Tag: PowerPoint Design

The 3 Characteristics of a Call to Action Slide

call to action slide

PowerPoint Design

Powerpoint tips

Sep 03, 2014

A Call to Action (CTA) slide is crucial for guiding your audience toward the next step after your presentation. Here are the three key characteristics of an effective CTA slide:

1. Clear and Direct Language

  • Why it matters: The CTA should be specific and unambiguous so that the audience knows exactly what you want them to do. Phrases like “Sign up now,” “Contact us today,” or “Visit our website” provide clear directives.
  • How to apply: Use active language and keep it concise. Avoid vague requests like “Learn more” without giving details on how to follow through. The message should be tailored to your presentation’s goal, whether it’s driving sales, gathering leads, or encouraging collaboration.

2. Visual Emphasis

  • Why it matters: The CTA slide needs to visually stand out to capture the audience’s attention and reinforce the urgency or importance of the action. Bold fonts, contrasting colors, and clear icons or buttons help draw focus to the CTA.
  • How to apply: Use white space effectively to avoid clutter. Place the CTA in a prominent position on the slide, and consider using a color that contrasts with the rest of the presentation while aligning with your brand.

3. Benefit-Oriented Focus

  • Why it matters: The CTA should communicate value or a clear benefit to the audience. When people know what’s in it for them, they are more likely to take action.
  • How to apply: Highlight what the audience gains by taking action. For example, instead of saying “Download the guide,” say “Download the guide to boost your sales by 20%.” This turns the CTA from a simple request into an opportunity that appeals to the audience’s needs.

By focusing on clarity, visual appeal, and a benefit-driven approach, your Call to Action slide will encourage your audience to take meaningful steps after your presentation.

Images for PowerPoint: 5 Tips to Improve Your Design

images for powerpoint

pictures

PowerPoint Design

presentation design

Aug 27, 2014

Using images in PowerPoint presentations can significantly enhance visual engagement and help convey your message more effectively. However, selecting and incorporating images in the right way is crucial to maintaining a professional and impactful presentation. Here are five tips to improve your design with images in PowerPoint.

1. Choose High-Quality, Relevant Images

The images you use should not only be visually appealing but also relevant to the content of your presentation. Avoid generic stock photos that don’t add value or context to your slides.Why It’s Important:

  • Enhances Credibility: High-quality, relevant images make your presentation look more professional and polished.
  • Supports the Message: Images should reinforce the points you’re making, helping the audience understand the information more clearly.

How to Do It:

  • Use high-resolution images to avoid pixelation, especially on larger screens.
  • Choose images that align with the theme of your presentation or that directly illustrate key points.

2. Use Images to Break Up Text

Slides packed with too much text can overwhelm your audience. Incorporate images to break up the text and make your presentation more visually engaging.Why It’s Important:

  • Improves Readability: Images break up large chunks of text, making it easier for the audience to follow along.
  • Engages the Audience: Visuals are more likely to capture attention and keep your audience engaged throughout the presentation.

How to Do It:

  • Use relevant images in place of bullet points or to complement a brief summary of your text.
  • Alternate between text and image-heavy slides to maintain balance and flow.

3. Maintain Visual Consistency

Your images should have a consistent style, color scheme, and tone to avoid making the presentation look disjointed. This cohesion ensures that your design is polished and professional.Why It’s Important:

  • Creates Cohesion: A consistent visual theme makes your presentation look more structured and professional.
  • Enhances Brand Identity: Maintaining a consistent style with your images helps reinforce your brand’s visual identity.

How to Do It:

  • Stick to a specific color palette or filter for all images to ensure visual harmony.
  • Choose images that match the overall tone of your presentation, whether formal, casual, or creative.

4. Optimize Image Placement

The placement of images on your slides should be intentional and strategic. Avoid cluttering slides with too many visuals, and ensure that your images are balanced with other content.Why It’s Important:

  • Improves Focus: Proper image placement directs the audience’s attention to key points without overwhelming them.
  • Maintains Aesthetic Balance: A well-designed slide should have balanced spacing between text, images, and white space.

How to Do It:

  • Align images with the most important points on the slide, ensuring they don’t compete with text for attention.
  • Use PowerPoint’s alignment tools to maintain consistency and proper spacing.

5. Use Images to Tell a Story

Images are powerful storytelling tools. Instead of using images just as decorative elements, use them to build a narrative that enhances your presentation’s message.Why It’s Important:

  • Enhances Storytelling: Images that support your narrative can evoke emotions and help the audience connect with your message.
  • Makes Content Memorable: Visual storytelling makes your content more memorable and impactful.

How to Do It:

  • Select images that illustrate the problem, solution, or journey in your presentation.
  • Use sequential images to walk the audience through a step-by-step process or concept.

Final Thoughts

Incorporating images effectively into your PowerPoint presentation can significantly enhance the visual appeal and engagement of your slides. By choosing high-quality, relevant images, maintaining consistency, and using visuals strategically, you can create a presentation that is both visually stunning and impactful. With these tips, you’ll be able to communicate your message more effectively and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Design 101: Basic Elements of a PowerPoint Deck

design 101

PowerPoint Design

slide design elements

Aug 13, 2014

Creating a visually appealing and effective PowerPoint deck involves more than just placing text on slides. Good design ensures that your message is clearly communicated, your audience remains engaged, and your presentation looks professional. To achieve this, it’s essential to understand the basic elements of PowerPoint design and how to use them effectively.Here’s a guide to the basic elements of a PowerPoint deck and tips on how to design your slides for maximum impact.

1. Slide Layout

The slide layout refers to the arrangement of text, images, and other elements on your slides. A clear and well-organized layout makes it easier for your audience to understand your message and follow along.

Key Tips:

  • Consistency: Use consistent layouts throughout the deck. PowerPoint offers various pre-made slide layouts (e.g., title slides, content slides) that help maintain visual consistency.
  • Alignment: Ensure that elements on the slide are properly aligned. PowerPoint’s alignment guides help position text, images, and graphics in a balanced way.
  • White Space: Don’t overcrowd your slides. Leave enough white space around elements to avoid clutter and give the design room to breathe.

Example:

Use a Title and Content layout for most of your slides, with a large header at the top and content (text, images, charts) placed beneath it in a structured, easy-to-read format.

2. Typography

The typography (font style, size, and color) you choose plays a crucial role in making your presentation readable and engaging. Choosing the right fonts ensures that your text stands out, remains legible, and enhances the overall design.

Key Tips:

  • Font Choice: Stick to simple, clean fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica for body text. For headings, you can use a bolder, more distinctive font.
  • Font Size: Use a large enough font for readability. Generally, 24–32 points for headings and 18–24 points for body text works well in presentations.
  • Consistency: Keep your font choices consistent throughout the deck. Use one font for headings and another for body text to create hierarchy without overwhelming the viewer.
  • Limit Text: Avoid heavy paragraphs. Aim for short, punchy bullet points or key phrases to keep the slides easy to read.

Example:

Use Bold Arial 28pt for slide headings and Regular Calibri 20pt for body text, maintaining a consistent font size throughout the presentation.

3. Color Scheme

The color scheme of your PowerPoint deck sets the mood and tone of your presentation. A well-chosen color palette helps create visual harmony, draw attention to key points, and strengthen your message.

Key Tips:

  • Limit Colors: Stick to 3–4 primary colors. Too many colors can overwhelm the audience. Consider using your brand’s colors or a predefined PowerPoint color scheme.
  • Contrast: Ensure there is enough contrast between the text and background. Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background improves readability.
  • Purposeful Use of Color: Use colors intentionally to highlight important points, differentiate sections, or emphasize key data points.

Example:

Use a dark blue background with white text and yellow or orange accents for emphasis or to highlight important figures.

4. Visuals and Graphics

Visual elements such as images, icons, charts, and graphs help break up text and provide a more engaging, visually stimulating presentation. They also help illustrate points more clearly than text alone.

Key Tips:

  • Use High-Quality Images: Always use high-resolution images to avoid pixelation. Ensure that the images are relevant to the content and don’t distract from the message.
  • Icons for Clarity: Simple icons can replace bullet points and add a modern, clean look to your slide. PowerPoint offers a built-in icon library that you can use for free.
  • Data Visualization: For data-heavy presentations, use charts, graphs, and infographics to visualize numbers and trends. Avoid overcrowding these visuals with too much data.
  • Balance Text and Visuals: Maintain a balance between text and visuals. Avoid too many images on a single slide, as it can clutter the design.

Example:

Use a bar chart to visually represent financial data or a large, high-quality image with minimal text to reinforce a key point in your presentation.

5. Transitions and Animations

Transitions (how you move from one slide to the next) and animations (how elements appear on a slide) add movement to your presentation. When used sparingly, they can make your slides more engaging. Overuse, however, can be distracting.

Key Tips:

  • Use Subtle Transitions: Stick to simple transitions like Fade or Appear to maintain a professional look. Avoid flashy or excessive transitions like Spin or Bounce.
  • Limit Animations: If using animations, apply them to key elements that need emphasis. Use them to reveal bullet points one at a time or to draw attention to important data points.
  • Keep It Consistent: Maintain consistent animation and transition styles throughout your presentation to avoid jarring shifts in pacing.

Example:

Use a Fade transition between slides and a subtle Appear animation for introducing new bullet points or images.

6. White Space and Balance

White space, also known as negative space, is the empty space between design elements. It’s one of the most critical aspects of design, as it helps keep your slides clean, organized, and easy to read.

Key Tips:

  • Avoid Overcrowding: Don’t feel the need to fill every inch of your slide with content. Leaving space around text and visuals helps guide the viewer’s eye and emphasizes important points.
  • Create Balance: Distribute elements evenly across the slide to achieve visual balance. Use PowerPoint’s alignment tools to ensure that text, images, and shapes are properly aligned and spaced.
  • Focus Attention: Use white space strategically to focus attention on specific elements or key messages on your slide.

Example:

For a quote slide, center-align the text with plenty of white space around it, allowing the message to stand out without distractions.

7. Slide Numbers and Branding

Including slide numbers and branding elements like logos helps maintain professionalism and makes it easier for your audience to follow along or reference certain slides later.

Key Tips:

  • Add Slide Numbers: Include slide numbers on every slide (except the title slide) to keep your presentation organized. This is especially helpful during Q&A sessions when referring back to specific slides.
  • Incorporate Branding: Add your company logo and use your brand’s color scheme and fonts consistently throughout the presentation.
  • Avoid Overdoing Branding: Place branding elements like logos in subtle places, such as the footer or corner of the slide, so they don’t overpower your content.

Example:

Place your company logo in the lower-right corner of each slide and include slide numbers in the footer to ensure consistency and professionalism.

Final Thoughts

Designing a PowerPoint deck involves carefully balancing text, visuals, and other elements to create an engaging and clear presentation. By focusing on slide layout, typography, color scheme, visuals, transitions, white space, and branding, you can create a professional and visually appealing PowerPoint deck that effectively communicates your message. With these design principles in mind, your presentation will not only look polished but also be more impactful and memorable for your audience.

Unlocking the Secrets of Stunning PowerPoint Designs: Your Burning Questions, Answered!

PowerPoint Design

PowerPoint questions

Aug 08, 2014

PowerPoint has become a staple in corporate settings. Technology has given us the ability to visualize and share our ideas with colleagues, clients and partners, but experts still lament an epidemic that’s taking over most boardrooms: death by PowerPoint.You’ve probably read a lot of tips regarding this PowerPoint snafu. But the more articles you read, the more confusing it gets. Some would point out that you should only keep your presentation to a maximum of ten slides. Others might say you should get rid of all the text in your PowerPoint design.So many conflicting ideas open up the way to important PowerPoint design questions. Fortunately, we’re here to sort them out for you.

How many slides should my presentation have?

The number of slides in your PowerPoint deck depends on the topic you’re going to discuss. A sales pitch comes from a completely different context than a seminar.In order to answer this question, scribble your ideas on paper before putting them on your slides. Identify your key points and arrange them in a logical manner to create a rough outline. From there, you can gauge just how many concepts you’ll be discussing. It’s important to keep your number of slides minimal, but also enough to cover all the main points in your presentation.

Should I include audio-visual elements to my presentation?

Similar to the previous PowerPoint question, the answer to this query depends on the topic you’re presenting. Audio-visual elements such as videos are great for audience engagement, especially if you have demos you’d like to present. However, these can also easily derail your discussion. Audio-visuals can be distracting if you add them just for the sake of aesthetics.You have to make sure every element in your slides contribute to moving your message forward.One exception to this answer is an online pitch. Unlike live presentations, you won’t be around to expound the slides you upload to the Internet. To solve that problem, add voice overs that will guide your audience as they go through each slide.You can also add music to make your deck more interactive.

How about slide transitions? Is it advisable to use them?

Slide transitions have an interesting dimension to your presentation’s visuals if used carefully. Transitions should reinforce the visual metaphor you’re trying to achieve. It should also create a smooth flow between slides. Don’t use too many transitions and complicated animations. Otherwise, your presentation will look amateurish and ridiculous.Keep your transitions consistent by using only one to two for the entire presentation.

What images should I include in my slides?

As with anything else in your slides, the images you include should be in line with your topic. The imagery in your slides would depend on your subject matter and the key points you’d like to illustrate. But here’s a useful hint: People tend to connect with other people. If you can, make use of pictures with real people in slides.However, don’t go for stock photos that look stiff and staged. Make sure the pictures you use tell a story that contributes to your overall presentation.

Is there any PowerPoint design trend that I should be aware about?

Trends, whether in presentation design or anything else, change over time. We’ve compiled this list from the previous year’s trends for some fresh ideas.–There you have it. Hopefully, this answers some of your burning questions on PowerPoint design. Use these tips for the next time you create a presentation, either on your own or with the help of a professional.

Reference:

“What Is Death by PowerPoint?.” WhatIs.com. Accessed August 08, 2014.Featured Image: Evil Erin via Flickr

Picture Perfect: Embracing Full-Sized Images in PowerPoint Design

PowerPoint Design

presentation trends

Aug 05, 2014

One of the PowerPoint design trends we observed this year is the use of full-sized images as backgrounds. As we know, visuals are important to audience engagement. A large majority of people are visual learners, so using engaging graphics like diagrams or interesting pictures will help them. A high-quality image is sure to create a noticeable impact. Images illustrate the narrative behind your presentation. If you choose great pictures that are related to your content, you can successfully highlight your brand story. Consider this example: If you want to give this PowerPoint design trend a try, there are a few things you have to remember. It’s not enough to just pick a pretty picture and call it a day. This technique also involves creating harmony and balance between your background image and the other design elements on the slide. In order to do that, there are a few things you have to remember. Learn more about this PowerPoint design trend by looking at how it was applied in a few of our own works:

A woman in professional attire stands in a bright conference room, highlighting a slide focused on client experience for consulting firms on a large screen. Three colleagues, seated at a table, are engaged with the presentation. The room is modern with large glass windows.

Text Layout

What’s difficult about working with this PowerPoint design trend is knowing where to place the text. You’ll need to place text where it won’t clash with your chosen image. This will help make your text readable. It will also ensure that your slide doesn’t look too busy or too bare. You can make use of pictures with empty space like the ones pictured above. The more space you have, the bigger you can make your text or company logo.

Shapes and transparency for readability

There is still a way to ensure readability if you’d like to use a picture without empty space. The trick is to use some of PowerPoint’s tools and functions. Particularly, you can add shapes underneath the text. You can even play with its transparency if you want the picture to show through. You can also add your text at the very bottom of the slide in front of a rectangular shape as long as the slide’s width. Check these examples:

Emphasis

This technique is a great way to emphasize key points in your PowerPoint design, so use it sparingly. Don’t apply this technique to all of your slides because it can quickly turn repetitive and lose its impact. As you can see from all our samples above, this PowerPoint design trend works best for title slides and section breaks. However, you can also make use of it if you want to emphasize key points and important data.

View other PowerPoint design samples in our portfolio to get inspired. Give your audience a presentation they’ll never forget through the use of eye-catching visuals. Contact us for a consultation. Our group of professional PowerPoint designers will turn your big ideas into a great presentation.

The 3-Step Approach to Effective PowerPoint Slides

PowerPoint Design

presentation structure

Aug 01, 2014

We’ve been providing you with plenty of ideas on how you can improve the design of your PowerPoint slides. There are so many ways to make unique and creative PowerPoint slides but the most important thing is to make sure your audience can easily understand the information you’re presenting.And doing that boils down to making sure you hit these three essential things: concise content, powerful visuals, and a logical structure.Take note of this three-step approach to ensure your PowerPoint slides effectively translates your core message:

1.) Write content that is concise and complete

Keep your text minimal in each slide. As we’ve covered before in our review of Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule, your PowerPoint deck shouldn’t serve as a teleprompter. If you add everything you want to say in your slides, you might be tempted to read from it. Even worse, your audience might just read ahead without listening to the rest of your lecture.What you should do instead is to figure out the take-home points in each slide. Organize your points in a way that single concepts appear in only one slide at a time. Write these points in a manner that’s similar to writing a headline—in short but complete and discernible sentences.

2.) Add visuals that make a point

Visuals help make your PowerPoint slides attractive, but that’s not enough for an effective presentation. According to Penn State’s Michael Alley, when adding visual elements to your PowerPoint slides, you should also think about what purpose they can serve. Don’t just add a pretty picture because your slides look too bare.Make sure that the images and illustrations  you include serve as evidence to the important points you want to make.

3.) Create a structure with a logical flow

While your PowerPoint slides might look great individually, they won’t make much sense together without any structure. Creating a logical flow to your PowerPoint slides is important.Before you even start working on your slides, create a rough outline and a storyboard.Look out how your main points play side by side and re-arrange slides if you have to. You’ll find that your PowerPoint presentation will make a narrative pattern that your audience can easily follow.

Conclusion

Your slides should act as a guide, not a complete rundown of your points and details. Give yourself some space to elaborate on each objective, and to interact with your audience outside the PowerPoint. As much as you’ll want visually engaging slides, keep your text down to a minimum.Keep your content compact and simple, elaborate enough for the audience to understand, but short enough to let you speak. Instead of walls of text, go with visually interesting graphics, like diagrams or pictures. Connect all these points together with a logical flow that ties in all your points neatly.

References

Alley, Michael. “Rethinking Presentation Slides: The Assertion-Evidence Approach.” Scientific Presentations. Accessed August 1, 2014.”The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.” Guy Kawasaki. 2005. Accessed August 1, 2014. Featured Image: Matt Wynn via Flickr

The Agenda Slide: A Short PowerPoint Design Lesson

agenda slide

PowerPoint Design

Powerpoint tips

Jul 30, 2014

Most business presentations start with an agenda slide, and it’s usually a bullet point list devoid of any design. If you want to capture and retain your audience’s attention, the agenda slide needs to be more than just a flimsy outline.

Discussing the agenda is an effective way to start presentations in a more corporate and formal setting. It’s your opportunity to frame your presentation in the right direction and show your audience that the information you’re sharing is crucial. But a bullet point list doesn’t stand out. You need an agenda slide that has visual impact. As you can see, nothing about this slide stands out. While the text is certainly minimal, there’s nothing else in the slide that we can consider eye-catching. It’s too bland, and it will definitely set the tone that your presentation is going to be a pretty dull affair.The key to great PowerPoint design, whether it’s for the agenda or any other slide, is the use of interesting images. Visual has enormous effect on our ability to learn and retain information.Now, you can tell that even simple illustrations make a difference. Each point has more impact because they’re illustrated by symbols that your audience is familiar with. I even added a bit more flair by adding animations. I chose to have each point of the agenda revealed bit by bit, so the audience won’t be tempted to read ahead from where I’m talking.Try out these ideas for yourself, or check out our other PowerPoint design tips. However you choose to enhance your agenda slide, make sure that your key points won’t be clouded by too many or too few design elements.Featured Image: Death to the Stock PhotoAll icons from The Noun ProjectNote by Marek PolakovicRating by Icons8Target by Juan Garces15 minutes by Alexander Wiefel

PowerPoint Design Ideas: Visual Storytelling

content marketing

infographics

PowerPoint Design

visual storytelling

Jul 29, 2014

Visual storytelling is gaining more and more traction in social media platforms. Users these days are more inclined towards infographics, photos, and videos than purely text-based content, especially with the advent of social media and fast information. Brands are wise to take advantage of this trend in their marketing strategies. And you would be too, if you learn to apply visual storytelling in your PowerPoint design.

A group of people in business attire gathers in a modern glass-walled conference room. One person is presenting near a digital screen displaying charts on client experience, pivotal for consulting firms. Sunlight filters through large windows, illuminating the room.

The importance of visual storytelling

Humans are highly visual creatures. We’re naturally attracted to beautiful colors and interesting patterns. In fact, our brain is able to process images 60,000 times faster than information presented in text. It’s also easier for us to retain visual information. According to Dr. John Medina, after three days, we’re able to recall 65% of information if it was presented with images or illustrations. So if you’re presenting information that’s bulky with data, the audience will thank you if you can integrate comprehensible illustrations. Take the usual charts and graphs a step further by weaving stories through imagery.

Integrating visuals to enhance the core message

There’s more to visual storytelling than sticking random pictures to your slides. Your statistics won’t make much sense if the visuals you add only serve an aesthetic purpose. Visual storytelling is about using different media that contribute to the message you’re presenting. As an example, here’s a small part of an interactive infographic by Collaborative Fund, Hyperakt and Start Up American Partnership: The infographic, which you can view in full here, showcases the positive effects of car sharing to the environment. It offers a lot of statistics that are perfectly illustrated to create more impact. It’s hard to imagine the difference a vague number makes but through this illustration, you can perfectly see how much carbon dioxide emissions have diminished. Here’s another example, this time, from a Facebook post by Intel:

Intel showcases their brand identity while adding a bit of humor at the same time. For your PowerPoint design, make sure you choose pictures with interesting narratives. There’s always a rare gem in the sea of cheesy stock photos. Especially if you know where to look.–Your text-based, bullet-point-ridden PowerPoint design isn’t helping anyone. It’s not engaging your audience, and it’s not helping you get your message across. Instead, you should consider taking inspiration from visual storytelling. Showcase and illustrate your key points with visual elements, and your PowerPoint design will have more impact. If you need help, contact us to schedule a free consultation. Our professional PowerPoint designers will be happy to take your ideas and turn them into reality. Featured Image: Håkan Dahlström via Flickr

Online Tools to Enhance Your PowerPoint Designs

design tools

online resources

PowerPoint Design

Jul 23, 2014

Creating a visually appealing PowerPoint presentation often requires more than just text and basic shapes. To truly elevate your design, it helps to incorporate high-quality visuals, creative fonts, and other design elements. Thankfully, there are several online tools that can help you enhance your PowerPoint slides without needing extensive design experience.Here are some powerful online tools to improve your PowerPoint design:

1. Canva

Canva is a popular graphic design tool that offers a vast collection of templates, icons, fonts, and images that can be easily incorporated into PowerPoint presentations. With its user-friendly interface, you can create custom graphics, infographics, and visual elements tailored to your presentation.How It Enhances Your PowerPoint:

  • Use Canva to create visually appealing cover slides or custom images for your presentation.
  • Export designs as high-quality PNG or JPG files and insert them into your PowerPoint slides.

Example: Use Canva to design an eye-catching title slide for your presentation by combining text and unique visual elements.

2. Pexels and Unsplash

High-quality, free stock images can elevate your presentation design, making it more visually appealing and professional. Pexels and Unsplash offer extensive libraries of royalty-free images that you can use in your PowerPoint designs without worrying about licensing fees.How It Enhances Your PowerPoint:

  • Search for and download high-resolution photos to use as backgrounds or in slides where images are necessary to convey your message.
  • Both platforms offer images across various themes, such as business, nature, technology, and more.

Example: Download high-resolution images from Unsplash to use as the background for a product launch presentation.

3. Google Fonts

The right font can make a big difference in your presentation’s overall design. Google Fonts is a free resource that offers a wide variety of fonts, from professional serif fonts to creative and playful typefaces. You can download these fonts and use them directly in PowerPoint to customize your typography.How It Enhances Your PowerPoint:

  • Choose fonts that align with your brand or the tone of your presentation.
  • Combine different fonts to create a visual hierarchy between titles, headings, and body text.

Example: Use Google Fonts to download a modern sans-serif font like Roboto for your headings and a classic serif font like Merriweather for your body text.

4. Noun Project

Icons can add clarity and creativity to your PowerPoint slides, and Noun Project is a comprehensive resource for high-quality, customizable icons. With thousands of icons available, you can find icons to represent virtually any concept.How It Enhances Your PowerPoint:

  • Search for icons that visually represent your key points, simplifying complex ideas or processes.
  • Customize the icons by adjusting their color and size to match your presentation’s theme.

Example: Use icons from Noun Project to represent different departments in an organizational chart or to illustrate steps in a process.

5. Piktochart

Piktochart is an online tool designed for creating infographics, reports, and presentations. It offers easy-to-use templates that can help you create visually stunning charts, diagrams, and data visualizations for your PowerPoint slides.How It Enhances Your PowerPoint:

  • Use Piktochart to create data-driven infographics and charts that can be imported into PowerPoint as images.
  • Simplify complex data into visual formats that are easy to understand and visually appealing.

Example: Create a sleek infographic on Piktochart to summarize survey results and add it to your PowerPoint slide.

6. Coolors

Choosing the right color palette is key to creating a visually cohesive presentation. Coolors is a color palette generator that helps you create harmonious color schemes for your slides.How It Enhances Your PowerPoint:

  • Generate color schemes that match your brand or presentation theme and use them consistently across your slides.
  • Coolors allows you to export color palettes with hex codes, making it easy to apply your chosen colors to PowerPoint text, shapes, and backgrounds.

Example: Generate a professional color palette in Coolors, then apply those colors to your headings, bullet points, and shapes in PowerPoint.

7. Remove.bg

Remove.bg is a tool that allows you to quickly remove backgrounds from images, making it easy to create transparent images or cut out objects to use in your PowerPoint design.How It Enhances Your PowerPoint:

  • Use Remove.bg to isolate subjects in photos and create clean, professional-looking images with transparent backgrounds.
  • Incorporate these cutouts into your PowerPoint slides for a polished, design-forward look.

Example: Remove the background from a product photo using Remove.bg and place it on your slide with a clean, transparent background.

Final Thoughts

These online tools can significantly enhance your PowerPoint designs by providing access to high-quality images, custom fonts, icons, and other visual assets. By leveraging these tools, you can create more visually appealing, professional, and effective presentations that engage your audience and communicate your message more effectively.

PowerPoint Design Lessons from Iconic Brand Logos

brand logos

Lessons

PowerPoint Design

powerpoint lessons

Jul 21, 2014

A logo is crucial for any brand. The most iconic ones are easily recognizable, encompassing the story of an entire brand. Consumers don’t need to take much time to discern it. A good logo can tell them a lot about a certain product or service with just a single look.The same thing should be said about your PowerPoint design. Like McDonald’s famous golden arches and Nike’s Swoosh, an effective PowerPoint deck can speak volumes without being too complicated or overwrought.Here are a few PowerPoint design lessons we can learn from the most iconic brand logos:

Be consistent with your message

In 2010, Gap launched a new logo on their official website, but it didn’t last long. Customers took to social media to complain about the change. Loyal fans threatened to stop shopping at Gap stores. They felt the new logo didn’t portray the classic American feel they’ve come to love about the clothes. A week later, after an attempt to crowdsource a better design, the company reverted back to its original logo.Gap’s mistake was to move away from the message their consumers love most about their brand. The stories their clothes told was that of timelessness. The new logo certainly felt disjointed from their identity.Similarly, your PowerPoint design should always be coherent with the core message you want to impart. Choose colors, images, and other design elements that are consistent with the theme of your presentation. For example, if you’re presenting in a more corporate setting, it would be inappropriate to use loud and bright colors.

Tell a good story

Did you know that Apple’s iconic logo was inspired by Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity? Seems pretty fitting for a company who has pioneered several innovations in the past several years. Apple’s first logo showed a picture of Newton under an apple tree and incorporated a quote from Wordsworth that said, “Newton… a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought…alone.” Steve Jobs later asked to have it replaced with a sleeker and simpler design that still represents the same narrative.As we’ve mentioned previously, a presentation can benefit from a great story. But you can also apply the same philosophy to your PowerPoint design by following the example of Apple’s logo. Enhance your slides with images or illustrations that have their own story. Choose an icon that may have symbolic significance (like the apple), or a picture that is composed with its own narrative. Don’t go with easy choices like cheesy stock photos.

Keep it simple

The original Google logo was created in 1998 using GIMP, a free graphics program. It showed the word Google in the Baskerville typeface with each letter in a different color. The logo evolved over time, but it kept its simplicity. Today, the Google logo is among the most recognizable. Despite its minimal design, it tells a powerful story. Ruth Kedar said of her design: “We ended up with the primary colors, but instead of having the pattern go in order, we put a secondary color on the L, which brought back the idea that Google doesn’t follow the rules.”Just like Google’s logo, your PowerPoint design should remain simple. It’s not just about keeping your design easy on the eyes. It’s also important to make sure that your audience can easily pick up your key points without getting distracted by too many elements.