Background For Presentation
A well-selected background can set the tone and mood of your presentation as it is the canvas of your information and style. A white background can either be plain and boring or with a bit of work that white background can look clean and minimal. You’re looking to provide the perfect amount of contrast between image, content, graphics, and background.
We’re here to help you generate ideas for what kind of background for your next Powerpoint presentation background! Check out our tips below for choosing the right color for your presentation background.
The basics of a good presentation background
Let’s help you find the right colors to create a great overall theme for your presentation and each individual slides.
But first: Imagine a bright red background with purple text. It would be hard to read information with this palette and would distract someone overall. Now imagine that the background was a nice earth green with white font. With too many different colors or elements competing with the background, your presentation background can become busy and hard to read. However, a lack of color and vibrancy can make a boring Powerpoint presentation background! Without some good background, your presentation can feel lackluster or dull, and your content a chore to digest in your presentation.
White space
Keep it Simple
Use Color Psychology for Presentation Background
Red, orange, and yellow colors are generally energizing colors. Red is striking and can be used to lead the eye. Too much of red can feel too strong, but if you used a red background and a few words in white, it can be a striking slide. Orange is also a color that gives a sense of urgency and warmth. Yellow often is associated with happiness but it can also be used for rugged, masculine tones (think of its use in construction, Western movie posters, etc.) Did you know yellow helps with concentration? Do you want to be striking, bold, uplifting? Start with a warm palette and see if the colors works for you! The above image from Gateway City Sign & Graphcs is a great starting point for thinking about the psycology of your color scheme.
Green, blue, and purple colors are usually calming and relaxing colors. Blue is a very elegant color that builds a sense of trust and is often used in corporate color palettes. Green is often used when giving a presentation an organic or authentic feel. Purple is elegant, sleek and associated with luxury, but it can also represent creativity and uniqueness. Consider using some cool backgrounds to create a professional background for Powerpoint.
Hue, Saturation and Values
Experiment!
Gradient Use
Principles of a Great Design and Background
The background is only one part of the equation. Though the background is an important one as the background is the canvas in which your information will be presented. While we say go simple in terms of color use, there are other aspects you can consider.
Have a consistent font across your powerpoint and only use a few colors for your text. Create a specific hierachy for your headings, subtitles and body text for your content. For example, your headings can be a color, be a specific font (but the same throughout!) and size 32. Your subheaders can be the same font as your body text and size 16. Your body font can be a simple text and size 12.
Use a high quality image from time to time to give a great visual instead of lines of words. Give enough spacing between shapes, images and graphics. You can be creative and experiment and see what works for you in terms of a great design. But if you really need some inspiration, here are a few presentations from our portfolio!
Our Presentation for Dillas and its use of background
Our Presentation for Flowmill and its use of background
Our Presentation for Becker Palk Legal and its use of background
Our one presentation for Beck Palk Legal is an example that uses an image per slide as part of its background. The subtle color block in front of the image allows text to be overlayed or for the tone to be consistent throughout. Black is sometimes used as the background with yellow accents, but it makes a perfect contrast in this presentation. Photography is a great visual to make your presentations look great and does not need a graphics-heavy document if you do not want to create custom icons.
Do you notice there’s a pattern in where to look and where your eye travels? This is an element of good design is training your viewer of where to look and what to expect per slide. You’ll want to try various layouts and see what works best for your presentation. Maybe you’ll want someone to focus on the text so the image isn’t as prominent. Or maybe you want someone to focus on the image, so the text recedes as a caption. Think of the pattern you set in your elements and how that pattern can help with readability. Make your presentations easy to read with this methodology in mind.
Find the perfect images off stock websites and choose the best for your message, audience and content. You can even choose an image based off its colors to match your colour scheme as well! Maybe the image has a red or yellow accent that would pair with your colour palette, even if it is more subtle. Consider doing a mix of image and color for your backgrounds in your presentations.
Our Presentation for BP and its use of background
This uses three colors throughout the presentation, while keeping a consistent text hierarchy and a right amount of spacing. This is an example of using a background that is plain; because of the good use of colors throughout the content, the backgrounds aren’t the most vibrant element but the style is still great. There was a careful consideration of how to make the content the most effective per slide in the presentation and repeating it through out the presentation to create a pattern for the eye to travel to each element. While the palette is simple, the theme is still a colorful presentation that has the perfect amount of contrast and vibrancy that conveys BP’s message.
Speaking of themes – that is something that can help you maintain tone, consistency and be efficient, which leads us to our next set of tips!
Presentation Themes for Background Consideration
Master Slides to Keep Consistent Branding for Your Content and Background
Master slides can help you save time and stay consistent. Create 3-5 master slides with the colours you pick. You can have one consistent background and put that on your master slides background. By doing your master slides, you can experiment and see palette works for your slides. By having things look a like, it is a subtle way to create a consistent approach. And when things are a like, you can train the eye where to go.
We suggest starting with making a title slide, a text slide, a list slide, an image with text slide and a question slide for your presentation.
Built-in templates for background
Photography as Presentation Background
Different Types of Presentation Backgrounds
So let’s get this in sum of what kind of backgrounds there are for you to use! The different types of backgrounds are: color backgrounds, image backgrounds and a hybrid of both. You can be subtle, bold, light or striking – it depends on your message and brand.
Remember that it really comes down to the harmony between elements in your presentations, so give yourself time to experiment. And if all else fails, you can use and customize a template. We hope this guide helps you get started on your presentations! If you like our tutorial, please let us know below!
