You consider yourself pretty proficient in working with PowerPoint and have become bored with the Slide Master choices provided with the PowerPoint package. You have also mined the web for free slide masters but really would like to create your own design. Here are some basic steps and instructions to custom designing a slide master.

The first thing to do before you launch PowerPoint is to develop a concept for your slide master. Here are some things to think about:

• Background design – use of geometric shapes, pictures, textures, gradient effects or some combination.
• Color scheme – text, bullet points and graphics. You could start by selecting one from the predefined color schemes provided in the PowerPoint package or design something that works for your concept.

Here’s an example. I am very partial to the hot fall colors such as the gold, rusts, maroons, oranges and dark reds. My background design contains gold and orange tones, my text colors were selected from the rusts colors, and my bullets points from the dark reds. Dark reds are used for the lines defining the geometric shapes found in the draw tools contrasted with gold and orange tones for the fill colors inside of the shapes. My text is black. In combination, this color scheme pops off of the screen in an eye catching fashion.



After launching PowerPoint, you want to start with a blank presentation format. Starting the project is easy, just click on the new presentation icon on the standard toolbar. You want to start with a blank slate with no design elements.

You will create your design concept on the slide master in order for all of the slides to have a consistent look and feel. Here are some basic steps to follow:


• Click on View | Master | Slide Master to display the slide master
• Use Format | Background for creating a background for your theme. In my Fire Template example, I have not used a background but instead chose a white background so as to keep my design simple.
• Use the Draw tool to insert geometric graphics such as the color bar you see on the fire template. This is made up of three rectangles that have been filled with a two color gradient effect then grouped together. The divider line between the title and the place holder for the body of the slide is a line that has been formatted for color and adjusted for thickness.
• In the placeholder for the slide body, use the format bullets and numbers command to select the color and style of each level of bullets that you want for your slide. Be sure to stay within your color scheme when making the bullet color choices.
• Use Format Font to set the color for your text. In the Fire Template example, I used the fire red for my title and have kept the body text at the default black. When preparing my presentation, I will use color for emphasis of certain points.



These are some basic ideas and considerations for you to begin applying your own creative styling to your master slides. Remember all of the tools you are accustomed to working with in your presentation slides are available while in the slide master mode. You can use them in exactly the same way you would in a presentation. Applying your own creative designs adds to your sense of pride and ownership when you have to deliver a presentation. Enjoy!