How To Create A Microsoft Powerpoint Template

Custom PowerPoint template designs are a very hot item these days, and a fast-growing design category at 99designs. Clients are looking for unique presentations that reverberate their branding and make their ideas await professional person and credible—that's where they need a talented designer like yourself to create one for them.

PowerPoint does have graphic editing capabilities, merely some designers find information technology easier and faster to create the main graphic elements in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop commencement, and consign them into the PowerPoint template to combine with editable elements.

In this tutorial we're going to use Adobe Illustrator to create the design, which we will then export and alter in PowerPoint. Here's how to create a powerpoint template design:

ane. Create your basic template

"PowerPoint tutorial: create a custom template" by Becca Creger for The Creative Edge

Start in Illustrator by creating a new document: File > New. I recommend starting by setting the dimensions to the default PowerPoint size of x x 7.five inches or 720 x 540px, a 4:3 aspect ratio. Additionally, yous should determine whether or not your client is also going to need a 16:9 template, the other standard aspect ratio for PowerPoint.

In this tutorial my PowerPoint Template will have 4 slides, so I've set my number of art boards to 4 and I've created 1 Title slide, ii Content slides, and ane Cease slide. Please note, this number was selected as just a sample! Your pattern may have many more types of slides depending on the requirements of the design brief.

Make sure that your certificate color fashion is set to RGB, by checking File > Document Color Fashion >RGB, because these colors are only going to be seen on a screen. Choice out a color theme that volition friction match your client's branding. For this example I've called 5 colors, many of which friction match my logo:

Remember that the designs you're creating in Illustrator or Photoshop will not exist editable in PowerPoint, so annihilation you include in this graphics portion of the template is going to be the same for every slide y'all use it in. Here are three key tips for optimizing your design for use in PowerPoint:

Make certain to select a font for the content in your PowerPoint slides that your client is likely to have already, for example 1 of the fonts that come with Microsoft Office or Adobe Font Folio. I've chosen Helvetica. If you're using a less mutual font, make certain that you lot send the client the licensing information then that they tin legally obtain that font, because they'll need it in society to edit the content that will be displayed in that font.
When creating your PowerPoint template graphics in Illustrator or Photoshop only include text as placeholder and Do Non include any text in your design when you lot're exporting it. Your client has no use for raster images of text, the betoken is for them to be able to edit the text boxes themselves. Y'all can add the editable text box in PowerPoint later.
Don't create graphs, tables or complex information visualizations that need to exist customized by your client in Illustrator or Photoshop, as PowerPoint has those features and so you tin can create them in that location.

2. Export your designs every bit PNG files

Export each fine art board into its own PNG file by clicking File > Export > PNG > Export > OK. If you're working with multiple art boards in Illustrator make sure to bank check "Use Artboards" to specify which art board to export to each PNG file. Brand sure you set each PNG to a transparent groundwork with a resolution of 300 PPI.

3. Create a new presentation in PowerPoint

Caput over to Powerpoint now, and click File > New Presentation. And so go to View > Chief> Slide Master. Now you're in a viewing fashion where yous can edit and create Slide Masters. Slide Masters are a hierarchy of slides storing information about the theme of a presentation.

Yous'll notice that a menu of Master Slides on the left has several types of templates for you to choose from. Since nosotros're going to create a Title Slide next, click on the Title Slide Layout pick in the left menu.

4. Create your Title Slide Master

Now we want to import the artwork nosotros've created in Illustrator into the Title Slide Primary. Do this by clicking Insert > Photo > Movie from File > Select your PNG file. Now your PNG file will appear in your Title Slide Principal. Next, click Arrange > Send to back and then that the artwork is moved to the bottom layer, and text boxes are on acme.

Position and edit the text boxes as desired, then click Close Master to go dorsum to normal view mode. At present your custom Title Principal Slide has been added to your collection of Master Slides in your PowerPoint document.

5. Create your content slide masters

Over again, open up up your Slide Chief. In the slide master card, select the Title and Content Layout template. Insert your PNG file and send it to the dorsum, then you tin can position and fashion your text boxes against the background of your PNG design, using the text editing option in the tool bar at the top.

To apply custom colors to any text or graphics, select the Make full Color option and click "More than Colors…" from the resulting drop-down menu. Click the RGB Sliders button and fill in the specific RGB number values in order to utilise your custom color palette every bit desired. When y'all've finished styling your content, click Close Master to go back to normal view fashion.

If you want to add editable graphs or tables at this betoken, simply select from the options in the Charts and Tables tabs at the peak. You and your customer will need Microsoft excel to edit the data in those charts and table.

half-dozen. Create your concluding slide

Return to the Slide Master window and click New Layout, which will give you a simple default Chief Slide with i title text box and some footer text boxes. Delete the footer text boxes.

Nosotros're going to re-name this slide by clicking Rename and entering "End Slide Master Layout" in the resulting text box. This is so that your client can encounter that this slide as the last slide in the presentation.

Next, insert your PNG and ship it to the back, and manner your end slide text equally desired. Click Shut Principal, which volition add this end slide into you Chief Slide drove.

vii. Mix and friction match your Main Slides

viii. Save information technology as a template

Do this by clicking File > Save Equally > PowerPoint Template (.potx). Now you tin send your PowerPoint Template to your client! Whenever they double-click this template, an entirely new document will be created — one that contains the presentation you've but created and its Primary Slides:

All your customer has to practice is click New Slide and select the Master Slides of their choice from the resulting drib-downwards menu. Now your client can mix and friction match and edit their branded PowerPoint Template however they want to:)