Creating Backgrounds

Good PowerPoint backgrounds have light or dark colors so that a very dark or very light font color can be used effectively. In most cases, it is better to use dark text on a light background than the inverse.

Effective PowerPoint backgrounds may look like they don’t have a lot of visual interest. That’s usually because interest should be focused on your content – the words and images that are the subject of your slide. In other words, your content should not be competing with your background for the viewer’s attention. Because most of the backgrounds and slide designs packaged with PowerPoint violate a number of core principles of sound graphic design, a basic ability to create attractive background images is one of the most valuable skills a PowerPoint user can have.

Selecting An Image

There are many websites that offer copyright-free images, and a few of them are quite good. Some recommended sources of images, including those for use as backgrounds, are listed on the Resources and Further Reading page.

It is important to select an image that is large enough to display well when used to cover your screen. The default PowerPoint slide size is 10" wide by 7.5" tall. Any website that offers images explicitly for use as background material should be providing high-resolution files which are sufficient for your needs.

When you are selecting an image, keep the following criteria in mind:

• A good background image should be relevant to your topic.
• The image should not have a strong central subject.
• The image should not be framed in a way that limits your options in individual slide layouts and graphics (for example, a wide border area that confines content to the center of the slide).
• Images with naturally high contrast (very bright and very dark areas) are unlikely to translate into good backgrounds, especially if these areas reflect the distinction between a primary subject and its own background.

Creating A Background Image

When you have found an image you would like to use as a background for your slides, save it to your hard drive. In PowerPoint, go to View > Master > Slide Master and insert your picture. Drag it to the upper lefthand corner of the slide (this will be easy if your preferences in View > Grid and Guides are set to "Snap objects to other objects"). Then, while holding down the Shift key, drag the resizing handle at the bottom-righthand corner of the image to resize it so that the image covers the entire slide. (If the image is not the correct shape for the slide, resize it so that the entire slide is covered and then shift the image to your liking, or crop it under Format > Picture; do not resize the image using an image handle located on one of the image’s edges.) Look closely at the image to make sure it does not look distorted or blurry. If it does, select a different image. When you have placed and sized an image on your master slide, select Draw > Order > Send to Back.

Click on Format > Picture and select the Picture tab in the window that appears. Under the Image control heading, try selecting Washout from the "Color" dropdown list, and then click Preview at the bottom of the window. If you like the automatically-selected settings, click OK. If you do not, reselect Automatic from the list and then adjust the sliders for Brightness and Contrast, located under the "Image control" section of the window, so that the brightness is high (between 70-85%, depending on the picture) and the contrast is low (15-40%, depending on the image). Click Preview to view a combination of settings, and OK when you are satisfied with your brightness and contrast levels.

Adding A Border

Good PowerPoint backgrounds have muted colors to ensure that text can be easily read under a variety of viewing conditions. One easy way to enhance the color that remains in a high brightness/low contrast background is to add a colored border that emphasizes or complements subtle colors that are present in the background image itself. This involves a bit of PowerPoint hackery, but the effect is worth the effort.

Background images can also be added to slides using the Format > Background command, but we chose to insert the image directly onto the master slide because this allows for adjustments to be made to the image. Adding a border is an example of one of these adjustments.

To add a border, right-click on the background image and select Format > Picture. Click on the Colors and Lines tab in the Format Picture window, and select a line color. Then select a weight, in multiples of four, and type "pt" at the end. One good border weight, for example, is "12 pt" – thick enough to bring color to the slide, but not so thick as to draw all attention to the frame. Click OK.

Since PowerPoint recognizes the edge of the object as the inside edge of your border, not the outside edge, you will then need to manually adjust the size and position of your image to take this frame into account. To adjust the size, you will click on the Size tab in the Format Picture window. To adjust the Position, click on the Position tab and then select Center in the two righthand dropdown “From:” lists (the default is "Top Left Corner"). Keeping in mind that PowerPoint’s slide size is 10" x 7.5", the formulas for determining the correct size and position are shown in the table below.

Preview the results, and check your calculations if necessary. When you are satisfied with the results, click OK.

Adding A Color Screen

Another way to add interest to a background is to add a semi-transparent layer of color over the top of the background image. This tends to darken the overall image if you are starting with a high brightness/low contrast background, but can add some visual interest by giving the background an unusual color balance. This effect can be used to make specific objects appear more abstract, traits which can contribute to a background’s success.

To add a color screen, navigate to the master slide (View > Masters > Slide Master) to which you’d like to add the color screen. Click on Autoshapes > Basic Shapes on the Drawing toolbar and select the rectangle object. Draw a rectangle over the entire slide. Then click on the dropdown arrow next to the Fill Color icon, select More Fill Colors, and select the color of your choice. At the bottom of this window is a Transparency slider bar; select the desired level of transparency (it should be between 50-90%, depending on the richness of the color you have chosen and the brightness of your background image), click Preview, and then click OK when you are satisfied with your settings. Send the transparency to back (Draw > Order > Send to Back) and then send your background image to back.

If you are adding a border to your background, you should add it to this color screen, rather than to your background image, unless you wish to have the screen applied over your border as well.

Resources

Background Example Slides (Toolkit CD)