What do you experience when the first slide is on the projector and speaker is about to start? Whether it’s a sales presentation, one at an educational conference or an annual meet, don’t you begin establishing some opinion about the presentation there itself? Of course, it may change by the end of the presentation but we do start creating a perception about it.

First thing expected out of any presentation is that it should be engaging. And here is where your template design can help you to a great extent.

A well engaging and appealing design lasts longer. So let’s discuss few important points to help you find your perfect presentation design.

1. Define your Context
Don’t mix all the tips you’re receiving from everywhere. Understand your context. Presentation of a healthcare firm will be different from a presentation of hotel. You would like to include your company’s images in a sales presentation design. Whereas, it’s not needed in the design of an internal meeting presentation.

2. Get the Content Ready
Getting the content ready before settling on a template is important. The template and the content should portray the same mood and not clash. You could not talk about falling sales figures and show a cheerful image in design.

3. Use Custom Templates
Today, a lot of templates are available with PowerPoint, other applications and online too. Creating your own will definitely give you an edge. So give preference to creating it yourself unless you’re short of time. It will make your presentation distinctive. Use slide master along with the images for bettering presentation design.

4. Create a Good Cover
As we were discussing in the beginning, a look at the first slide starts creating an impression. Here, you can bring a good and interesting cover slide into action. Involving a relevant image is a good idea. You can take a little liberty here to be artistic with the font as well. Depending upon the colours of background images, you can use a text box for the title. Enhance the entire visual effect by playing with transparency and font size in the text box.

5. Use of frames
Frames, when used in a proficient way, can make any kind of presentation better. You can find all kind of frames or create your own. Again, choose according to context and content. Think beyond only borders, while thinking of frames. Create frames using images and different shapes to write text.

6. Use of Photography
Using quality photographs gives a pleasing look to your presentation. But it can go the other way as well so keep context and content in mind. In these times of high definition visuals, the resolution is another important aspect for images and videos. Choose accordingly.

7. Choosing Color
Using too many colours can make your presentation look cheesy. Stick to 3 to 4 colours for the background, frames etc. Let the colours go together to create a good blend. Also, use the images in line with the colours. Don’t stop yourself from using photo editing tools. Achieve a balance between photos and colour palette of your presentation.

8. Correct Font selection
It’s a simple thing to do. Use simple and legible fonts. No need to be artistic with the fonts. This can make your presentation look unprofessional. Arial, Sans-serif fonts are always good to go. Reading it should not be a cumbersome task. It should be as easy as looking at the slide. The aim is to achieve a good impression.

9. Being Consistent but not Monotonous
Who would like to see a presentation full of clashing colours, different fonts and lots of graphics?
This is something to avoid unless your content demands so (which is very rare). To be consistent use themes and slide master and create your own template.
Too much of anything can be boring though. To avoid monotony, use tools like graphics, videos, images, transitions or a particular colour. Using such tools efficiently will encourage your audience to focus on a particular point.
Change the blend of colours in a significant way when trying to focus on next point of the presentation. For Example, your palette for presentation has 4 colours. Then you can use 3 colours on all slides and 4th one at the end of the slide, where you are moving to next point.

10. Creating a Brand through Template
Bettering Presentation Design should also aim at creating a brand for you. In this way, you can ensure that audience who are familiar with your work, recognize your presentation at a glance.
Not doing so is underusing your hard work. Use colours of your logo and company name in colour palette of your presentation. You can also use images of your company in the presentation.
You can also consider, your company name or logos in the template itself.

Above points can seem simple but have immense significance. When the aim is bettering presentation design, it involves a lot of hard work to reach a perfect template for your presentation. Think and practice till you reach your perfect template.

Have a look at it and answer following questions before finalizing your templates:

  • Has it come together well?
  • Can you tell a story using your presentation?
  • Is it what you were aiming at?
  • Does it support your content?
  • Is it relatable for your audiences?

If the answer to above questions is ‘Yes’ then you’re good to go. Else revamp it till you find your perfect template.