Learn All About Harvey Balls In PowerPoint (Plus Harvey Balls Templates)

SlideUpLift
7 min readNov 4, 2020

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Learn All About Harvey Balls In PowerPoint (Plus Harvey Balls Templates)

It is easy to explain any kind of quantitative information in your presentation. You can talk about sales figures in an effortless manner. It becomes troublesome when it comes to presenting and explaining things like quality, satisfaction, or taste. Since most of us are not aware of how to illustrate these abstract concepts, we just write the information that does not effectively communicate our point. And that’s where Harvey balls come in.

We wanted to introduce the concept of Harvey Balls to the users through this blog, which could help them showcase abstract concepts visually.

What Are Harvey Balls?

A Harvey ball diagram is a beneficial visual tool for making qualitative assessments very quickly. Harvey balls diagram consists of multiple circular shapes called Harvey balls, which are partially or fully shaded to show the extent to which an item fulfills particular criteria. The unshaded portion of these balls shows how much an item lacks certain criteria, which helps make different decisions when several options are available.

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Harvey Balls PowerPoint Template

Harvey Balls matrix is a type of state indicator usually used for comparison in presentations and reports. You might find this visual tool in several comparison types, such as comparing a product by price, weight, quality, taste, safety, etc.

Why Do We Need Harvey Balls?

As we discussed above, Harvey balls diagrams can be used for different purposes by professionals. Business professionals need to do qualitative comparisons and analyses of various types of reports. We can use Harvey Balls in PowerPoint -

1. To Showcase Project Status

A simple, quick, and everyday use of the Harvey balls matrix is to convey project status. Different Harvey balls in the diagram can be used to show the status of different aspects of a project, such as milestones, budget expenditure, etc. This effective visual tool can help you take a quick overview of your project.

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Project Status Report Template

The above project status PowerPoint template shows how you can use Harvey balls to showcase the status of various aspects of your project such as planning, development, testing, etc.

A few more Harvey Balls Examples to effectively showcase the project status report —

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Project Status Report Template

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Project Status Report Template

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Project Status Report Template

2. To Compare Products

Harvey balls chart compares a particular product or process to assess differences between their characteristics or features. While comparing products is often straightforward (price, weight, features), Harvey balls are particularly useful for comparing more qualitative information, such as taste or quality, features, usability, and affordability.

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Product Comparison Template

As you can see in the above template, Harvey balls can be utilized to compare multiple products by listing down the criteria of your decision such as price, UX, quality, etc.

A few more Harvey Balls Examples to effectively showcase the product comparison —

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Product Comparison Template

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Product Comparison Template

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Product Comparison Template

Click to see more Harvey Balls Templates

3. For Human Resources and Management

Rating and ranking employees is a challenge for human resource professionals and managers. Harvey balls are an easy, unbiased way to evaluate employees. Most managers aren’t ranking their employees solely on performance. Oftentimes, there are other characteristics a manager looks for: potential, work ethic, teamwork, etc.

View Harvey Balls PowerPoint Template

Advantages of Using Harvey Balls

There are many advantages of using Harvey Balls in powerpoint presentations and other documents. Let’s take a look at some of the pros of using Harvey Balls. They

1. Help Depict Qualitative Information

Harvey balls can be a good visual tool for depicting qualitative information. Shaded Harvey balls make it easy for the audience to grasp information when presenting how less an item is against another item. Similarly, using images instead of numbers can help the audience, who might find large chunks of information confusing.

2. Can Save Space on a Slide

Instead of using large data tables, you can shrink that information using Harvey Balls in PowerPoint. For instance, if you want to compare two things in terms of safety, quality, or market share, you can use Harvey Balls for a quick visual depiction. Instead of going into too much detail, a Harvey balls matrix can certainly present a more concise comparison.

Harvey Balls Template for PowerPoint

View Business Growth Executive Summary

The above PowerPoint template is a great example to show very detailed information in very little space using Harvey balls. This template can be used to showcase your business growth drivers.

3. Can be useful in Reports

Other than professional presentations, business professionals can use the Harvey balls diagram in their long financial reports or other kinds of reports to present qualitative information.

How to create Harvey Balls in PowerPoint?

Now that you know all about Harvey Balls, the question you might have is — How can you implement them in your presentation? We have written a step-by-step-guide down below for you to follow and create easily -

Step 1

Go to the Insert tab in the top menu bar in PowerPoint. Click on “Shapes” and select the Oval shape. Hold Shift while you draw the circle on your slide.

Steps to make Harvey Balls in PowerPoint

Step 2

Format the circle you created in the Shape Format tab. You can choose one of the presets or create a custom Harvey ball by selecting an individual shape fill.

Steps to make Harvey Balls in PowerPoint

Step 3

Once you have finished the circle design, go to the Insert tab again. Now, use the Partial circle. Draw a partial circle of the same size as the first circle by holding shift and dragging the mouse. You also have to format the partial circle.

Steps to make Harvey Balls in PowerPoint

Step 4

Put the partial circle exactly on top of the first circle. The partial circle has orange dots, which will allow you to change the “amount of circle” (shade)- you can adjust the ball as you like.

Steps to make Harvey Balls in PowerPoint

Step 5

Hold your left mouse button and slide it over your created circle. Then right-click and select “Group” > “Group”. This converts your two shapes into one and allows you to move your Harvey ball around as a whole.

Steps to make Harvey Balls in PowerPoint

Watch this stepwise video tutorial to get a detailed idea

How to make Harvey Balls in PowerPoint

Conclusion:

Harvey balls are a great visual tool that you can use in PowerPoint presentations to make your presentation appealing and easy to understand. They are commonly used for tracking projects, compare products or services, and even in official reports. What makes Harvey balls in powerpoint so easy to understand is their ability to representing qualitative information effectively. You can also find other uses of this tool in your office, projects, etc.

Now you don’t have to scour the web to find out the right templates. Download our PowerPoint Templates from within PowerPoint. See how?

About SlideUplift:

SlideUpLift is an online platform to help professionals make compelling presentations using principles of vision science and storytelling. The platform contains an online library of pre-designed presentation templates that can be used across industries and functions.

Check out our library of free PowerPoint templates which is weekly updated to serve the presentation needs of professionals. You will find out the simplicity and ease in downloading the editable template, filling it with your content, and building world-class presentations in just a few clicks.

Originally published at https://slideuplift.com on November 4, 2020.

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SlideUpLift
SlideUpLift

Written by SlideUpLift

SlideUpLift, your go-to presentation partner, brings you tips, tricks, tutorials, guides, templates, and more to level up your presentation skills.

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