maintain visual balance.
Even if your slides are packed with data, these small layout details make a huge difference.
6. Limit Creativity Where It Doesn’t Serve Purpose
One thing Aon presentations teach us is that creativity for its own sake can harm comprehension. Slides with flashy animations, random icons, or decorative backgrounds distract from the content.
Skip unnecessary animations: Only use transitions if they guide the viewer’s attention.
Focus on functional visuals: Icons, shapes, and color highlights should always clarify, not decorate.
Keep backgrounds simple: Stick to white, light gray, or subtle branded textures. Complex backgrounds make data harder to read.
Your goal is to make the viewer’s life easier, not to impress them with design tricks.
7. Test for Readability
Even a well-structured deck can fail if the information is too dense for the viewer to absorb. Aon presentations are tested for readability—they make sure the message is immediately clear.
Step back and review: Can someone unfamiliar with the topic understand the slide quickly?
Check visual hierarchy: Ensure headings, subheadings, and key data points stand out.
Simplify if necessary: If a slide feels overwhelming, break it into two smaller slides. Even Aon splits complex information to maintain clarity.
Readability is the final check on whether your design is serving the content.
8. Practice Makes Perfect
Making presentations like Aon is not just about design—it’s about mindset. You need to get comfortable with information-heavy slides and think like a data communicator. We’ve found that the more decks you create using these principles, the faster you get at balancing dense content with readability.
Analyze examples: Study Aon presentations and note how they format data-heavy slides.
Replicate structure, not style: Don’t copy visuals blindly—understand why each slide works.
Iterate: Each deck will teach you something about aligning data, structure, and design.
Over time, this approach becomes second nature.
If you distill Aon’s approach into one sentence, it’s this: structure, clarity, and functional design trump creativity when dealing with dense data. By focusing on hierarchy, consistent branding, purposeful visuals, and readability, you can create decks that look professional and communicate effectively—no matter how much information you need to include.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.