PowerPoint design for a perfect presentation

For a good and impressive presentation in university, at a meeting in the office or in the course of a product presentation Microsoft PowerPoint is the leading tool. In cooperation with Microsoft Word in the complete package Microsoft Office 365 the presentation programme is ace! We explain how to easily create a PowerPoint template, how to use the PowerPoint design templates and how to realise your own PowerPoint design ideas.

Create PowerPoint template

Once you have familiarised yourself with Microsoft PowerPoint 2020 from Microsoft Office 365, you can easily create your own PowerPoint template. To do this, you can either use one of the numerous PowerPoint design templates, which you can then modify according to your own wishes. Or you can start with a „blank sheet of paper“. First, however, you should decide whether the presentation is to appear in portrait or landscape format. Accordingly, open a blank presentation in the appropriate formatunder „File“ and then under „New“. In the next step, switch to the„View“tab . Click onthe „Slide master„ icon in the „Master views„ group on the quick launch bar . This automatically creates a basic slide with the corresponding settings. An overview of all slide types can be found on the left side of the screen in the presentation template. If you select there, for example, in Microsoft Office 365 on Windows 11 one of the PowerPoint design templates, you can adapt it to your own wishes and ideas at any time. For a better overview, design templates that are not needed can simply be deleted with the right mouse button. Suitable tools for creating a PowerPoint template can be found in the tab at the top of the screen. If you have selected the quick starter bar, you can select suitable elements, special effects and animations directly.

PowerPoint Design Templates

Especially when starting to create PowerPoint design templates, it can be helpful to work with the default PowerPoint design ideas in Microsoft PowerPoint 2020. These can be changed at any time. And that’s a good thing, because the background in particular often doesn’t match your own needs or corporate identity. To change the background (as well as all other elements in the PowerPont design), first open the „Slide master“ tab in the slide master view. The subgroups „Background“ and „Edit design“ contain numerous tools for adjusting all elements in the PowerPoint design. From this point in the editing process, ready-made PowerPoint designs, effects, fonts, colour palettes, etc. can be incorporated. With a little practice, you can combine and redesign numerous PowerPoint design templates, but also realise your own effective PowerPoint design ideas.

Special effects for your own PowerPoint design ideas

In principle, the motto „less is more“ applies to a presentation with PowerPoint design. You should therefore not use too many colours and effects so that the audience is not confused and distracted. However, some special effects can capture the attention and make the presentation with Windows 11 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2020 much more interesting. Examples of input effects that become active when the slide is opened:

  • Appearance: After a few seconds or after a key click, objects such as pictures or blocks of text appear.
  • Fly in: Objects fly in, increasing in size, from a previously defined direction to a specific place on the slide.
  • Split: Here, two halves of an element first appear on the left and right of the slide, which are then joined together at a predefined position to form a whole.
  • Wheel: From a central point, an image, font block or symbol becomes visible after it initially rotates around its own axis at a slower pace.
  • Zoom: In this effect, an element is slowly zoomed in from a small point.
  • Jump: Selected elements and/or objects jump from the upper left corner of the slide into the view.

These and even more special effects also serve as output effects. This means that the objects or elements animated in this way can disappear from the screen or slide just as they appeared.

Header image: © monticellllo, stock.adobe.com