Presentation Tips: How to Make Your Slides Pretty

Ever sat through a presentation so bad you wanted to close your laptop?

Too much text. Clashing colors. Tiny fonts.

It happens all the time—and it’s a killer.

Here’s the truth: If your slides are ugly people stop listening. No matter how good your message is, bad design will make your audience tune out before you even get to the point.

But when your presentation is simple, organized and beautiful people stay focused, absorb the information and remember what you said.

Let’s get down to business and design slides that are great and keep your audience engaged.

1. Keep It Simple: Less Is More

Too many people try to fit everything on one slide—paragraphs of text, multiple charts and several bullet points.

This overloads the audience and makes it impossible to process information. Instead of helping your message, cluttered slides are a distraction.

The best presentations prioritize clarity. Each slide should focus on one idea. If you need to explain multiple concepts break them up into separate slides. White space is your friend; it keeps your slides clean and makes key points pop.

Here’s how:

• One idea per slide—don’t overload the slide with too much information.
• Minimize text and focus on key points.
• Leave plenty of white space to avoid visual overload.

As a rule of thumb if someone can’t get your slide’s main point in three seconds it’s too busy. Less content per slide makes for a more powerful and memorable presentation.

2. Pick the Right Fonts & Text Size

Your font choice can make or break your presentation. If the text is too small or hard to read your audience will struggle to keep up—and if they can’t read your slides they’ll tune out.

For readability always use sans-serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica, Montserrat or Open Sans. These fonts are clean, modern and easy to read on screens. Avoid script fonts or decorative styles as they can make text hard to process especially from a distance.

Font size matters too:

• Titles: 36-44px (big and bold so everyone can see).
• Body text: 24-32px (so people in the back can read comfortably).
• Never use all caps unless you’re emphasizing one word or short phrase.

You want to make sure everyone in the room can read your content without squinting.

3. Use High Contrast Colors

A bad color scheme can make your slides unreadable. If your text blends into the background your audience will struggle to follow. High contrast color combinations make your content pop and easy to read.

Follow these color rules:

• Dark text on a light background (or vice versa) for visibility.
• Stick to 2-3 colors max for consistency.
• Don’t use red and green together—colorblind people will struggle to distinguish them.
• Test colors on different screens to make sure they look right.

A simple professional color scheme makes for better readability and keeps the focus on your content.

4. Get Rid of Bullet Points, Use Visuals Instead

Bullet points work but they’re overused and make your slides feel like a text document. People process visual information 60,000 times faster than text so replacing long bullet points with graphics, charts or icons makes your content more interesting.

Here’s how to replace text with visuals:

• Use icons instead of listing key points in text.
• Convert statistics into bar graphs, pie charts or infographics for more impact.
• Use screenshots for step by step demonstrations instead of long descriptions.

An image or chart in the right place makes an impact in seconds, a long list of bullet points can get overwhelming fast.

5. Layout: Keep It Simple & Balanced

A messy slide makes it hard for your audience to focus. To keep things organized you need a clean layout that balances text, images and white space.

Here’s how to layout your slides:

• Follow the Rule of Thirds, place your key elements in natural focal points.
• Use grids and alignment tools to keep everything tidy.
• Keep consistent spacing and margins to avoid a messy look.

A well laid out slide makes your presentation look professional.

6. Use High Res Images (No Low Res Stock Photos)

Nothing makes a presentation feel cheaper than low res, blurry stock photos. People can spot generic images with forced smiles and unrealistic scenarios and they add zero value to your slides.

Instead use real high quality visuals:

• Choose real high res images from Unsplash, Pexels or your own collection.
• Make sure all images are relevant to your message—don’t use random photos as filler.
• Avoid generic stock images that look staged or unnatural.

A good visual supports your message and keeps your audience engaged.

7. Animations & Transitions: Less Is More

PowerPoint and Google Slides have plenty of animations and transitions—but just because they exist doesn’t mean you should use them all.

Keep animations simple and intentional:

• Use fade-in transitions for a smooth look.
• Avoid spinning text, bouncing images and too much movement—they distract not enhance.
• Only animate key elements that need emphasis.

A good animation can increase engagement but too many make your presentation look amateur.

8. Templates & Tools to Make It Easier

If you’re not a designer creating professional looking slides from scratch can be hard. Luckily there are plenty of tools and templates to help.

Here are some of the best tools to create beautiful slides:

• Canva – High quality, customizable slide templates.
• PowerPoint Designer – Automatically suggests professional layouts.
• Google Slides – Free and easy to use presentation software.
• Prezi – Good for storytelling and non linear presentations.

Using a well designed template can make your presentation look better and save you hours of design time.

Summary

Most presentations fail because they overcomplicate the design. Cluttered slides, tiny font, low res images and too much text makes it impossible for your audience to stay engaged.

The best presentations follow a simple formula:

• Keep slides tidy – One idea per slide.
• Use big fonts and easy to read fonts – No one should struggle to read your content.
• Stick to a colour scheme – High contrast makes it readable.
• Replace text with visuals whenever you can – Images and charts are better than bullet points.
• Avoid annoying animations – Subtle transitions are professional.

By following these rules you can create beautiful slides that grab attention and leave a lasting impression. Now go and design a presentation that actually engages your audience.