Slide decks are widely used in the business world to present strategies, sell products, and convey any information in a visually appealing way.
Google Slides is a solid presentation tool. It’s free, connected to the cloud, and included with your Gmail account. If you don’t have a Gmail account, you can easily create one.
Start from scratch or import slides from a PowerPoint presentation
Here are some tips on how to create a stunning Google Slides presentation and engage your audience:
- Use a professionally designed template.
- Crop or mask images.
- Get creative with fonts.
- Background images.
You can also check out our previous post on how to convert your PowerPoint presentation to Google Slides.
Use a professionally designed template
Instead of starting from scratch, choose one of the Google Slide designs and customize it to suit your needs.
- Sign in with your Google account to get started. In the upper right corner of the screen, next to your profile picture, click Drive (below the grid icon).
- Select Create in the upper left corner of the Google Drive toolbar, click Google. Slide and select From Template to view the template gallery.
- Select the template you like and click it to open it on your disk.
- The first thing you need to do is rename the file by clicking on the title in the upper left corner and typing in the name of your new project.
- Change the theme at any time by clicking the Themes button in the upper right corner of the navigation bar.
- Scroll through the available themes to change the layout and appearance of your presentation.
- Click on the one you want to use. This will change everything in your presentation to fit the theme.
Below are several screenshots of the title slide for the same presentation using different themes.
Notice how changing the theme for the three slides above completely changes the design.
For more themes, visit Slides Carnival, a site that offers free, professional designs that are fully customizable and easy to edit.
- Browse the templates and select the one you want, click on it and select “Use as Google Slide Theme”.
- The theme will automatically open in Google Slides and will include all slides from the selected template.
Edit the slides you want to use and delete the ones you don’t need.
Slides Carnival themes are free to share, copy and edit with attribution. All they ask is to provide a link to their site. Designed by professionals, you will be able to create flawless presentations that wow your audience.
Crop or hide images
Once you’ve found a good source of high-quality images or created your own, you can focus on the relevant parts of the image or graphic using the crop tool.
Crop the edges of the image, remove unnecessary parts, or add a consistent design by cropping all images to shape (masking).
- Select or upload an image to a slide. To insert an image, click the Insert tab in the menu bar, hover over the image, and select Download from Computer.
- Double click the image you want to use. To crop an image, double-click it again and drag the black tabs to cut out parts of the image you don’t want to use. Don’t click on the blue tabs; they will resize your image.
- To mask an image, select it and click the arrow next to the Crop Image tool.
- Select Shapes, then select the mask shape and press Enter to fit the image to the mask shape.
Cropped images will make your presentation more fun, creative, and convincing.
Get creative with fonts
Besides changing the size, type, and color of the font, you can use other creative ways to make your text stand out. You can also create your own fonts to import into your project.
Then get creative and try adding drop shadow to the text to draw attention to it.
Follow these steps to create a drag-and-drop effect of text using two text boxes.
- Select the text to which you want to add a shadow and click the A icon in the top toolbar.
- A color picker will open where you can select a color. Choose a dark color as it will become the shadow part of the effect.
- Select and re-select the text. Use the keyboard shortcut to copy it to the clipboard. On a PC, press CTRL + C. On a Mac, use Command + C.
- Draw a new text box on the slide by clicking Paste in the top navigation bar and selecting Text Box. Use CTRL + V (PC) or Command + V (Mac) to copy the text into the text box.
- Select the copied text by selecting it. Click the A icon in the toolbar to change the text color. A bright color will do.
- Drag the second text box on top of the first and position it slightly above or below and slightly to the side of the first text box.
Photo wallpapers
Google Slides background can be color or image. Images illustrate a point of view, grab the audience’s attention, and are used as a symbol to represent a concept – often better than plain text.
Use an image as a background to make your Google Slides presentations more attractive. / ul>
- In the pop-up window, click “Select Image”.
- In this article, we will select the Download option. Click Select Image to Upload, double-click the image you want to use, and then click Finish.
Important note: as you can see in the screenshot above, please note the image copyright.
Only use images that you are licensed to use, or those that are free or free to use, with attribution. You can do a reverse image search to find out more about any stock images you use to make sure you are giving the correct attribution.
You may need to change the position and color of the text to make it stand out from the background image.
Background images cannot be resized or moved. However, they can be adjusted for transparency, brightness and contrast.
Click the slide, not the item. Select Format Options. In the right side panel that opens, click Adjustments. Play around with these and other settings shown in the image above to get the desired result.
Presentations don’t have to be boring and boring. Use some of these tips to create stunning Google slides that will pique your audience’s interest.
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