Faking It
PowerPoint Layout and Design
When You Have No Skills

Prelude
1. I’m an engineer with little art sense so if I can add a hint of creativity
to my designs there is no reason you can’t.
2. PowerPoint and MS Paint (rarely) are the only programs I used for any
of these designs. You don’t need anything more, but of course there
are other techniques.
3. The editing and manipulation for each slide isn’t tricky, but enough to
“fake it” like you have some skills.
4. There are image copyright violations all over the web and all over
slideshare…borrowing images from the net is what people do…don’t
kill me for it…I didn’t invent it. I’m all for artists getting credit but
then again I’m also for opensource…borrow at your own risk.
5. My designs aren’t the world’s best and
they aren’t perfect, but they get the job
done when you don’t know what you’re
doing…usually just a little bit better than
the average competition

Title Slides
Examples

Healing Environments
The future of mental health facility design

Title Slides
How To

Unedited Stock Photo
1. Find a stock photo with a great solid
background
2. www.flickr.com has some great images
3. In this case I flipped the photo because
I wanted the writing on the left side
(select photo > picture effects > 3D
rotation)
4. Simple as that

Stock Photo as a Subtle Background
1. Find a stock photo
2. Crop and stretch photo to correct size
3. Recolor the photo to black and white
(select photo > recolor > grayscale)
4. Lighten the photo by drawing a
rectangle over the entire photo (insert
> shape > rectangle)
5. Fill rectangle with a hint of
transparency (shape fill > more fill
colors > select color > adjust
transparency)

Continuing a Background Color
1. Find a stock photo with a solid
background color
2. Copy and paste the photo into MS
Paint
3. Use the MS Paint “pick color” tool and
select the blue color
4. Find the color formula (MS Paint colors
> edit colors > define custom colors)
5. Enter color formula into PowerPoint
(format background > color > more
colors > custom > red: 21, green: 47,
blue: 98)

Background Slides

Cheat with a Black/White Background
1. Find a stock photo with a black or
white background
2. No editing required, simply fill the
background with black or leave white

Solid Background Color Copy
1. Find a stock photo with a solid
background
2. Copy and paste the photo into MS
Paint
3. Use the MS Paint “pick color” tool and
select the blue color
4. Find the color formula (MS Paint colors
> edit colors > define custom colors)
5. Enter color formula into PowerPoint
(format background > color > more
colors > custom > red: 156, green: 186,
blue: 198)

Other Random Examples

Market Assessment
a presentation to fulfill the requirements of PubH 5689

Faking It
PowerPoint Layout and Design
When You Have No Skills

Resizing and Cropping
Original Title Slide Photo

The End