1. Be Minimal
The first on our list is simple, and quite frankly it makes your life easier. Have you ever heard, less is more?
Well, being minimal is just that. You find just the right amount of visuals and information to get your point across without overdoing it. Look at these slides here. They look clean. They make you feel at ease.
Too much information or visuals everywhere can create the opposite effect. The trick? Not being boring. You must find the right balance between simple yet intriguing.
2. Use All Caps
Now, if you do go simple and concise, don’t be afraid to be bold by making your slides all caps. This will help draw eyes towards your texts while signifying its importance.
Using all caps is perfect for headlines and titles alongside bullet points or better yet, an audio narrative which I’ll touch on shortly.
3. Unify Transitions Horizontally
Now one rule that people often break is having one standard transition between slides. I get it. You want to be creative and have fun when creating your slides, but do your audience a favor and have all of your slides transition horizontally. Just like we have here.
Whatever you do, don’t have one transition moving upwards, the next backwards, the next faded in – you get the point.
By having one unified transition style, you create a flow that will be easy for your viewers to adjust to. And why keep it to just your slides? Once you’re comfortable, try adding horizontal transitions to your text and visual elements as well for added appeal.
4. Pop of Color
Throughout the course of this video, I have a number of tips directly relating to color. But first, try going all black and white with one pop of another color.
That one color will stand out and draw attention to specific details in your slides. Once again, the trick is finding that right balance and the right color. After all, colors are more than just colors.
If you’re having a hard time picking the right one, check out our video on color psychology. It’ll help you see what colors represent and what colors mix well.
5. Go Vintage
If you have a history-based presentation or one focusing on rich traditions and values, try going vintage. It’s one way to signify trust and wisdom.
How can you do this? Well, start with bold fonts that would appear on old posters. And for a background, consider an intricate frame around the image.
Also look for Sepia-toned colors. I’m talking pastel turquoise green, ochre yellow or washed out blues and oranges. You can also use actual faded vintage-style photographs as a background as well.
6. Use Monochrome Palette
A monochrome palette? Hmm…let me first explain just what this is. It’s a background of a single hue or color but in different tones or shades as we see in this slide here.
The creator used a darker navy blue for the deepest parts in the background while using a very bright, strong royal blue for the visuals and the forefront.
You can use this method with a variety of colors, just be sure to use pale colors in the background and stronger colors for your icons and texts.
7. Creative Photo Crops
Now, why limit yourself to square or rectangular images in your slides? You can get creative! As you can see here, there are a number of different ways to crop your photos.
There’s various shapes, brush strokes. You can find the perfect style to match your information as long as you have fun with it.
Yes, knowledge of Photoshop is helpful, but so is an account with Visme. We do the editing part for you. You just have to plug in the perfect photo.
8. Use Circles Creatively
There’s actually a number of reasons as to why circles should be featured throughout your presentation. They represent wholeness, provide a sense of completion and believe it or not, they even make your presentation feel more emotionally accessible.
Use circles as design elements or as a way to crop your photos as we just discussed.
9. Isometric Illustrations
If you want to accomplish a more modern approach, try using isometric illustrations. These are essentially 3D figures within your slides.
If you have a complex item, break it up with an isometric illustration to show the individual pieces of that one item. You can also create a mini world of sorts with people and actions as we see here.
10. Add GIFs
Nowadays, we see GIFs in all walks of life. Texts, social media, even presentations. They’re an excellent way to showcase your creativity, add some humor and even teach an audience a simple lesson.
If you haven’t visited the website before, check out Giphy.com. You can create your own GIFs or choose from a database of endless pre-made GIFs. Again, just make sure that the GIF goes along with your theme.
11. Incorporate Quotes
When your presentation starts to become flooded with information, a good idea is to throw in a slide over a related quote. It helps break up your presentation giving your viewers a breather of sorts.
Think of it as a commercial on TV. Just make sure that the quote fits in with the rest of your presentation. It’s supposed to be a breather, not a wrench, confusing your onlookers.
12. Make a Provocative Statement
The best time for an attention-grabbing statement is the very first slide in your presentation. Grab viewers from the get go and don’t slow down.
By immediately saying something thought-provoking, your viewers will want to hear what you have to say next and after that and after that. Start bold and strong and then use the following slides as your why, explaining what led you to believe that first statement.
People don’t care about my brand, well I wish I could say I don’t care about the rest of this presentation but I do and I’ll eventually teach me that people only care about how my brand can help them rather than the brand itself.
13. Use Black and White Photography
As we touched on before, adding a spark of color can be a great idea for your slides. But if you’re looking for more elegance and sophistication, don’t bother with that pop of color, just go black and white.
You can find other black and white photos or adjust the saturation of the photos that you took. It’s another way to accomplish that vintage look that we touched on earlier.
14. Add an Audio Narrative
This idea is great for those who may be a little timid when it comes to talking in front of a group of people. Is public speaking not your strong suit? That’s okay. Use audio narratives to help you along.
When you add audio to your slides, the presentation becomes more of an experience for your viewer.
And now, your presentation can either be a video from beginning to end, or you can edit individual slides with pieces of audio so you can pause and explain more thoroughly in person.
If you don’t know how to add audio to your slides, that’s just one of the many tricks Visme can do for you. Visme.co is waiting for your presence right now, but we still have more ideas to get to before you begin.
15. Use a Space Theme
Even if your presentation isn’t about space, using a space theme or background can be a great idea. Photos of our galaxy or world can signify endless possibilities or maybe a new beginning.
They also can make you look a little bit smarter given the known requirements to go to space. If you’re not sure how you’d use space as a background, check out these examples next to me.
They’re a great place to start that can give you an idea on where to begin.
16. Include Music
Ah, you hear that? If you’re tuned out and gave up on me, the song likely drew you back in. Music is a great way to keep your audience engaged.
It stimulates an audience and sets the mood. When something is boring, music typically brings up the entertainment value.
Adding music to your presentation can be effective but of course, it must match your content. Instrumentals or acoustics are a great place to start. Lyrics or loud music would be overwhelming. So, just keep it simple.
17. Color Blocking
Using color blocks is a great way to organize the information in each slide.
As you can see in our examples here, all the important content fits within these square color blocks in the slides, while the designs on the outside of the blocks are just used for design aesthetics.
You can do this yourself with any shape or color. Just make sure to find colors that pair well together.
18. Polaroids
Everybody loves a good polaroid. Whether it’s an actual one from the 70’s or one from the photo booth in 2019. They’re instantly recognizable and universally loved.
So try incorporating polaroids into your slides. You can use just one, or multiple on a cork board, whatever helps get your point across.
19. Include Memes
Personally, I still love a good meme. It can create a smile in places where it’s least expected like a presentation.
If there’s a place in your presentation where a meme could fit, don’t shy away from using one. But at the same time, don’t force it either. If it doesn’t seem natural, it might be best to use another method to entertain your audience.
The presentation “Memes, Memes Everywhere” has the perfect amount of information to meme ratio. Viewers can laugh while learning a thing or two at the same time.
20. Use Timelines
Another way to inform your audience is by using timelines. Maybe you have a plan or project and steps that need to be taken. Or maybe you are going through a time in history and you want to help your audience better understand your topic.
Whatever it may be, timelines are great for presentation slides. If you’re transitioning horizontally between sides, use an event from the timeline for each individual slide. The flow will feel more natural to the viewer as you progress towards the finish line.
21. Visualize Data
Here at Visme, we’re all about data visualizations. We want to take your data and spice it up, making it beautiful and easy to understand.
I mean, if you’re looking to put your audience to sleep, you will show them a spreadsheet of numbers and percentages and yawn.
Take the vital pieces of information and visualize it like we see here right next to me. This is much more appealing and it won’t leave your audience feeling lost.
22. Color Contrasts
Okay. Let’s revisit color and another way you should use it to your advantage. If you have a slide of text and are looking for some pop, make sure your colors are contrasting each other.
It’ll help your information come off the page and can direct a viewer on where to look. Adobe Color is a palette generator that I recommend exploring. It’ll help you find the perfect contrasting colors, making your life easy.
23. Be Humorous
If you’re someone with a lot of personality who enjoys making others laugh, be that person when writing your presentation. Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb and write some jokes.
You want to engage your audience as much as possible. Morgan Spurlock used his comedic background during a TED Talk, a stage where comedy is seldom used. But it was genius. I encourage you to check it out for yourself.
24. Make it Look Like a Journal
One creative and potentially challenging idea is to make your slides look like a journal. This will have the effect of information looking more real and natural.
Take this slide for example. They took a journal with actual notes as the information and surrounded it with what someone might actually keep at their desk. It’s exactly what your viewers will be looking at when taking notes of your slides.
25. Add Ink Splatters as Accents
Another way to add art into your slides is the ink splatter effect. This can be used for practically any presentation style. It’s an easy way to add color into any design for any presentation.
The funny thing is, ink splatters, if done right, will even make a presentation look more clean and elegant. Just find the right size of ink splatter for your slides. They could be big like we see here or just tiny, little drops.
26. Use a Video Game Theme
There are thousands of video games out in the world today. Whether on a phone, a console or in an arcade you have likely played one yourself and same goes for your audience.
And there are few games that are instantly recognizable for all of us. Think Super Mario. The creator of this presentation built his own world resembling the world famous game.
And he used it as a way to help others improve their class ranking. There’s likely a game out there that you could use as a theme if you wanted. So, do your research and take some screenshots to get started.
27. Use a Chalk on Blackboard Theme
Along the same lines as creating a journal look is using a blackboard theme. These are best for informative presentations as chalk on blackboards reminds us of our time in school. So, how can you accomplish this?
Well, find the right blackboard background and then use handwriting fonts. Some of these fonts are actually available with chalky texture, making your life even easier.
28. Use Props
Bringing props into a presentation can take it to another level. It makes for a much more engaging and interactive presentation, maybe more so than any of our other tips thus far.
Kenny Nguyen used an actual sword and shield for his TED Talk on the Shield of No and Sword of Yes. It’s another video that I encourage you to watch.
29. Use Bright Fun Colors
Okay. So I mentioned how black and white can be a good idea. But so can using bright colors. Whatever your personality or presentation topic, use colors that match.
If you’re creative, energetic and fun then go with bright colors. You can use up to about 6 bright colors in a presentation before it starts to get out of hand. So try using different color palettes before you begin.
30. Use Arrow Graphics
One thing we see often in infographics here at Visme is arrows. They help signify direction, trends and guide viewers on where to look.
Just check out these 9 slides here next to me. Each showcases a different way that slides can help a presentation. Whatever direction, color or bend, using arrows can only help.
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