Adding visual interest to your PowerPoint slides can make your presentations more engaging and memorable. PowerPoint 2000 provides several ways to customize the appearance of your slides beyond just using a pre-made design template.
Changing the Slide Background
The background of your slides is like the canvas on which you build your presentation. Setting an appropriate background color, texture, or image helps set the tone and reinforce the message of your content.
To change the slide background in PowerPoint 2000:
- Select Format > Slide Color Scheme from the menu bar
- Click the Custom tab
- Double-click the color next to Background to open the color palette
- Choose a new background color
You can also add texture or pattern fills to the background using the Fill Effects button. Some options include gradients, textures like stone and marble, or pattern fills like stripes and checks.
Modifying the Color Scheme
Every design template in PowerPoint comes with several pre-defined color schemes. The color scheme controls the colors used for various slide elements like text, lines, and shadows.
To edit the color scheme:
- Select Format > Slide Color Scheme
- Click the Custom tab
- Double-click any color to open the palette and choose a new color
- Click Apply to All to update all slides
Choosing appropriate colors that fit your content and brand helps create a cohesive and professional look.
Adding Visual Interest with Graphics
Supplementing your bullet points with relevant clip art, photos, charts, or other graphics makes the information more visually appealing and easier to digest. PowerPoint 2000 offers various ways to illustrate your ideas.
Clip Art
PowerPoint comes pre-loaded with thousands of clip art images you can insert into your slides with just a few clicks. To add a clip art image:
- Click the Insert Clip Art icon on the toolbar
- Browse the available images or search for a specific term
- Click the image you want and select Insert
You can then resize and position the image as needed on your slide.
WordArt
Transform plain text into eye-catching graphical text like banners, arcs, and spirals using WordArt. This adds visual flair to titles, headings, or key takeaways.
- Select the Insert menu
- Choose Picture > WordArt
- Select a WordArt style
- Type your text
- Format the text with colors, effects, etc.
Media Files
To embed video, sound, or other multimedia into your slides, use the Insert Movie command. This inserts an icon that launches the media file during slideshows. Supported formats include WMV, AVI, MPG, WAV, and more.
Animating Slide Content
Animations and transitions draw attention to specific slide elements and provide smooth visual flow between slides. When used judiciously, they can make presentations more dynamic.
Animations make slide content appear incrementally to focus the audience’s attention. For example, you can have bullet points fly in one by one when you click the mouse.
Transitions are the effects that occur as one slide leaves and the next enters, like fading or wiping between slides.
Overdoing animations and transitions can seem gimmicky so use them sparingly. Keep it simple for the best results.
Master Slides and Reuse
Formatting individual slides one by one can become tedious for long presentations. Master slides act as templates that automatically format all slides, saving time and effort.
To create a master:
- View the Slide Master from the View menu
- Add background graphics, logos, color schemes, etc.
- Format Master Title Style and Master Text Styles as desired
- Save and apply to all existing slides
Once your master slide is set up, any new slides you create will inherit the master formatting automatically.
For reusable content like company logos, banners, or disclaimer text, save them as individual slides you can quickly copy to other presentations. Build your own library of reusable slides for efficiency.
In Summary
- Change the slide background color or add visual texture/fill effects
- Customize the color scheme to fit your branding
- Incorporate graphics from clip art, WordArt, and media files
- Animate slide content to guide the audience’s attention
- Create master slides and reusable content for efficiency
With some creative flair and a good eye for design, you can make visually compelling PowerPoint slides that make your presentations pop.
