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© 2005 by Rick Altman. All Rights Reserved.
We are big proponents of using photography and imagery instead of the seemingly-endless procession of bullets that curses the presentation landscape. So we were conflicted when we reached the conclusion that sometimes use of a photo can hurt, not help. Indeed, it is possible for background imagery to be so striking that it could actually take attention away from the content designed for the foreground.
You should never reject material because it is too good, however, so instead, view it as an opportunity to exercise a new and easily-learned skill in PowerPoint.
Figure 1: This well-composed photo has dark areas and light areas that are too distinct. This makes it difficult to reliably place light or dark text in front of it. As good as it is, it fails as a background. |
For instance, Figure 1 shows an Architectural image with a beautiful deep-blue image. The vertical lines and the setting sun both add quite a bit of drama to the illustration…but they also compete with the title and subtitle text. You could mitigate this a bit by dropping a reversed-out shadow behind the text (white if you use black titles; black if you use white), but before long, your audience will become fatigued. Your mission here is to reduce the contrast so the image sinks into the background more. It will still be plenty dramatic, but with less risk of overwhelming the foreground.
Start by editing the master title slide, because you want this change to apply to every title slide that you use in your presentation. Draw a rectangle over the entire title slide. Using the tools in the Drawing toolbar at the bottom of the interface, remove the outline and set the fill to a deep, dark blue (we chose 0R 0G 102B). When finished, the rectangle will cover everything, but not for long.
Figure 2: By placing a semi-transparent rectangle atop this photo, you can effectively reduce its contrast and mute its colors a bit. That will allow the foreground text to pop out more. |
Any element you create in PowerPoint can have transparency applied to it, and that is the key to this adventure. Right-click the rectangle, choose Format AutoShape, and note the Transparency slider near the top of the dialog. Move the slider to the right to add transparency, and click the Preview button to see the results right away. Adjust the slider until you are satisfied with the results. We like about 60% transparency, as shown in Figure 2.
OK the dialog box and then use the Draw menu at the lower-left to move the rectangle all the way to the back – that way the title and subtitle text will be in front of the rectangle and will appear in bright white. With the background muted a bit, the text will be more readable and that beautiful illustration will be more effective as a background image. Now you have a slide design (Figure 3) that you can work with.
Figure 3: This photo remains striking, but now will not cause reader fatigure by competing excessivly with the foreground content. |
May 2007: As simple as possible, but not simpler... · April 2007: Killer Keystrokes · March 2007: Resolution Confusion · January 2007: Fearless Forecasts for 2007 · November 2006: Epiphanies at PowerPoint Live 2006 · August 2006: Escaping Death by PowerPoint · July 2006: Notes from the Floor of InfoComm · June 2006: Beyond PowerPoint--Making Movies for Business and Pleasure, Part II · May 2006: Beyond PowerPoint--From Photos to DVDs · April 2006: It’s Your Music!--Overcoming the oppressive restrictions of iTunes · March 2006: CorelDraw X3—A few must-haves and a few missed opportunities, all in all, a credible upgrade · February 2006: Making Windows Inhabitable · January 2006: Fearless Forecasts for 2006 · September 2005: Just What is a Background Anyway? · August 2005: Meet David Dobson, Corel's New CEO · July 2005: Community, Blind Dates. and Albert Einstein: An Interview with the PowerPoint Live Conference Host · June 2005: CorelWorld 2005: Image Editors, Executive Appearances, and Krispy Kremes · May 2005: As Adobe's Shadow Grows, Is Corel Better off or Worse? · March 2005: Delivering Your Presentation: How Close to the Source Can You Get? · February 2005: Digital Photography: The Killer App of this Generation Part II · January 2005: Digital Photography: The Killer App of this Generation · November 2004: A Killer Deal for Corel Or Another Distraction? · September 2004: The Scourge that is Kazaa and AOL Instant Messenger · August 2004: The Golden Triangle: Presenter, Audience, and Slides · July 2004: A Blast from the Past: How Fast is Fast Enough? · June 2004: Guilty Pleasures · May 2004: A Personal Wish List for PowerPoint 12 · April 2004: Eyedropping: Version 12 makes a good tool even better... · March 2004: Deadly Sins Of Modern PowerPoint Usage · February 2004: Is the even-numbered curse finally over? · January 2004: Another take on Achieving Absence of Ugliness · November 2003: What can we do it again??--Debut of PowerPoint Live Leaves Unquenchable Thirst with the Host · September 2003: Corel Corp. Has a New Custodian · July 2003: Candor and Contrition at CorelWORLD · June 2003: What a Long, Great Trip It’s Been! · May 2003: The Boat that Corel is Missing · April 2003: No Fooling...Is Corel Breaking Up? · March 2003: The Annual Design-a-Brochure Contest · February 2003: Symbolism is Everything · January 2003: Mania, Our Semi-Annual Pilgrimage to Holland · October 2002: On Creativity, Problem-Solving, and Paper Bags · July 2002: CorelDRAW 11: Surprise, Surprise... · May 2002: The Sound of Silence: What does it mean when a company plays its cards so close to its chest? · April 2002: The Art and Science of Presentation Graphics--Creating for the Screen Has its own Challenges · March 2002: CorelDRAW 11: What kind of personality and attitude should a software program have today? · February 2002: Oy, my aching fingers... · December 2001: Digital Photography · November 2001: Can we say goodbye to the Rolls Royce Mentality? · October 2001: An Unforgettable Week: The drama that unfolded around CorelWORLD · August-September 2001: The Art of Paragraphics: New-age ingredients for success with Corel VENTURA · July 2001: Your Very Own Interface: How to make Corel applications read your mind · June 2001: Fighting the Font Wars: How to stay sane with your sans · May 2001--Turning the Key at Nicholas-Applegate · April 2001--A Modest Proposal for Reviving VENTURA Publisher
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