Changing the background color of your PowerPoint slides can make your presentation look more appealing and professional. The default white background can seem boring after a while. Fortunately, PowerPoint makes it easy to customize the background color.
Choosing a Background Color
When selecting a background color, consider the following:
- Contrast – Choose a color that contrasts well with your text color to make your content readable. Dark text on a light background works best.
- Branding – If designing a presentation for work, use your company brand colors for the background or text.
- Psychology – Colors evoke emotions. Blue or green backgrounds suggest calmness or nature while red is energetic.
- Accessibility – Ensure viewers with color blindness can access your information by having enough contrast between background and text.
Steps to Change Background Color
Follow these simple steps to change your PowerPoint slide background color:
- Select the slide(s) you wish to modify. To change all slides, skip this step.
- Go to the Design tab and click on Background Styles.
- Select the Format Background option at the bottom.
- In the Format Background pane, choose Solid Fill and select a color.
- Click Apply to All to change all slide backgrounds or click outside the pane to only change selected slides.
Advanced Customization Options
For more advanced background customization in PowerPoint, you can:
Use a Gradient or Image
- Select the Gradient Fill or Picture or Texture Fill options in the Format Background pane instead of a solid color.
Adjust Transparency
- For images, check the Transparency box in the Format Background pane to make the image more subtle.
Save a Custom Background
- Design a background style you want to reuse. Click Close Master View then Themes > Save Current Theme to save it.
Match Colors in Presentation
- Select a color and under Theme Colors, choose Create New Theme Colors to add that exact color to your presentation’s color palette.
Conclusion
Customizing the background color of your PowerPoint slides is an easy way to make your presentation look clean, professional and visually appealing. Consider contrast, branding, color psychology and accessibility when selecting a color. Feel free to get creative with gradients, images, transparency and saving custom backgrounds as well. Use the advanced features in PowerPoint at your disposal to create presentations that make an impact!
