The slide backgrounds you choose to use for your
presentations have a huge impact on the perceived quality of your PowerPoint
presentations.
That’s because adding colors, textures and
styles to your PowerPoint backgrounds helps create a more interesting and
visually appealing presentation that attracts your audience’s attention and
allows you to drive home your message more effectively and efficiently.
While a good background can make your text and
other images pop, a bad or bland background can be distracting and ruin a
perfectly good presentation.
Below are a variety of background examples you
can use to create new and interesting backgrounds for your PowerPoint
presentations.
Image backgrounds
Images can make your slides really stand out and
can be extremely powerful in PowerPoint presentations...when used correctly.
Don’t use a photo or image just because it’s
cool, funny or cute. Every element of your PowerPoint should bring meaning or
add value to your message and that goes for the images your select, even those
used in the PowerPoint background.
A good background image will allow your text to
be readable and won’t distract from the other elements on your slides. Here are
a few tips on choosing the right image for your PowerPoint background:
- Look for ‘whitespace’ which
allows you to add your text or graphics
- Blurred areas help focus attention on
whatever else you add to the slide without distracting your audience
- Images with gradients make good
backgrounds for the reasons we mentioned above
- Textured images keep things
interesting
Gradient color backgrounds
Block colors can look flat and boring. Make your
PowerPoint backgrounds more visually pleasing by playing with shading and
light.
Right-click your slide, select Format Background
and select Gradient Fill. There, you play about with one or two color
gradients, the direction of the fades, and the transparency to create more
interesting PowerPoint backgrounds.
Pattern and texture backgrounds
Word of warning: when you go to Format
Background, you’ll see Pattern Fill...avoid this. These patterns are very basic
and look like a magic eye picture and no one wants to stare at that for any
length of time!
The option above this is Picture or Texture Fill
which will give you much better options.
Again, you can play with the
transparency of the patterns to make sure it doesn’t distract from text or
other presentation elements. Remember, PowerPoint backgrounds shouldn’t be the
dominant feature of your presentation!
Geometric textured backgrounds
Geometric polygon backgrounds with the right font and graphics look cool, add texture and
color and look interesting without being too overpowering.
You can either download from royalty-free photo sites, or create your own via such
sites as Trianglify Background Generator.
Download your own patterns and textures
You don’t have to limit yourself
to the default patterns inside of PowerPoint. You can find your own pattern
backgrounds and insert them into your presentation slides.
To learn more about downloading, creating and inserting PowerPoint backgrounds like
this, see this article here.
As you can see, creating your own PowerPoint backgrounds that grab your audiences’
attention isn’t rocket science and anyone can do it.
Here are some additional tips when working with your background colors.
Color tips for powerful PowerPoint backgrounds
Keep it simple
Stick to just two or three-colors
for your whole presentation for a clean look. Black and white might seem boring
but remember you can always add color later with logos, graphs, and images.
Brand colors
Using company colors in your
PowerPoint backgrounds is a great opportunity to build and reinforce your brand
in a subtle way. It’s much less distracting than placing your logo on every
slide which would also take up valuable space on your presentation.
Color and emotions
Consider the meaning of colors
and the emotional responses you wish your audience to have.
For example, if you wish to
deliver a serious message, then an optimistic yellow background won’t get the
right attention or reaction. Instead, go for a dark background, gray or black.
Be careful with contrast when you use color backgrounds-- make sure your other
presentation elements are easy to read.
About Arnel G. Cartoneros
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