Buzz
Presentation is an indispensable skill in both work and life. To deliver a good presentation, you need a variety of skills, among which the presence of beautiful and professional slides is essential.
In this article, let's explore how to create the most beautiful and professional slides with Mytour.
1. Principles of making slides
The principle of slide-making is closely tied to the presentation's objective, as slides are powerful aids for the presentation.
A good presentation should know what it's talking about and who it's addressing, conveying content concisely without testing the audience's patience. Therefore, a good slide should:
Contain clear and concise information, avoiding unnecessary elaboration.
Remember, slides are just aids; the presenter is the main content of the presentation. Hence, your slides should:
Focus on main points or information that cannot be fully expressed verbally.
To avoid dryness in content delivery:
Allot more space for images and charts on slides.
Each person has different aesthetics and color preferences, but you shouldn't turn your slides into a mess because the audience, not just you, will be looking at them.
The color scheme of slides should be consistent from start to finish. Keep it simple and ensure contrast between background and text colors.
Layout in slides is also a matter of concern, to easily convey information to viewers without making them feel repelled.
Parts of the slide should be balanced in arrangement, emphasizing without overcrowding the layout.
The last thing to pay attention to when creating slides is:
Avoid overusing motion effects.
It will distract the audience from the presentation and waste unnecessary time.
By mastering the above principles, you will be able to create the most professional and visually appealing slides for your presentation.
2. Websites that support slide design
2.1. Canva
Access link: Canva
Becoming a visual communicator is the motto of this website.
Canva's free beautiful slide-making software allows you to access hundreds of beautifully designed layouts to create presentations on any topic. All you need to do is select images, fonts, and other elements for your slides.
2.2. Piktochart
Access link: Piktochart
Piktochart offers a simple, intuitive tool for designing beautiful slides without complex design software or heavy design fees.
2.3. Prezi
Access link: Prezi
As Prezi says, 'Design for non-designers.' You don't have to worry if your aesthetic sense isn't strong enough because Prezi takes care of everything for you, from images to slide layouts.
All you need to do is fill in the presentation information.
3. Creating beautiful slides using PowerPoint
Like two trusted office companions, PowerPoint is also one of the most useful tools for users. When it comes to creating a stunning slide for presentations, nine out of ten people would think of PowerPoint first.
PowerPoint comes bundled with the Microsoft Office suite when you download it to your computer.
This is the interface you'll see when you open the PowerPoint program:
You'll find a list of themes and templates that you can choose for your slides. However, if you don't find any of these preset templates to your liking, you can use the Search for online feature to find more using keywords.
Alternatively, you can access HERE to download beautiful slide templates to your computer.
You can also choose to design a unique slide layout of your own, click Blank Presentation to create a blank slide.
After selecting a template theme, PowerPoint will give you a preview of the different styles of that theme. You can also choose different color schemes for this template.
Once you're satisfied with the template theme you've chosen, click Create to start creating your slide.
1.1. Start with the basic steps of creating content for slides
The first slide is always the cover slide, typically containing the title and subtitle.
For example, if you're making a slide about 'how to make beautiful slides,' put a concise and intriguing title: 'How to Make Beautiful Slides' and accompany it with a relevant subtitle like 'Learn to make stunning slides with Mytour'...
Formatting text in PowerPoint is as easy as it is in Word and Excel, very user-friendly.
Simply highlight the text and choose the desired formatting options like font, color, bold (B), italic (I), and underline (U).
You can also insert images to make your slides more vibrant. The image insertion option is located in the Insert ribbon, the first icon in the Images section – the Pictures icon.
You can move the image around or resize it. Choose a smart position for your image to enhance the slide without overshadowing the title.
You can opt to have the image behind the title by accessing the Format ribbon (PowerPoint automatically opens this ribbon when you insert an image).
In the Format ribbon, under the Arrange section on the right-hand side, click Send Backward and select Send to Back to send your image behind the title.
To bring the image forward, simply click Bring Forward next to it, then select Bring Forward.
You can also apply various effects and colors to your image.
Still in the Format ribbon, focus on the Adjust section on the left-hand side. In this section, you'll find Artistic Effects to give your image a painted effect.
In the Color section next to Artistic Effects, you can choose from a variety of colors for the image.
You can also adjust the brightness, darkness, and contrast of the image in Corrections.
After editing, if you're not satisfied with the changes, you can click Reset Picture and select either Reset Picture (reverts to the original effects but keeps the current size) or Reset Picture & Size (reverts to the original effects and size).
If you're not happy with the theme you initially chose, you can also go to the Design ribbon to make a new selection.
After editing the title and image, you should take a moment to review your slide to assess its layout and color scheme.
Of course, a presentation slide cannot be just one cover slide like this. You need to create subsequent content slides for it.
In the Home ribbon under Slides, click on New Slide and choose the type of slide you need.
- Title Slide: This slide is typically used as a cover slide to show the title of the entire presentation, as illustrated above.
- Title and Content: Title and Content
- Section Header: Section Header
- Two Content: Two Content
- Comparison: Comparison
- Title Only: Title Only
- Blank: Blank slide for your free design
- Content with Caption: Content with Caption
- Picture with Caption: Picture with Caption
- Panoramic Picture with Caption: Panoramic Picture with Caption
- Title and Caption: Title and Caption
- Quote with Caption: Quote with Caption
- Name Card: Name Card
- 3 Column: 3 Columns
- 3 Picture Column: 3 Columns with Pictures
You can further interact with the slide by right-clicking on it and selecting.
- Delete Slide: Delete the selected Slide
- Duplicate Slide: Duplicate the selected Slide
- Layout: Change the Slide layout
Then, you also work with the next slides as you did with the title slide. Decorate it to be the most visually appealing.
1.2. Creating transition effects within slides and between slides
* Motion effects within a slide
Simply leaving the slides as they are would be as dull as blank sheets of paper. But another feature of PowerPoint that makes slides more vibrant and engaging is Animations.
First, click to select an element of the slide (such as a title text), then open the Animations ribbon.
Choose an effect from one of the three sections: Entrance, Emphasis, Exit.
Then proceed to select effects for the remaining elements of the picture.
You can see the list of Animations displayed in the Animation Pane on the right-hand side. The order of appearance of Animations is from top to bottom.
This is also the catalog section for managing these Animations.
Right-click on an Animation, and you can interact with and manage them.
- Start On Click: Will begin the motion when you click on the slide
- Start With Previous: Will start the motion simultaneously with the previous Animation
- Start After Previous: Will start the motion after the previous Animation ends
- Effect Options: Adjust the effect of the Animation
- Timing: Duration of the motion, from start to finish
- Hide Advanced Timeline/Show Advanced Timeline: Conceal or reveal the timeline bar of the Animation (you will see a block-shaped strip next to the name of the Animation, as in the image below, the strip symbolizes the length of time the Animation runs, the longer the strip, the longer the Animation runs)
- Remove: Delete that Animation
You can change the sequence of appearance of the Animation by clicking, holding, and dragging. For example, if you want the lightbulb image (Picture 6) to animate before the title 'How to Make Beautiful Slides,' simply click on the Animation line of the image, hold it, and drag it above the 'How to Make Beautiful Slides' title.
You can also set sound effects for each motion in the Effect Options section, under Sound. The speaker icon next to it is for adjusting the volume.
After finishing editing, you can preview all the motions by selecting the first Animation and clicking Play From. Note that if you select animations behind, you will only see the motions from that animation onwards.
* Motion effects between two different slides
Apart from transitions between animations within a slide, you can also create transitions between two slides, called Transitions.
Start by selecting a slide, then open the Transitions ribbon.
In this ribbon, under Transition to This Slide, you can choose different transition styles for your slide.
Subtle is how your slide appears, Exciting is how the previous slide disappears to make room for the current one you're selecting.
After all the settings, you can review the product of your hard work :')
Thank you for following along with the Mytour article on creating beautiful and professional slides. Wishing you the ability to craft the most eye-catching and impressive slides for your audience.
