5 easy ways to create fabulous slides

Five easy ways ,[object Object],to create ,[object Object],fabulous slides ,[object Object],@theREALwikiman,[object Object]

(Because bad slides make people switch off, and good slides make people switch on. So why not make a nice deck? Especially when it’s so easy.),[object Object],Say NO to Death by PowerPoint… ,[object Object]

METHOD ONE,[object Object],choose a simple colour scheme (and stick with it),[object Object]

this one is really simple,[object Object],use a plain background (either white or ,[object Object],black) and then pick a nice font in two complimentary colours.,[object Object]

two colours of a related hue…,[object Object],… works particularly well on a white background,[object Object]

OR TRY A BLACK BACKGROUND,[object Object],A bold headline colour with grey body text works well here.,[object Object]

THE KEY TO METHOD ONE,[object Object],Is picking a nice font, picking a nice colour scheme, positioning your text boxes well and just producing slides in a consistent style. ,[object Object]

FONTS,[object Object],Avoiding Times New Roman and Comic Sans helps. But keep in mind, Calibri changes size on Slideshare – it gets bigger when you upload your slides.,[object Object]

METHOD ONE,[object Object],Is very simple, extremely quick, and quite nice. It takes about 5% more time than just basic black on white slides, but looks much, much better. ,[object Object],(And it beats using any of PPT’s templates any day.),[object Object]

METHOD TWO,[object Object],one texture, many colours,[object Object]

This is the second simplest way to make decent-looking slides. ,[object Object],Just grab a textured image off Flickr Creative Commons to act as your background. ,[object Object]

Then use Format > Recolour to make it a different colour for each slide. ,[object Object]

Use an attractive font, make the words nice and big, avoid too much text per slide, credit the person whose texture you used – and that’s it! Easy.,[object Object]

METHOD THREE,[object Object],The two-toned textured slide,[object Object]

STEP 1:,[object Object],Again, find a nice texture from Flickr’s Creative Commons. This one needs to be simpler – less busy – than in the previous method. ,[object Object]

STEP 2:,[object Object],We’ll be using Format > Recolour again – choose a colour for the title section of your background first of all. ,[object Object]

more STEP 2,[object Object],Then copy and paste your background image, and recolour the 2nd version something nice – something which compliments the first version.,[object Object]

STEP 3,[object Object],Crop the first image so it takes up the top quarter or third of the slide, then crop the second image so it takes up the remainder. Move them into position, one above the other.,[object Object]

STEP 4,[object Object],Choose some clear fonts, and colour the title text to mirror the body background, and body text to mirror the title background. (Like on these very slides.),[object Object]

STEP 5,[object Object],Experiment with different colour combinations...,[object Object]

more STEP 5,[object Object],...until you find one you’re happy with. Remember to credit the person whose background texture you’ve used. That’s it! ,[object Object]

METHOD FOUR: background images,[object Object]

I’m going back to method one…,[object Object],…to explain this one, because Method Four doesn’t work so well with lots of text.,[object Object],Method Four is sometimes known as ‘found flickr slides’ – it consists of finding appropriate copyright cleared images from Flickr that provide some kind of visual metaphor for what you’re trying to say, and then putting a text box over the top with some minimal text in. ,[object Object]

More on Method Five,[object Object],It’s a ‘one point per slide’ method that works very well for live presentations and slightly less well for online ones, because so much is left unwritten. ,[object Object],I’ll be using some random nice pictures as examples in the next few slides, but generally speaking you’d be looking to match picture to content. I’ve put in a few obvious examples of that in a few slides’ time (slides 35-37). ,[object Object]

Step 1 is to find a suitable picture,[object Object]

You can search Flickr Creative Commons (click to go there) – I often prefer to use Blue Mountains which collects together a lot of really good CC Flickr images and gets rid of some of the dross,[object Object]

Once you’ve found one you like, right-click on your Slide then select Format Background, then either Insert from: File to load an image you’ve saved, or Insert from: Clipboard to paste an image you’ve copied,[object Object]

Step 2 is to Insert > Text Box and write your caption,[object Object]

Sometimes you can write ,[object Object],directly on to the slide,[object Object]

But usually you’ll need to fill the textbox to make the text readable. Right-click the text box, go to Format shape, then Fill > Solid Fill. White is usually best. Black can work.,[object Object]

One the same screen, experiment with the ‘transparency’ slider to make the box slightly see-through. This one is at 40%.,[object Object]

It’s nice to match text colour with something in the image,[object Object]

Your text box doesn’t have to stretch all the way across each slide, don’t forget,[object Object]

If there’s a portrait (rather than landscape) image you really want to use, fill the slide black and then paste the image over the top of one side.,[object Object],Then write on the other side in complimentary colour, like this. ,[object Object]

Now for some examples of obvious ,[object Object],Visual metaphors ,[object Object]

This is a global issue,[object Object]

It’s time for change,[object Object]

Method FIVE,[object Object],The augmented white slide… ,[object Object]

Perhaps the,[object Object],trickiest,[object Object],method,[object Object]

But also the most,[object Object],rewarding.,[object Object]

For this method, you need pictures which are ‘transparent’ – in other words, they have no background colour so they fit seamlessly into otherwise white slides.,[object Object]

A hand holding a card is always a nice one to use…,[object Object]

Notepads and journals with stuff written on them work well,[object Object]

no two slides ,[object Object],are the same,[object Object],this method takes longer partly because ,[object Object]

and because it’s harder to find,[object Object],the right images,[object Object]

all the images in this section are from Stock Xchange, which contains loads of high-quality, royalty free images ,[object Object],http://www.sxc.hu,[object Object]

Okay, that’s it for now. Hope you found the tips useful. ,[object Object]

Making good slides is worthwhile, and reaching people via Slideshare allows you to extend the impact of your presentation all across the web.,[object Object],(The five most viewed slide-decks I have on here have been viewed by more than 75,000 people. That makes the time I put into them more worthwhile!) ,[object Object]

Background texture for Method 2:,[object Object],http://www.flickr.com/photos/friendbrook/4609242096/sizes/l/in/photostream/,[object Object],Background texture for Method 3:,[object Object],http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/4182512221/sizes/o/in/photostream/,[object Object],Method 4,[object Object],Trees: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99771506@N00/2981387336,[object Object],Lighthouse: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexxus/3996683276/sizes/z/in/photostream/,[object Object],Mountain: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/2746960560/sizes/l/in/photostream/,[object Object],Tubes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/j-ster/369387948/sizes/o/in/photostream/,[object Object],Night scene: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3320/3243537014_469efd744a_b.jpg,[object Object],Coastal scene: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5173/5499821986_480503577d_b.jpg,[object Object],Doors: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7578081@N07/2249968851,[object Object],Café: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexxus/2909924543/sizes/z/in/photostream/,[object Object],Table and bottle: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncohen/55582632/sizes/z/in/photostream/,[object Object],Lampost: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34726560@N00/3001834479,[object Object],Globe: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3646/3522310843_d259114297_b.jpg,[object Object],Clock: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/68/190101132_a654931331_b.jpg,[object Object],Dice: http://www.sxc.hu,[object Object],Method 5,[object Object],Slides, rubix cube, tree-shoot, picture frame, hand holding card notepad, post-it note, leaves, negatives, laptop, stop sign and this film reel pic:,[object Object],all via Stock Xchange(http://www.sxc.hu) ,[object Object]

5 easy ways to create fabulous slides

5 easy ways to create fabulous slides

5 easy ways to create fabulous slides

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5 easy ways to create fabulous slides