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Visual minimalism in professional presentations: Reducing cognitive overload and enhancing persuasive clarity
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
In increasingly digital and visually saturated professional environments, presentation slides have become a central tool for communicating strategic information and supporting executive decision-making, yet the role of visual minimalism in shaping cognitive and perceptual responses remains underexplored. This thesis investigates whether visual minimalism in professional presentation slides behaves as a cognitive and perceptual strategy rather than only an aesthetic choice, by examining its impact on perceived cognitive load, unconscious emotional engagement, and perceived information quality and communicative coherence. Drawing on literature on visual complexity, attention, unconscious processing, signaling theory, and construal level theory, a qualitative A/B experimental design was conducted in which participants evaluated visually dense layouts (Version A) and structurally minimalist layouts (Version B), while the informational content remained constant across conditions. The findings indicate that minimalist visual structure reduced perceived cognitive demand through clearer hierarchical signaling, improved spatial organization, reduced semantic density, and the elimination of visual competition, leading to lower perceived mental effort and faster identification of the main message. Although initial emotional reactions were frequently described as neutral, comparison between Versions revealed that minimalist slides generated increased clarity, visual comfort, reduced overwhelm, and greater interpretative confidence, suggesting a regulatory rather than arousal-based emotional effect. Furthermore, structural coherence was perceived as a signal of professionalism and competence, reinforcing credibility and communicative clarity independently of content variation. Overall, the results suggest that minimalist visual architecture enhances communicative efficiency by regulating cognitive effort, supporting interpretative stability, and shaping implicit evaluative judgments in professional presentation contexts.
Descrição
Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Data Driven Marketing, specialization in Digital Marketing and Analytics
Palavras-chave
Visual minimalism Cognitive load Digital interfaces Cognitive and emotional engagement Persuasive communication