Hand-drawn illustrations can add a unique quality to your PowerPoint design. Even simple doodles can make things interesting, especially if the rest of your deck sticks to a more formal aesthetic.
The stark contrast is especially useful for emphasizing key points in your slides. If you want to give it a try, there’s a simple way to create cute doodles using PowerPoint Shapes.
To make one yourself, follow these 4 easy steps:
Step One: Draw a PowerPoint Shape
Head to the Insert tab and choose any of the PowerPoint shapes available. For this tutorial, I decided to go with the heart shape under Basic Shapes.
Before moving on, right-click on the shape you just drew, choose 
and click No Fill. You can also change the outline color to whatever you want by clicking on 
.
Step Two: Edit Points
The problem with PowerPoint shapes is that they look too perfect. To make them look hand-drawn, we need to make a little less precise. Right-click on your shape again and choose Edit Points. You’ll end up with something that looks like this:
Step Three: Open Path
To get the look we’re after, right-click on a specific point on your shape and choose Open Path.The point you’ll “open” will depend on the shape you chose. Just keep in mind that you can’t select Open Path for two different points. For this tutorial, I decided to open the point on top.
Step Four: Make adjustments
This is where you let your creativity run loose. Simply click and drag on the path you opened and adjust the shape to your liking. The best way to get the results you’re after is by trial and error. If you end up with something that you don’t think looks right, simply click Undo or hit CTRL + Z on your keyboard.
There you have it!
Here’s how my shape turned out:
If I decided to use the point at the bottom of the heart shape, it would end up looking like this:
The Takeaway
Don’t hesitate to give this a try and create interesting doodles using PowerPoint shapes. Just remember that since everything on your slides should correspond to your main message, you should only add these designs when needed.
Make sure that they correspond and point towards your main objective, rather than distract the viewers from it. Need help with your PowerPoint? Our design experts can lend you a hand, or give you a free quote. You can also check out our previous PowerPoint tutorials to sharpen your presentation design skills.
Featured Image: Matt via Flickr
