How to Pull up Design Ideas on PowerPoint: Easy Guide

Are you looking for an easy way to create visually appealing PowerPoint presentations? Do you want to pull up design ideas quickly without spending hours designing from scratch? PowerPoint’s Design Ideas feature is the perfect solution. In this article, we’ll show you how to use Design Ideas in PowerPoint to instantly generate professional-looking slide layouts based on your content.

What is PowerPoint’s Design Ideas Feature?

PowerPoint’s Design Ideas is a feature that uses artificial intelligence to automatically generate slide layout suggestions based on the content you’ve added to your slides. When you add text, images, or other elements to a slide, Design Ideas analyzes the content and provides a variety of professionally designed layouts to choose from.

Design Ideas was first introduced in PowerPoint 2016 and has been improved in subsequent versions. It’s available in PowerPoint for Microsoft 365, PowerPoint 2021, PowerPoint 2019, and PowerPoint for the web. This feature is powered by machine learning algorithms that have been trained on thousands of professionally designed presentations, allowing it to suggest layouts that are both aesthetically pleasing and effective in communicating your message.

The Benefits of Using Design Ideas

Using Design Ideas in PowerPoint offers several key benefits:

1. Time-saving: Instead of spending hours designing slides from scratch, Design Ideas generates professional-looking layouts in seconds.
2. Consistency: Design Ideas ensures that your slides have a consistent look and feel, making your presentation more polished and cohesive.
3. Creativity: Design Ideas can inspire new ideas and help you break out of your usual design habits by suggesting layouts you may not have considered.
4. Accessibility: By using Design Ideas, even those with limited design skills can create visually appealing presentations.

How to Enable Design Ideas in PowerPoint

Before you can use Design Ideas, you need to make sure it’s enabled in PowerPoint. Here’s how:

1. Open PowerPoint and go to the File tab.
2. Click on Options.
3. In the PowerPoint Options dialog box, click on General in the left pane.
4. Under PowerPoint Designer, check the box next to Automatically show me design ideas.
5. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Now that Design Ideas is enabled, let’s see how to use it.

How to Use Design Ideas in PowerPoint

Using Design Ideas is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open a new or existing PowerPoint presentation.
2. Add your content to a slide, such as text, images, charts, or tables.
3. Click on the Design tab in the PowerPoint ribbon.
4. In the Designer group, click on Design Ideas.
5. PowerPoint will generate a variety of slide layouts based on your content.
6. Hover over each layout to preview it on your slide.
7. Click on a layout to apply it to your slide.

That’s it! You can repeat these steps for each slide in your presentation to quickly create a visually engaging and professional-looking deck.

Tips for Getting the Best Design Ideas

To get the most out of Design Ideas, keep these tips in mind:

• Use high-quality images: Design Ideas works best when you use high-resolution, visually appealing images. Avoid using blurry or low-quality images, as they can detract from the overall look of your presentation.
• Keep text concise: Avoid long paragraphs of text on your slides. Use short phrases or bullet points instead. This not only makes your slides more visually appealing but also helps your audience focus on the key points you want to convey.
• Use consistent formatting: Use the same fonts, colors, and styles throughout your presentation for a cohesive look. Design Ideas will suggest layouts that match your chosen theme, but it’s still important to ensure consistency across all slides.
• Experiment with different layouts: Don’t settle for the first layout suggestion. Try out different options to find the best fit for your content. Design Ideas generates a variety of layouts, so take the time to explore and find the one that works best for each slide.
• Customize as needed: While Design Ideas provides excellent starting points, don’t be afraid to customize the layouts to better suit your needs. You can easily adjust colors, fonts, sizes, and positions of elements to create a truly unique presentation.

Customizing Design Ideas Layouts

While Design Ideas generates professional-looking layouts, you may want to customize them to better suit your needs. Here’s how:

1. Apply a Design Ideas layout to your slide.
2. Click on any element on the slide to edit it, such as text, images, or shapes.
3. Use the formatting options in the PowerPoint ribbon to change colors, fonts, sizes, or positions.
4. Add or remove elements as needed.

Remember, the goal is to create a slide that effectively communicates your message while being visually appealing. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different customization options until you find the perfect balance.

Design Ideas and PowerPoint Themes

PowerPoint themes are pre-designed templates that set the overall look and feel of your presentation, including colors, fonts, and background designs. When you apply a theme to your presentation, it affects all slides.

Design Ideas layouts are generated based on the content of individual slides, but they also take into account the theme you’ve applied to your presentation. This means that the layout suggestions will use colors and fonts that match your chosen theme.

To apply a theme to your presentation:

1. Click on the Design tab in the PowerPoint ribbon.
2. In the Themes group, click on the More arrow to expand the theme gallery.
3. Click on a theme to apply it to your presentation.

You can also customize a theme by changing the colors, fonts, or effects:

1. Click on the Design tab in the PowerPoint ribbon.
2. In the Variants group, click on the More arrow next to Colors, Fonts, or Effects.
3. Choose a new color scheme, font combination, or effect style.

When customizing a theme, keep in mind that Design Ideas will generate layouts based on your chosen theme. So, if you want to ensure that your slides have a consistent look and feel, it’s best to choose a theme before generating Design Ideas layouts.

Best Practices for Using Design Ideas

To make the most of Design Ideas and create truly outstanding presentations, follow these best practices:

1. Start with an outline: Before diving into design, create an outline of your presentation. This will help you organize your content and ensure that your slides flow logically from one point to the next.
2. Use images strategically: While images can make your slides more visually appealing, avoid using too many. Choose images that are relevant to your content and that help reinforce your key points.
3. Keep it simple: Don’t try to cram too much information onto each slide. Use Design Ideas to create simple, clean layouts that are easy to read and understand.
4. Use animations and transitions sparingly: While animations and transitions can add visual interest to your presentation, overusing them can be distracting. Stick to simple, subtle effects that don’t detract from your content.
5. Test your presentation: Before delivering your presentation, test it out on a few people to get feedback. Ask them if the slides are clear, visually appealing, and easy to follow.

By following these best practices and leveraging the power of Design Ideas, you can create presentations that not only look great but also effectively communicate your message to your audience.

Final Thoughts

PowerPoint’s Design Ideas feature is a powerful tool for creating professional-looking presentations quickly and easily. By leveraging artificial intelligence, it generates visually appealing layouts based on your content, saving you time and effort.

To get the most out of Design Ideas, remember to:

• Enable the feature in PowerPoint Options
• Add content to your slides before generating layouts
• Experiment with different layout options
• Customize layouts to suit your needs
• Use high-quality images and consistent formatting
• Apply a PowerPoint theme for a cohesive look
• Follow best practices for creating effective presentations

With these tips and techniques, you’ll be able to create engaging, visually stunning presentations that effectively communicate your message to your audience. Give PowerPoint’s Design Ideas a try and see how it can elevate your presentation design skills to the next level!

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Trish Dixon

Trish Dixon is the founder of PPTBliss and a PowerPoint expert with over a decade of experience in presentation design. Passionate about visual storytelling, Trish shares her expertise through easy-to-follow tutorials on slide design, animations, transitions, and best practices, helping professionals create impactful presentations across industries.

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