The Ultimate Guide to Custom Powerpoint Tools
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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MAKING INTERACTIVE CONTENT IN POWERPOINT Interactive content is everywhere. We navigate screens for everything from buying groceries at the supermarket to streaming movies in our living rooms. This makes sense, since studies show it’s a great tool for engagement. Of course, you could be intimidated by the idea of spending hours crafting interactive content in expensive programs. Thankfully, it’s incredibly easy to make interactive content in PowerPoint. Read on to find out how. PLATFORM Before you can design your interactive content in PowerPoint, you must pick your platforms. This will determine the limits of your design. For instance, interactive content must be larger on tablets and smaller on mobile. To determine which platforms you should design for, read our breakdown of every major platform below. 1 MOBILE 2 TABLET 3 DESKTOP MOBILE DESKTOP When it comes to mobile design, don’t think small. When we say desktop, we don’t mean tablet. We Think compact. A common mistake for mobile mean a computer with a connected keyboard and design is to cram as much content onto the screen mouse. This means you won’t need to consider as possible. Instead of cramming, consider such elements as a pop-up keyboard. Desktop condensing. For instance, instead of stuffing your content is also much easier to prototype, as you screen with navigation buttons, hide each button are likely designing with a desktop copy of behind a hamburger button. PowerPoint. Likewise, keep your content clipped. Consider sentences instead of paragraphs. If you have to say something more substantial, simply insert a link to another slide. This applies to all interactive content in PowerPoint. TABLET Tablets are all about touch. While the same can be said for mobiles, tablets offer a lot more space. This increase in space enables a lot more interactivity. Because tablets offer more options, you must establish how your users will interact with them. Will they be mobile at a busy convention? Locked into a kiosk in your company’s lobby? Consider these options for interactivity and design accordingly. WHAT DO I WANT TO DESIGN? So you’ve picked your platform. Now what? Don’t just say “I’m going to design interactive content in PowerPoint”. Be specific. Study your audience’s needs, now imagine how you can fulfil them by creating interactive content in PowerPoint. For instance, let’s imagine you’re designing a learning module for local school-children. Because kids have short attention spans, they’ll need your content to be entertaining and engaging. In that case, you might consider creating a fun quiz. Whatever you want to create with PowerPoint, there are fundamental rules you must follow. Before we get to those, we’ll start with the most basic element of interactive content … BUTTONS BEGINNER BUTTON DESIGN ADVANCED BUTTON DESIGN Buttons are one of the easiest parts of creating If you’re looking to make a very specific sort of interactive content in PowerPoint. First of all, shape for your button, consider combining you must create a button that complements shapes. To achieve this, insert the two shapes your design. Unless you’d like a minimalist look, you wish to combine. Now, shift-click both this begins by creating a background shape for and go to the “Format” tab as above. This time your button. An easy way to achieve this is to you should see the “Merge Shapes” option on go to the “Insert” tab and insert any shape you the far left. like. By hovering over each option, you can see how Next, you can adjust the size, colour and texture your shapes will combine. of your shape by selecting it and clicking the “Format” tab. Once you have created a background for your button, you can overlay it with symbols and text. To do this, simply insert the text or symbol you wish to use. Resize it over your background, then combine them as above. 1 2 3 MAKING BUTTONS INTERACTIVE Now that you’ve designed your button, you must If you want users to activate your button with a make it an interactive element. To do this, select click (or touch), adjust the settings under the your button and go to the “Insert” tab. Click “Mouse Click” tab. If you want users to activate “Action”, which will activate the following option your button by mousing over it, adjust the settings box: under the “Mouse Over” tab. As well as navigation, buttons can be used to trigger animations and the appearance of other important elements. Say you want to create a hamburger button that pops out a menu to the rest of your content. First, create the hamburger button and each element in that menu. Now, group each element in the menu and apply a line animation from off-screen. In the animation pane, right-click that group and go to “Timing”. In the ensuing pop-up menu, click “Triggers”. Tick the box which says “Start Effect on Click of” and select your hamburger button. In PowerPoint, buttons are primarily used to navigate content through the “Hyperlink to” option you see above. To explore the art of navigation design, read on. NAVIGATION INTERFACES If users can’t find their way around your content, the effort you put into creating it will be wasted. While there are many options for navigating interactive content in PowerPoint, the soul of good navigation is simplicity. Below are a few options for understandable navigation interfaces. VERTICAL NAVIGATION MENUS 1 You should only insert a vertical navigation menu if you have the space. By placing a vertical navigation menu on the left, it will be easier for your users to find. By placing one on the right, you can save the left side of your screen for something more important. LONG SCROLLING 2 Long scrolling designs let users scroll through your content without navigating menus. This makes them much easier to use. To create long scrolling content, you must create one long image in PowerPoint. Insert this image into your 3 SINGLE OPTION HOME PAGE first slide. Now click “Duplicate” and This design gives users one option to crop it to your desired dimensions. interact with. That allows them to interact Under the “Transitions” tab, add a Push with your content immediately, making it transition between your current slide easier to funnel them through your and the next one. Repeat these steps experience thereafter. for every slide, and crop each to the position you would like your users to A single option home page also keeps your scroll to. design clear of clutter, allowing your content to stand out. FULL-SCREEN NAVIGATION 4 Instead of hiding your content behind a menu, this turns your content into a menu. By using large images overlayed with text, your users can immediately explore your content. MASTERING SLIDE MASTERS The key to creating effective interactive content in PowerPoint is consistency. By keeping your designs similar across your content, you’ll save your users the stress of learning new layouts. Of course, consistency can be mind-numbingly boring to maintain. This is especially true for interactive content, which can contain hundreds of intricate elements. To save you the hours it would take to adjust them manually, we’re going to show you how to create a slide master. A slide master allows you to edit multiple slides at once, saving you hours of adjusting content. CREATING A 1 SLIDE MASTER Creating a slide master is quite simple. All you have to do is click the “View” tab and 2 select “Slide Master”. This will insert a slide above all other slides in the slide view sidebar. 1 2 APPLYING CHANGING FONT UNIVERSAL THROUGHOUT THEMES YOUR Your theme affects the colours, fonts, and INTERACTIVE effects of your slides. This is essential to consider when creating interactive content in PowerPoint. By adjusting the CONTENT theme of your master slide, you can quickly adjust the look of your interactive This little trick will save you hours spent content in PowerPoint. By using the updating every textbox. To change your Background group on your “Slide Master” font, follow these two steps: tab, you can do the following: • To apply a built-in theme, click Click your slide master at the top Themes. If you aren’t satisfied with the 1 of the “Slide Master” pane. themes you see, don’t worry. You can right-click any theme to see more ways to apply it. 2 Go to the Background group and • To adjust the colour of your theme in click “Fonts” to adjust the font your master slide, select “Colors”. across your PowerPoint. Pick a font from the list, or click • To set a style for the background “Customize Fonts” to access of your interactive content, click more options. “Background Styles”. 1 2 3 ADD EFFECTS INSERTING ACROSS YOUR MULTIPLE SLIDE INTERACTIVE MASTERS Perhaps you don’t want one design applied to CONTENT every element of your PowerPoint. After all, it Effects can include anything from would make it difficult for users to understand sensational shadows to fabulous fills. where they are within your content. To To enhance your interactive content in differentiate your slides with ease, all you PowerPoint with these powerful effects, need to do is insert multiple slide masters. follow these two steps: In order to apply different slide masters to different groups of slides, simply follow these four steps: 1. At the top of the “Slide Master” pane, click your slide master. 2. Click “Effects” to select from the 1 Click the “View” tab, then click variety on offer.