Do you find yourself wanting to know how to liven up your PowerPoint slide game? Do you often feel like some information gets lost because it’s in the sea of slides? Well, I’m here to try to help you with some of that. Designing your PowerPoint slides doesn’t have to be too complex.
Here are 4 very subtle and simple enhancements you can make to your slides:
Text Animations
By rule, less is more here. Animations can be overdone quite easily, so it’s best to limit them if you can and only use them to show impact of emphasis. Also limit the use of types of animations you use as well. Much like fonts, if there are a dozen different ones, the information can start to be very confusing. Keep a routine pattern so that the material is easier for the viewers to follow. I typically utilize entrance animations the most and almost all of the time use the “Fly In” entrance. You can choose the direction of this animation as well of that speed.
Ditch the Template
Of course, when appropriate a template is very necessary. However for those other times, use bold color and plain text to drive home your information. Good design doesn’t have to include images or bullet points. Good design can be as easy as a solid background and contrasting text.
Use the Push Transition
For an elegant effect of moving to the next slide in your presentation, try using the Push transition. I often push the slide from the right to introduce a new topic and push from the bottom to continue on the previous topic. These are very subtle ways of bringing some life to the slides, especially if you have to say, “next slide please.”
Add a GIF
When you think of GIF’s, you probably envision some ridiculous moving memes as the one below. You can use professional GIF animations that will add an element of engagement to your slides and audience. Think of checkmarks changing to green to signify completed work or a lit up workflow stream to help show the steps in a process. These are ways to get the attention right to the desired place in your presentation.
The secret to adding GIF’s to your slides is that the GIF has to be saved on the device the presentation is being presented on. Save the GIF to your desktop and insert it into your slide. When you preview your slideshow, the GIF should animate automatically. As GIF’s are a special file save to the device, keep this in mind if you’ll be sharing the presentation. The GIF will not work for others as it will not be saved to their computer.
Thanks,
Jaycee Mey
Designer
Digital IT