what colours to use for presentation

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How to Choose the Best Colors for Your Presentations

Choosing colors for your slides is one of the most crucial decisions to make even before starting to work on your Google Slides or PowerPoint presentation. Basically, colors can help you communicate your message more effectively, and they can evoke many different feelings or emotions on your audience. Keep reading to find out how to choose the best colors for your presentation.

Color Psychology

Color temperature, neutral colors, some tips on how to combine colors for your presentation.

It is quite important to know how your audience perceives colors and how these are related to the topic you are talking about. For example, red can convey a sense of danger, but also love, depending on the context. These are some common connotations that colors have on humans:

• Red : Evokes passion and strength. It’s an energetic and intense color that represents power and determination. It’s usually present on brands related to beverages, gaming and the automotive industry.
• Blue : Conveys a sense of security, confidence, responsibility and calmness. It is the most representative color in the healthcare and finance industries.
• Yellow : This is the color of light. It is a stimulating color that conveys energy, awakes awareness and inspires creativity. You will surely find yellow in the food industry.
• Green : Undeniably, the color of nature, life and peace. This color conveys a sense of growth, balance and stability like no other. It is quite popular among big companies, especially in the energy and tech industries.
• White : It is considered the color of purity and innocence. When it comes to evoking simplicity, optimism and integrity, white is second to none. You will find it for sure in the healthcare industry, and it is making its way in the fashion industry too.
• Black : Even though black is associated with seriousness, it can also convey elegance and courage. Fashion brands and luxury products make good use this color.

Take note of these hints and try to choose the color that best suits your message. For example, in this template we used bright and vibrant colors, since it is an education-themed presentation intended for a very young audience:

Click here to download this template

Colors can be grouped based on their temperature , which can be determined by comparing any given color in the visible spectrum with the light that a black body would emit when heated at a specified temperature. So, according to their temperature, there are two groups of colors: 

• Warm colors: These range from red and orange to yellow. If you click on the footer below, you will be able to download one of our templates containing a palette full of warm colors:

• Cool colors: These range from green and blue to violet. Again, click on the footer below to download a template that contains cool colors:

Mainly, warm colors convey energy and optimism—it is like giving a warm reception to your audience. On the other hand, cool colors are associated with serenity and confidence, just what you need to have a peaceful time.

White, black and all shades of gray are not considered neither warm nor cool. In fact, we could say colors such as creme, beige, brown and others with a high amount of gray are also neutral.  These colors do not influence others and can actually be combined with almost any color. As for their meaning, elegance and solemnity are pretty much guaranteed, as well as harmony.  When combining neutral colors, oftentimes a bright color is used as a contrast to highlight certain elements and bring them to the front. Click on the footer below to see an example of a presentation with neutral colors: 

To achieve a nice color harmony and make the most of it, it is best if you take into account the color wheel, as well as the concepts of hue, saturation and brightness. 

• Hue is basically what differentiates a color from any other. Thanks to the hue, you can visually tell apart red from blue, for example.
• Brightness defines how light or dark a hue is, and measures its capacity to reflect white light.
• Saturation refers to how pure a hue is. A saturated color appears more vivid, whereas a desaturated color looks duller.

With this information, you can make several different combinations: 

• Monochromatic Color Scheme: These contain different shades of a single color. Click on the footer to see one of our monochromatic templates based on red.

• Complementary Color Scheme: These are composed of a pair of opposing colors on the color wheel. If you click on the footer below, you will be able to download a presentation template with this scheme.

Analogous Color Scheme: This scheme includes colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Click on the footer to see an example of this scheme applied to a presentation: 

Triadic Color Scheme: This uses three colors equally spaced on the color wheel. Click on the footer to download a presentation that makes use of the triadic color scheme.

In order to get the best combination, you will need to consider how many colors you will use in each slide and how you will manage the contrast between them. These should also be suitable for your intended message or your brand.   Finally, try not to overuse very intense colors—use them only for emphasis. Keep everything consistent by applying the same color to each instance of an element within your presentation (for example, use the same color in all the titles). Include illustrations or pictures that work well with the chosen palette. If you need to apply filters to the pictures, you can refer to our “ How to Apply Filters to the Pictures in Google Slides ” tutorial, or its PowerPoint equivalent. Some of our templates include color variants, making it so much easier for you to adapt them to your topic and/or brand. Just click one of the options that you will find below “Themes” on the right side of the screen. 

Selecting color variants

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Using The Right Colors In Powerpoint Presentations

Home   >  Presentation Design > Colors in PowerPoint

In this article you will learn the art of using colors effectively. By understanding the significance of colors and where to use them, you can make your message more impactful and memorable.

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3 Ways to Choose Colors in PowerPoint

How to Use Your Company Colors as Color Theme

You can pick the exact color of your Company logo  using free software or the PowerPoint Eye Dropper Tool. Watch the video below to know more.

How to find custom color palettes

If you are looking to find a beautiful color palette to use in your presentation, please check the video below for a great resource:

The meaning behind different colors

The colors you choose can evoke emotions and influence your audience's perception of your content. In the rest of this article, we will explore the significance of common colors used in presentations and where to use them for maximum impact.

Download 10 Free PowerPoint Title Sets Click here to sign up & Download ALL 10 PowerPoint templates showcased below for free.

The Power of Red:

Red is a color that exudes excitement and energy. It inspires action and motivates people to take charge. 

Take a look at the following PowerPoint title templates:

Free Red PowerPoint Title Template

Free Red PowerPoint Title Template 2

When to use Red:

Use red when you want your audience to take action. It's perfect for sales presentations where you want your audience to sign on the dotted line or project presentations where you want to encourage your team to meet deadlines. Red is a powerful color that can drive results.

However, it's important to use red in moderation as it also signifies danger. In finance presentations, for example, it's best to use red sparingly.

The Calming Effect of Blue:

Blue is a color that signifies professionalism, trust, and credibility. It's no wonder that most business presentations use a blue theme. When used correctly, blue can create a sense of calmness and reassurance in your audience.

Take a look at these blue themed title templates:

Download Free Blue Color PowerPoint Template

When to use Blue:

Use blue as a base color when you want to inspire trust and credibility in your audience. If your presentation is about your company's values and tradition, blue should be your color of choice. Blue is also an excellent option for finance presentations and investor presentations.

Exuding Warmth With Orange:

Free PowerPoint Background with Orange Colors

The color orange is known to evoke feelings of warmth and happiness. It's like a bright and sunny day that fills us with positive energy and joy. So, if you want to bring cheer to your presentations, consider using orange as your background color.

Orange PowerPoint Title Template for Free Download

When to use orange

It's important to use the color orange wisely. While it's perfect for presentations aimed at youth or children, it may not be suitable for serious settings. But, if you're looking to raise funds for a good cause or announce a happy initiative for your staff, orange can convey care and warmth.

Shades of Versatile Green:

Green is a versatile color that represents nature, novelty, abundance, and cheerfulness. 

Green PowerPoint Nature Title Template

When to use green

It's a natural choice for presentations about health or ecology, and it can also convey hope in finance presentations.

Free Green Lines PowerPoint Title Set

However, it's worth noting that people with color blindness may find it difficult to read green and red combinations. So, be mindful of your audience and choose your colors wisely.

The Classy Purple:

Purple has long been associated with royalty, class, and exclusivity. Yet, it's not a color that's commonly used in corporate presentations. By incorporating purple into your design, you can convey a sense of luxury, richness, and style that will set your presentation apart.

Free PowerPoint Title Set - Purple

When to use Purple:

Financial institutions often use purple to convey exclusivity. It is a great choice for brochures and other marketing materials. When used in the background of your presentation, purple can add a touch of dignity and sophistication that will impress your audience.

The Allure of Black:

Black is a color that evokes a sense of strength, sophistication, and conservatism. It's a versatile color that pairs well with most other colors, making it a popular choice for designers looking to add richness to their designs.

Free Black Color PowerPoint Title Template

When to use black

In presentations, black is often used as a background color to highlight product packaging or other key elements. Because it's the absence of color, black can make other colors appear brighter and more vibrant.

It goes well with most colors and hence used by most designers to add richness to their designs.

Choosing the Right Colors:

When it comes to selecting the right colors for your presentation, it's important to experiment and find the combination that works best for your message. If you're unsure, stick to white backgrounds with a few design elements to break up the monotony. Remember, the colors you choose can have a significant impact on how your message is received. By incorporating the right color into your design, you can create a presentation that's memorable, impactful, and professional.

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The Psychology of Color in PowerPoint Presentations

• April 12, 2013
• Kevin Lerner

Discover how the colors you choose for your PowerPoint presentations can guide the emotional response of your audience.

What are the best colors for a powerpoint presentation it all depends on who your audience is and what you want them to feel.

When used correctly, color can help audience members sort out the various elements of a slide. But its power goes beyond mere clarification. To some extent the colors you choose for your visuals guide the emotional response of your audience.

Blue: The most popular background color for presentation slides

Blue is one of the most common background colors. It’s calming and conservative, which is why it’s very popular with business presenters, as well as for for trainers. Studies have shown that blue has the power to slow our breathing and pulse rates. Dark blue backgrounds with light text are great for conservative corporate no-nonsense presentations. Lighter blue- more common in re cent times- work well in relaxed environments with the lights on, and help promote interaction.

Examples of BLUE in Presentations

• Quest Diagnostics: A serious company with a seriously navy blue background. The subtle angled lines promote a feeling a movement and technology. Blue complements the Green of Quest’s logo, and the white title bar provides a clean but stark contrast to the body.
• This blue template for waste management firm Republic Services provides a conservative backdrop for the financials and white bullet points. The yellow titles stand out, as does the orange, red and blue themed imagery at the bottom, not to mention the company’s logo.
• This slide for Dr. Soram Khalsa’ Complementrix Vitamin system features a template with a dark blue with angled lines. And the inner portion of the template featured a light blue-hue burst of a sun-ray to convey bright life and energy.
• This slide for Lender Direct featured an image of a file folder, edited in Photoshop, with a 80 % transparency set against a light blue background. The light blue graphic helped to convey a sense of openeness , and professionalism, while maintaining the company’s blue brand.

Green: Stimulates interaction and puts people at ease

Green stimulates interaction. It’s a friendly color that’s great for warmth and emotion. Green is commonly used in PowerPoint presentations for trainers, educators, and others whose presentations are intended to generate discussion. It’s also a great color for environmental and earth-oriented discussions.

Examples of Green in Presentations

• This slide for Hills Pet Nutrition features a modern green background with textured lines promoting a warm, but contemporary feeling. Great for their topic on pet affection.
• Money is green and so is this presentation for Presidio Finance. The white text contrasts nicely with the forest green finance images, helping to project a no-nonsense image of success and accomplishment.
• In this slide for TD Waterhouse, we created top title bar in dark green, integrating smoothly with their lime green logo. The green-hued process chart on the slide image stands out comfortably against the textured grey background.
• The flowing green arcs at the bottom and green title text helps substantiate this slides message of health and vitality. Executive Success Team’s green logo and brand also promotes a relaxed and comfortable feeling, just like Mona Vie.

Red: Handle with Care in Presentations!

Red is one of the most influential colors in your software palette — but it also carries negative cultural attachments, so use it carefully. Red is also a great color for conveying passion. Or talking about the competition. Do not use Red in financial information or tables and charts.

Examples of RED in Presentations

• The rich red of Oracle is maintained in this template, featuring red title text in an inset red rectangle and a red bottom bar of binary numbers for a look of blazing edge technology
• Trace Security uses a similar red title bar element, tying in to their black and red logo and brand.
• Red and black are also colors for Sales Training Consultants, and in this slide, we used a flat beige background, with a title bar in bright red together with red bullets and a red target graphic.
• The body pages of the Grenada presentation feature Red, but in an inset border. Text is inversed in white, as is the main body area. The key states in this map are highlighted in red.

Purple: Mystical and Emotional color in presentations and design

Purple is often associated with royalty and wealth. Purple also represents wisdom and spirituality. Purple does not often occur in nature, it can sometimes appear exotic or artificial. Nearly all the clients who come to me with presentations featuring purple or lavender are women. It’s a feminine color and it’s a good color for emotional or spiritual presentations.

Examples of Purple in Presentations

• Crosley & Company’s branding is maintained with a dominant dark purple background, and orange titles.
• A soft lavender background option gives these two medical doctors a chance to add some warmth for their mostly women audiences.

Yellow, Orange, & Gold: Attention-getting colors of affluence and prestige

Yellow can create feelings of frustration and anger. While it is considered a cheerful color, people are more likely to lose their tempers in yellow rooms and babies tend to cry more in yellow rooms.

Since yellow is the most visible color, it is also the most attention-getting color. Yellow can be used in small amount to draw notice, such as key words, or highlights but not in backgrounds. Rather than using flat yellow as a background color, consider a more “golden” or orange color. Simply adding texture to a yellow background or superimposing a photo (in Photoshop) with low transparency, can add more richness to the yellow background image.

Examples of Yellow / Gold in Presentations

• This flat yellow slide is for Web-Reach, an internet consulting firm in Miami. Even though their message was to compete with the Yellow Pages phone book, their yellow background was flat and uninspired.
• With a simple fix in Photoshop, yellow became Gold, and the same slide became more robust. We added a red bar to the top, and a grey arc to the left. Same information, just a textured golden hue helped deliver elegance and style.
• A golden textured earth background helped this slide convey the message of international elegance. The green money background blends with the gold, and the black text brings a nonsense message to the page.
• A golden textured background for Fountainhead Consulting with elements of yellow, blue, red, and grey.

Black: A strong and definite color that’s often overlooked!

Don’t forget your basic black. Often overlooked, black is a background color with useful psychological undertones. Its neutrality makes it a good backdrop for financial information. Black connotes finality and also works well as a transitional color which is why the fade to black transition is powerful, as it gives the impression of starting fresh.

Examples of Black in Presentations

• It’s a matter of black and white for this construction company. It’s intro slides were pure white text on a black background, emphasizing the company’s core beliefs. After the 3 b&w slides, the room lit-up with a series of dynamic colorful slides as the speakers enlightened the audience.
• Over 10 years old, this slide from Ryder transportation remains one of the strongest visuals. Set against a flat black background, the company’s grey logomark conveys a true sense of stability and no-nonsense action. The monotone building blocks tell a strong story.

White: Pure, Fresh and Clean. But a little boring.

White is also a calm and neutral color for presentations. It’s terrific for conveying a fresh start such as a fade to white. It represents purity or innocence. Good for positive information where you want the focus purely on the message, and not competing with a brand image. It’s clean/open and inviting and can create a sense of space or add highlights. But it can also be perceived as cheap, flat (it’s the default color for PowerPoint slides) and harsh on the eyes. Consider grey as a better background color.

Examples of White in Presentations

• To help to maintain a clean and open look this consumer collaborative called on us to integrate their brand colors set against a plain white background. The blue and orange bars provided a conservative frame, while the arcs provided a contemporary look of flow and motion.
• This slide for a large architecture and construction firm featured a flat white background offset by a colorful series of modern buildings and logos.

Grey and Silver: A conservative color; Good when Black or White won’t work.

According to psychologists, grey is often thought of as a negative color. It can be the color of evasion and non-commitment since it is neither black nor white. Some say that Grey is the color of independence and self-reliance. A few years ago, silver was the most popular color for cars. And in the presentation world, this calm color is making a comeback. Grey (or “Silver”) is a softer background than the harsh default color of white, and works well on almost all presentations. A dark grey background with light text…or light grey background with dark text…you can’t go wrong!

Examples of Grey in Presentations

• Farmers Insurance’s silver background integrates subtle ray of light elements to help add depth and texture to this slide. The red, blue, and black stock images blend comfortably with the rest of the page. And the white border around the letters add a level of modernism and clarity.
• The stainless steel background of this slide helps promote a modern contemporary look, helping to link the 4 brands together.
• A clean flowing blue arc with a non-obtrusive silver background help make this slide for Margie Seyfer appear fun but conservative
• Interim Healthcare’s brand is maintained, but a muted image in silver help add depth and dimension to the slide’s message, while supporting its key points.

We perceive dark colors as being “heavier” than light ones, so graphic elements that are arranged from darkest to lightest are the easiest for the eyes to scan. On charts, it’s best to arrange colors from dark to light.

Remember that most eyes aren’t perfect. Because color perception deficiencies are common, certain color combinations — including red/green, brown/green, blue/black and blue/purple — should be avoided.

color , powerpoint , powerpoint tips , presentation design , psychology of color , style

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By Matt Moran January 3, 2024

22 Best PowerPoint Color Schemes to Make Your Presentation Stand Out in 2024

There’s nothing worse than an amateur PowerPoint presentation. If you’re going into a business meeting or sales pitch, your presentation slides should look as professional as you do. That’s why choosing the right color scheme is so important.

In this post, we’ll be sharing a roundup of 22 of the best PowerPoint color schemes you can use to make your presentation look the part. 

All the color schemes on this list have been incorporated into templates created by professional designers, so they’re super-stylish and guaranteed to make your slides stand out.

Whether you’re an educator looking for a color scheme that will keep your students engaged, or a business professional who wants to make an impact in your next meeting, you’re sure to find something suitable below.

Tips for Choosing the Best PowerPoint Color Schemes

Before we jump into the roundup, let’s talk about how to choose the right color scheme for your needs. Here are a few things to bear in mind when you’re comparing your options.

1. Use High Contrast Colors

When it comes to color, contrast is the number one most important consideration. Text, icons, and other important graphics on your slides need to be highly readable, so you need to make sure to use high contrast colors for these elements. 

In other words, use a color with a significantly different tone/brightness from your background. Certain colors are inherently lighter/darker than others. For example, blue is much darker than yellow. As such, these colors tend to pair well together.

I’d also recommend never combining warm and cold colors, like bright red on bright blue or vice versa. This is because human eyes have trouble distinguishing interactions between the different wavelengths, which causes eye fatigue.

2. Consider Color Associations (Psychology)

People have certain subconscious associations with different colors. For example, people associate blue with trust, calmness, and reliability, which makes it a safe choice for business presentations. 

Green is associated with nature, peace, and organic products, which might make it a good choice if you’re working on a sales pitch for an eco-friendly product. 

Black evokes sophistication, seriousness, evil, and mystery, so it can work just as well for spooky Halloween lesson PowerPoints as for high-end fashion brand presentations.

Try to choose a color scheme that fits the kind of associations you want to make. If you’re working on a brand PowerPoint presentation, a safe bet is to stick with your brand colors.

3. Always Use Gradients

In nature, colors rarely appear in solid blocks – they transition gradually from one hue to the next and blend into each other.  

Because we’re used to seeing colors naturally act this way, you should try to do the same in your PowerPoint presentations by blending colors into each other using gradients. Blocks of solid color can look amateurish. 

The good news is that all the templates on this list are designed by professionals who understand this and therefore use natural color gradients to create a professional look.

4. Choose the Right Color Scheme for Your Screen Type

Finally, don’t forget to consider the screen you plan on showcasing your PowerPoint presentation on. Darker color schemes will look good on close-up screens like tablets and desktops. However, lighter colors work better for projections as they tend to be more readable. 

In particular, never use red text if you’re projecting your presentation onto an external screen, as if any kind of unwanted ambient light/glare hits the screen, the color will wash out. In fact, it’s best to avoid any brightly colored text if you’re using a projector.

22 Best PowerPoint Color Schemes

Alright, let’s jump into the list. Below, we’ve listed our top 22 favorite PowerPoint templates with awesome color schemes.

1. Shades of Grey and Yellow – Our Top Pick

If you’re looking for a darker color scheme to use for a business presentation, you can’t go wrong with the Hornette template. Darker shades of grey and black strike a serious tone that befits a corporate environment, which is offset by bold yellow highlights. 

We like how the high contrast between the darker shades and the bold yellow can be used to direct the readers’ gaze to the most important elements on the page and make key messages stand out. 

The template itself includes 50 slides, including a gallery and portfolio slide, and features creative layouts and useful graphics. All graphics can be resized and edited.

2. Teal and White

Teal is a color that blends blue’s dependability with green’s optimism and healing properties. The result is a calming, balanced color that’s packed with personality. 

This multipurpose PowerPoint template uses teal alongside plenty of whitespaces and is perfect for business and personal presentations. All elements are fully editable, and if teal and white isn’t your style, you can pick another of the 5 included premade color schemes included. 

3. Shades of Black

Dark themes are very on-trend right now. If you want to add a touch of sophistication to your presentation or strike a serious tone, you can’t go wrong with this Halbert PowerPoint template. 

The all-black color scheme looks slick and elegant, and the white text is highly readable. This template works best when you don’t have to worry about room lighting, and might be a good fit for fashion presentations.

4. Color Fun

If you want something a little more upbeat, try this Color Fun PowerPoint template. It uses a wide color palette, which can help provide enough variety to better organize the different sections and elements on your slides. 

It’s bright, upbeat, and sets a positive tone – without being too overwhelming. The designer has toned down the colors just enough that they’re not distracting and won’t cause eye fatigue.

5. Monochromatic Blue

This Tortoise PPT template uses a mix of light and darker blues to create a stylish, professional look. The download includes 150 slides in total, split into 5 colors (30 slides per variation). All graphics included are fully editable and resizable in PowerPoint. 

6. Minimalist Light Colors

Bold and bright colors can work well but sometimes, it’s best to keep things simple. This clean and modern PowerPoint presentation follows the principle of minimalism, with very light shades like beige and pale green. It comes in a 1920x1080p format and includes a bunch of awesome icons and graphic elements that are fully vector editable.

7. Orange Burst

Orange is the most vibrant color in the color spectrum. It’s full of energy and life, so it’s perfect when you want to really get your audience excited about the contents of your presentation. This PowerPoint template from aqrstudio uses orange gradients alongside circular icons and graphics.

8. Yellows and Whites

If you’re looking for a yellow template, check out Soaring by Jumsoft. It features an energetic, professional design and includes 20 master slides in the standard 4:3 side, as well as charts, diagrams, tables, and other awesome visual elements. You can choose the layout that’s most suitable for your content and customize more or less everything in MS PowerPoint.

Pastels are the color trend of the year. These lighter, softer shades of colors have been embraced by younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z and have rapidly become associated with self-care for their ‘calming effect’. If you want to incorporate them into your PowerPoint color scheme, check out this pastel template by UnicodeID.

10. Organic Greens

Working on a food-related presentation for a culinary business? Or perhaps you’re putting together a pitch deck on an environmental topic? Either way, this organic green PowerPoint template has the perfect color scheme for you. It’s ideal for health and nature-related slides.

11. Bold Red and Black

The NOVA PowerPoint template by Artmonk uses a stunning red-on-black color scheme. It’s a bold color combination that packs a punch, so it’s great for presentations in which you’re trying to break the mold and make a statement. It’ll look great on screens but might not show up well on projector displays due to the dark background.

12. Bright Multicolor

Here’s another awesome multi-colored palette that’s upbeat and fun. Wide color palettes like this are great for large slide decks as they give you a lot of options to choose from. I can see this one working really well for creative agencies and personal portfolios. 

13. Lime and Dark Blue

Blue and yellow is a classic combination. This lime and dark blue template offers a new twist on that classic combo to make it a little more exciting. If you already use dark blue as part of your brand color palette, this is a great template to use.

14. Pretty Pink

The Pretty Pink color scheme is perfect for creating feminine and youthful PowerPoint presentations. This would be perfect for female-oriented business products, or presentations about beauty, pop culture, and more.

Teal is the perfect color scheme for exuding wealth and intelligence. In color psychology, green connotes wealth and money, whilst blue evokes intelligence. Teal is the perfect blend of the two colors, which makes it a great choice for financial presentations and documentation.

16. Dark with Splashes of Color

If you want a luxurious and ultra-modern color scheme, Black with splashes of color is just the ticket. The black creates a sleek and professional feel, whilst the bold and colorful highlights make the key information in your presentation pop.  

Coral is a bold and vivid color scheme perfect for making an impact on your presentations. This PowerPoint template utilizes coral as the background of each slide which helps the text and other visuals to really stand out.

18. Classic Blue and White

If you’re looking for a clean, modern, and professional color scheme for your PowerPoint presentations, you can’t go wrong with classic blue. The color scheme evokes professionalism and technological prowess and is perfect for tech businesses and startups. The Contact PowerPoint from Envato Elements is a great example of how this color scheme can be used.

19. Pinks and Purples

Pinks and Purples is a vibrant and feminine color scheme that would work perfectly for beauty brands and retail stores. The colors are bold and inviting and have a luxurious feel. This Beauty Care template from Envato Elements utilizes this color scheme as well as unique shapes to make for a visually interesting presentation.

20. Winter Watercolors

Winter Watercolors is a great color scheme for festive presentations. The muted, blue, and green cold tones are easy on the eye and evoke a homily feeling. This would be perfect for creating slideshows for Christmas parties or other winter-themed events.

21. Coral Highlights

Unlike the last coral color scheme we looked at, which used a coral background with white text, this template uses mostly white slide backgrounds. Coral is used much more sparingly to highlight key elements on the slide. This gives the PowerPoint a more relaxed and feminine touch.

22. Primary Colors

This Primary Colors color scheme is perfect for adding a vibrant touch to your presentations. This color scheme is a modern take on the classic colors of red, yellow and blue, and would be perfect for creating fun and engaging business presentations.

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What Colors To Choose For Your Presentation?

Colors are not only a matter of personal taste. They convey feelings, influence people’s mood, and even carry specific meanings. That is why you should leave nothing to chance when choosing the colors of your PowerPoint presentation. However, you don’t need to be an expert in graphic design or color psychology to select accurately the shades of your backgrounds and fonts. In this article, you will find a series of tips to help you pick the right color scheme. Get ready to come through your presentation with flying colors!

1. Choose the right color to convey the right feeling

Psychologists have taught us that colors can influence people’s perceptions and even trigger emotions. That is the reason why they have become such important elements in branding and marketing. The same goes for your visual aids: your audience will not have the same emotional response if you use a bright red background or a light blue one. Once you have identified the feelings at the core of your message, you will be able to choose the colors that can transmit them. Let’s have a look at the most common colors and discover the feelings and connotations they communicate.

RED – A powerful color to use with moderation

In the Western world, red is associated with love, passion, strength, and energy. It is a great color to put emphasis on a specific feature but can be tiring throughout a whole presentation since it raises the heart and respiration rates. Remember red is also the color of anger and danger. In conclusion, use red with care, only if you have a specific goal, for example, if your topic is food and you want to increase your audience’s appetite!

BLUE – The safe choice

More than one-third of people consider blue their favorite color, so grab this opportunity!  The most popular color has a calming effect and suggests peace, sincerity, confidence, and security. It is therefore a great option as a background, especially used in the finance, business, computing, communication, and healthcare areas.

GREEN – A color with harmonizing effect, perfect for nature-related presentations

The third and last of the primary colors can have a positive impact on your public since it represents life, nature, and peace. Moreover, it conveys feelings of balance and growth. Green is also believed to increase interaction, so if you want to set a mood that leads to dialogue, go green!

YELLOW – Feed your presentation with positive vibes

Let there be light! If you want to be sure to capture everybody’s attention, yellow is the stimulating color you need. It inspires happiness, optimism, and creativity. Nevertheless, try to use a soft shade of yellow in your background, since a bright yellow can be perceived as unsettling.

ORANGE – Show your creative side

Why not try the color of innovation and creativity? If you want to convince your audience to try something new, orange will do the trick: it is the hue of extroversion and confidence.

PURPLE – Great for luxury topics

Even though purple is an intense color that can surprise your audience, the right shade of purple can transmit creativity, wisdom or even mystery. This color can also give a sense wealth and luxury. It is a good choice if you want your background to be original.

BROWN – A warm and earthy color

This color is generally associated with the Earth and more specifically wood. A light brown color with a discreet wood texture could be a great option if your presentation includes environmental elements. Besides, it suggests the idea of durability.

GRAY – A formal yet modern color option

Forget about the negative connotations of gray ! It might be considered as a conservative color, but it is definitely a popular one. It offers a softer alternative to the white backgrounds.

BLACK – A powerful color to be used sparingly

It is well-known that black never goes out of fashion. Even though it is not the most popular color for backgrounds, it can be used to suggest elegance, luxury, and seriousness. It may not be ideal for a whole presentation, but black slides can easily be used to indicate a transition or make a powerful statement.

WHITE – The simple color option, when your message is King (as it always should)

The classic white background works ideally to evoke purity or simplicity. However, some people deem it as unoriginal. It is also tiring for the eyes when projected on a screen, therefore a light grey background is often considered a better option. Nonetheless, it helps get your message across clearly and simply.

2. Combine your colors attractively to please the eye

Some colors simply don’t match! Be careful when you associate the font color and the background one! For instance, blue and green are red’s worst friends. Two colors too close together on the spectrum, such as black and brown or red and orange, will make your presentation unattractive and hard to read. On the other hand, the right combination could convey the perfect message: dark blue and golden symbolize refinement while dark blue and white refer to the ocean and suggest tranquility.

You can obviously choose a basic color scheme: one hue for your background and another for your font. You can nonetheless try more complex combinations with 3 or more colors. In this case, check that the palette you use is pleasant to the eye and that it evokes the emotions you want to transmit.

A great example of color matching can be the 2021 Pantone colors the year : Illuminating yellow and Ultimate gray. The first is bright and vivid, the second firm and reliable; together, they represent strength and optimism.

3. Improve your readability with the right contrast

Establishing the right contrast between your background shade and your font color is essential. The basic rule is a light font over a dark background or a dark font over a light background. A high contrast means an optimal readability, and thus a high level of impact on your audience. To avoid having the same level of saturation in both colors, try to choose different hues and tones. For example, the pastel shade of a color will create a better visual impression when combined with the pure hue of another color.

One last piece of advice: if possible, always try to visualize your presentation on the screen where it will be projected, in order to check the final visual impression. Now you have another string to your bow: you are ready to consciously choose the right colors for your PowerPoint presentation!

We hope you like these tips. Your feedback is very important to us. Tell us what is (are) the color(s) you love to use in your presentations.

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The Power of Color: How to Apply Color Theory in Your Presentations

Stop putting your audience to sleep with boring presentations learn how to apply color theory for a more impactful and engaging design..

In the digital age , presentation skills are more important than ever . With countless slideshows, webinars, and virtual meetings happening every day, it’s easy for your message to get lost in the noise. That’s where color theory comes in.

Color theory is the science and art of using color to create a harmonious and impactful visual experience . By understanding how colors interact and how they affect our mood and perception, you can take your presentations from boring to brilliant.

In this article, we’ll explore the basics of color theory and how you can apply it to your presentations to create a lasting impression on your audience. We’ll cover everything from color psychology to color combinations and show you how to use them to create compelling and effective presentations.

First, we’ll dive into the psychology of color . Did you know that different colors can elicit different emotional responses from your audience? For example, red is often associated with passion and energy, while blue is often associated with calmness and trustworthiness. By understanding the psychological impact of colors, you can use them strategically to enhance your message and connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Next, we’ll explore color combinations . Choosing the right colors can make or break your presentation. We’ll teach you the basics of color harmonies and show you how to create eye-catching color schemes that are both aesthetically pleasing and effective at conveying your message.

We’ll also cover practical tips on how to use color in your presentations , such as how to choose the right font color, how to use color to highlight important information, and how to avoid common mistakes that can detract from your message.

By the end of this article, you’ll have a solid understanding of color theory and how to apply it to your presentations . You’ll be able to create stunning visuals that capture your audience’s attention and leave a lasting impression. So, whether you’re a seasoned presenter or a beginner just starting out, this article is for you. Get ready to take your presentations from boring to brilliant with the power of color theory.

Psychology of Color

Color has a powerful impact on our emotions and perception. Understanding the psychology of color can help you use it to your advantage in your presentations, making them more engaging, memorable, and effective.

Let’s start with red. Red is a high-energy color that is often associated with passion, excitement, and urgency. It can stimulate the senses and increase heart rate and blood pressure. That’s why you’ll often see it used in advertising and marketing to grab people’s attention and create a sense of urgency. However, too much red can be overwhelming and even aggressive, so use it sparingly and strategically.

These are just a few examples of how color can affect our emotions and perception . By understanding the psychology of color, you can use it to your advantage in your presentations, creating a visual experience that not only looks great but also resonates with your audience on a deeper level and create the mood and atmosphere you want. So, choose your colors wisely and get ready to make an impact with the power of color psychology. Remember to balance colors appropriately and use them strategically to enhance your message and connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Color Combinations

Choosing the right color scheme for your presentation can be a daunting task, but it’s essential to creating a cohesive and impactful visual experience for your audience. Here are some tips on how to explore color combinations and choose the right colors for your presentation.

Start with a color wheel

A color wheel is a great tool for exploring color combinations. It shows the relationship between primary, secondary, and tertiary colors and can help you create complementary, analogous, or triadic color schemes. Play around with different combinations to see what works best for your message and brand.

Consider your brand

If you have an established brand, you may want to use your brand colors in your presentation to reinforce brand recognition. If not, consider the values and message of your presentation and choose colors that reflect those. For example, if your presentation is about nature, you may want to use green and earth tones.

Think about the mood

Different colors evoke different emotions and moods. Consider the mood you want to create in your presentation and choose colors that reflect that. For example, if you want to create a calming and peaceful atmosphere, you may want to use light blues or soft pastels.

Use contrast

Contrast can make your presentation more visually interesting and help important information stand out. Choose colors that contrast well with each other, such as black and white or red and green. But be careful not to use too many contrasting colors, as it can be overwhelming for your audience.

Keep it simple

Too many colors can be distracting and take away from your message. Stick to a few main colors and use them consistently throughout your presentation. This will create a more cohesive and professional look.

Consider accessibility

It’s important to choose colors that are accessible to all individuals, including those with color blindness. Avoid using color alone to convey important information and use high-contrast color combinations to make it easier for everyone to read and understand.

Test it out

Before your presentation, test out your color scheme on different devices and screens to ensure it looks good in all environments. You can also ask a few colleagues or friends for their feedback on the color scheme and adjust as needed.

In summary, exploring color combinations and choosing the right colors for your presentation takes some thought and consideration. Use a color wheel, consider your brand and the mood you want to create, use contrast, keep it simple, consider accessibility, and test it out. By following these tips, you can create a visually appealing and effective presentation that connects with your audience on a deeper level.

How to Choose the Right Color s for Presentations

Using color effectively in your presentations is an important part of creating a visually engaging and impactful experience for your audience. Here are some practical tips on how to use color in your presentations.

Choose the right font color

Font color is crucial for readability, so it’s important to choose a color that contrasts well with your background. For example, black or dark gray text works well on a light background, while white or light text is better on a dark background. Avoid using light-colored text on a light background or dark-colored text on a dark background, as it can be difficult to read.

Use color to highlight important information

Color can draw attention to important information and help it stand out from the rest of the content. Use a contrasting color to highlight key points, such as statistics or quotes. But be careful not to overdo it, as too much color can be overwhelming and detract from your message.

Create a consistent color scheme

A consistent color scheme can make your presentation look more polished and professional. Choose a few main colors and use them consistently throughout your presentation. This includes font color, background color, and accent colors. Use shades of the same color to create depth and interest.

Avoid common color mistakes

There are a few common mistakes that can detract from your message. For example, using too many bright or clashing colors can be distracting, while using too many pastel or muted colors can be boring. Avoid using neon colors, as they can be difficult to read and can give your presentation an unprofessional look.

Consider cultural differences

Different cultures can associate different meanings with colors. For example, in Western cultures, white is often associated with purity and innocence, while in some Asian cultures, it’s associated with mourning. Be mindful of the cultural context of your audience and choose colors that are appropriate.

Use color in charts and graphs

Charts and graphs can be made more visually appealing and easier to understand by using color to differentiate data sets. Use consistent colors throughout the chart or graph to create a clear visual hierarchy.

In summary, using color effectively in your presentations requires some thought and consideration. Choose the right font color, use color to highlight important information, create a consistent color scheme, avoid common color mistakes, consider cultural differences, and use color in charts and graphs. By following these practical tips, you can create a visually engaging and impactful presentation that resonates with your audience.

Tips and Tricks: How to Make Your Presentation Look Professional

Applying the theory of color to your presentations can take your design game to the next level. Here are some tips on how to apply color theory effectively in your presentations , along with some modern design tips to enhance your visuals .

Understand the basics of color theory

Understanding color theory is essential to using color effectively in your presentations. It’s important to understand the different color schemes, such as complementary, analogous, and monochromatic, and how they can be used to create visual interest and harmony. Additionally, knowing the emotions and associations that are commonly associated with certain colors can help you create a mood or convey a message.

Choose a color palette

Once you have a basic understanding of color theory, it’s time to choose a color palette for your presentation. You can choose a color palette based on your brand colors, the theme of your presentation, or the emotions you want to evoke. Stick to a limited color palette to keep your design cohesive and avoid overwhelming your audience.

Create visual interest with contrast

Contrast is important for creating visual interest and directing the viewer’s attention. Use contrasting colors to create a hierarchy of information and draw attention to important elements. This can include using a bright color for headings or important text, or using a contrasting color for buttons or calls to action.

Use color blocking

Color blocking is a modern design trend that involves using large areas of color to create a bold and impactful design. Use color blocking to create a strong visual hierarchy and make important information stand out. For example, you can use a bright color for the background of a slide and use a contrasting color for the text.

Consider typography

Typography is an important part of design, and it’s essential to consider the relationship between your font and your color palette. Choose fonts that complement your color palette and create a harmonious design. Use a bold font for headings and a more subtle font for body text. You can use a free tool like Google Fonts to search for the right font.

Add texture

Texture can add depth and interest to your design, and it can be achieved through the use of patterns or images. Use texture sparingly, as too much can be overwhelming. Consider using texture to add visual interest to backgrounds or to create contrast between different elements. Also, you can use our free backgrounds to enhance your slides.

In conclusion, applying the theory of color to your presentations requires a basic understanding of color theory, the ability to choose a color palette, creating contrast, using color blocking, considering typography, and adding texture. By following these tips, you can create a visually engaging and modern design that effectively communicates your message to your audience.

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How To Choose the Color Scheme for a PowerPoint Presentation

How To Choose the Color Scheme for a PowerPoint Presentation

First impression is the last impression, and rightly so. In almost every facade of life, and especially in professional areas. When it comes to making a first good impression, you must take out some time to perfect your look by choosing smart appearance that will flatter your professional look with the perfect color scheme according to the audience. Similarly, when you need to give a presentation, it needs to be created perfectly with fascinating color schemes. The choice of colors for a presentation, is one of the important factors that must be considered as you initiate the process. An effective creation of a presentation deck can help in building a direct relationship between the presenter and the audience.

People are judged by their physical appearance, similarly, your message will be judged on the basis of its design elements, color combinations, and font styles used even before it is read by the audience. Therefore, it is important to create an interactive and vibrant presentation with the best selection of a PowerPoint color scheme based on the topic you’re presenting to your audience.

So let’s get down to study some color theory basics for a PowerPoint presentation .

Basic Colors Theory

The Color Wheel  was the first model used to demonstrate the relationship between different colors. In which, red, blue, and yellow are the basic and are called as primary colors. After the primary colors, secondary colors are formed with the combinations of the primary colors and they are violet, orange, and green.

In the end, with the combination of primary colors and secondary colors tertiary colors are formed, which results in these colors, red-violet, blue-green, red-orange, blue-violet, yellow-orange, and yellow-green.

Hence, the color wheel or color circle is composed of 12 colors including, red, green, orange, yellow, violet, blue, red-violet, blue-green, red-orange, blue-violet, yellow-orange, and yellow-green.

This color circle is divided into warm and cool colors indicating vividness, energy and calm, soothing respectively. There are three other terms related to color theory those are tint, shade, and tone.

• In tinting, a color is made lighter by adding white.
• In shading, black is added to get the darker version of the color.
• And intoning, gray is added to get a different tone.

How to Choose the Right Color Scheme for your Presentation

Using the basic color theory described before you can apply the following rules of thumb:

Color Schemes – The use of harmonious color

To create a professional color scheme, pick two colors opposite each other on the color wheel (these are called complementary colors), three colors equally spaced around the color wheel forming a triangle (these are called triadic colors) , or four colors forming a rectangle (these are called tetradic colors). Complementary colors are ideal for high contrast. Triadic colors generates a more balanced contrast, used for example for title and subtitles in the same canvas. Finally, tetradic colors allow to have a theme with two vectors of complementary colors. After the basic color scheme is formed, you can tint , shade or intone those colors to expand your palette.

Though Color Theory covered almost everything related to the color scheme, there are few other things you need to keep in mind while choosing a color scheme for presentations.

Since, poor color choice in presentations results in ugly visuals, which put a bad impression on the audience resulting in bad feedback from them.

Some handy tips to keep in mind to choose a good presentation color palette:

Follow high-contrast color scheme

The common mistake found in presentations is color contrast. The presentation slides don’t have enough contrast between the colors chosen for the background and the text or graphics. For professionals, it is very important to create a PowerPoint presentation in high contrast with the background color to attract the audience.

If you have chosen dark background then choose light text and graphics or vice-versa to blend the content with the background and not to make it float above the background. The more contrast you will have and the easier it will be for your audiences to see the text or graphic you are using.

For example, you can take the following slide. The PowerPoint theme uses monochromatic colors (black, grey, white) using high contrast between black,grey and white to differentiate text from the background. It adds two highlighting colors green and fuchsia in order generate contrast and help focusing the audience view in other sectors.

Follow simplicity

Don’t make it gaudy! When it comes to professionalism, simple yet attractive color combinations are the most preferred and recommended. Try to keep the design as simple as possible with a perfect blend of colors and graphics. It is recommended that three to four colors are sufficient for a presentation.

Follow the 60-30-10 rule

The 60-30-10 rule is an interior design color scheme best practice, which adaptation to graphic design has become very popular. It states that the appropriate color proportion of a space (in this case the presentation canvas) should comply with the 60%, 30%, 10% distribution, in order to be considered balanced. The main color (60% distribution) should cover background, the secondary color (30% distribution) will be used for shapes fill or images filter, finally the 10% is allocated as the accent color, used in outlines and text.

In recent studies, it is found that 90% of the decisions are made on the basis of color schemes . In another study regarding branding, states that there is a great relationship between brand and the color being used to represent it. The audience gets attracted only if the color “perfectly fits” to what is being sold.

When you choose a perfect color scheme for a presentation, it comes out to be the most effective. While other color combinations make your presentations difficult to watch and understand.

Here are some mistakes you should avoid while choosing the color combination for a PowerPoint presentation.

Mistakes to Avoid While Combining Colors in PowerPoint

Here are three common mistakes that you must avoid while choosing colors for your PowerPoint presentation:

Illegibility

It becomes difficult to see slides due to color choice. A presentation with a bad or wrong combination of colors could be illegible under specific lighting conditions or monitors. The simplest color combinations that make presentations readable are dark text with a light background and vice-versa.

Unclear graphics

In graphics or charts, use colors to distinguish associations or data points or relationships between entities. You can use a single color to represent similar data groups to distinguish from others. This is the best way to make things clear and understandable to viewers. On the other hand, different colors confuse viewers and make it difficult to understand the things shown in slides.

Too much of everything is bad

Whether it is too much of text or images, it isn’t good for your presentation. Slides with a summarized form of data allow viewers to concentrate more on the presenter, who is explaining the topic than the presentation slides.

Text, images, and graphics strengthen your presentation so make sure the text color contrasts as much as possible with a majority of the picture colors and background as well. These tips work well to choose a proper color palette for PowerPoint, but also for presentations in Google Slides.

Color Palette Ideas to Take Inspiration From

Sure you can create your own color combinations with all these tips that we’ve lined out. But it will make your life more easy if you take inspiration from pre-combined palette and presentation templates.

1. Modern Gradient Backgrounds for PowerPoint

Gradient backgrounds can act as a fuel for your presentations. These are powerful templates that you can choose. This very template presents an elegant and artistic slide deck. Gradient backgrounds are basically a gradual blend of two or more colors which progress and merge from one to another. They are also known as fountain fills or blends.

Use This Template

2. Presentation Template for Business Deck

A business presentation must flow well and look clean. With this particular template you can craft professional business decks. It can help you compile all the necessary information in a professional manner.

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How to choose the best presentation colors

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Kelly Morr July 05, 2016

It’s no secret that humans are drawn to visual stimuli, but many underestimate how colors affect our emotions and responses to information. Our color associations are not merely preferences, they’re also influenced by culture and evolution. For instance, it’s thought that humans have an aversion to brown because of its associations with rotting produce. However, the color red captures our attention because it’s a universal sign of heightened emotion. Presentations that are not only visual but also thoughtful when it comes to color, have a better chance of effectively communicating their message. That’s why in this article, we’ll share some of our top tips for putting together a powerful presentation color palette.

Presentation colors: Setting the mood

To choose your presentation colors, start by determining what mood you’re trying to set. Is the message supposed to be exciting? Perhaps it’s intended to keep people calm during a time of high tension, or maybe it’s full of important information that will require your audience to stay alert and attentive throughout. In any case, try using the guide below to help you select the right starting point for your presentation colors.

A dash of color theory

Once you’ve used mood to determine your base color, you can move on to choosing the rest of your presentation colors. At 99designs , we use a color wheel and a bit of color theory to help us out. Consider one of the following themes:

Monochromatic : one color in multiple shades or hues.

A monochromatic theme will give your presentation a feeling of harmony and be visually pleasing to almost everyone. If this were a food, it would be spaghetti with meatballs: it’s a classic and when done right it can be amazing, but even if not done right it’s pretty hard to offend anyone or make it terrible.

Analogous : two colors right next to each other on the color wheel, you’ll want to pick different shades or hues of these colors, as well, for contrast.  

This approach adds a nice level of variety but is still fairly safe. This is good for helping people pay attention and take in complicated topics without overwhelming them. If this were a food it would be enchiladas: it has a little spice, but it’s still a pretty safe thing to serve at a dinner party.

Complementary : two colors across from each other on the color wheel, again, with a couple shades/hues of each.

This will get attention! When we see complementary colors next to each other, it overloads our brains. This sort of scheme is best used when you definitely want to make a splash. If this type of theme were a food it would be screaming hot chili: some people are going to love it, but it may be too spicy for others.

Triadic : three colors equally spaced around the color wheel, with small variations in the shade of two colors.

This is a color scheme for advanced color users. When done right, it can guide where people look, creating balanced and visually compelling presentations, but it’s also really easy to mess up. Triadic themes are chocolate souffle : gourmet, delicious, will win you praise from almost anyone, but are super hard to make a right. One tip to keep in mind is to give each of your presentation colors a purpose. For example, one color should be more muted to ground viewers and the other two should be intentionally used as accents.

Tips for choosing the best presentation colors

Choosing the right presentation colors is crucial because they can significantly impact the audience’s perception and understanding of the content. Here are a few tips to help you select the best colors for presentations:

Think about what colors mean

Different colors can make people feel different ways. For example, blue is often seen as trustworthy, and red can grab attention. Choose presentation colors that match what you’re trying to say. If your theme is more on the formal side, blues and greens are great. For something that needs to pack a punch, you might want to go with reds and oranges.

Know your audience

People from different places or backgrounds might see colors differently. And it’s not just about culture; age and gender can play a role too. Younger folks might like bright, bold colors, while a more mature audience might prefer something less flashy.

Simplicity is key

Stick to a few presentation colors so you don’t overwhelm your audience. A good starting point is one main color for the background, another for your text, and maybe one or two extras to highlight important points. This makes sure your audience knows where to look.

Make sure it’s easy to read

You’ll want to pick presentation colors that stand out against each other so everyone can read your text easily. A dark background with light text or the other way around usually works best. 

Test it out

Colors can look different depending on where you’re presenting or what device you’re using. Always check how your presentation colors look in the room you’ll be in or on the device you’ll use. This way, you can make sure everything looks just right, no matter where you are.

Brand alignment

When picking colors for your presentation, it’s key to match them with your or your company’s brand. This consistency helps people recognize the brand and keeps things looking sharp. If you’re presenting on behalf of a company, starting with the brand’s colors is a smart move.

Trend awareness

Staying up to date with current color trends can give your presentation a modern and relevant vibe. But remember, it’s crucial that these trendy colors fit well with what you’re trying to say and don’t shift focus away from your main points.

Be aware of accessibility needs

Make sure to consider how accessible your color choices are for people with color vision differences. It’s important to steer clear of color pairs like red-green or blue-purple that might be hard for someone with color blindness to tell apart. 

Feedback loop

It’s a smart move to get some outside opinions on your choice of presentation colors. Chatting with colleagues or friends can shine a light on aspects you might not have considered. They might see things differently, which can really help you fine-tune how your presentation comes across.

Keeping these points in mind can help you choose the right presentation colors, making it clear, engaging, and accessible to your audience.

How do colors work? 

Colors carry distinct meanings, allowing you to shape audience perception in your presentation. Understanding these meanings helps in choosing the right presentation color palette to achieve the intended impact on your audience.

• Red: Signals urgency and excitement. It’s powerful for grabbing attention and can evoke strong emotions like passion and danger.
• Blue: Conveys trust and calm. It’s preferred for its soothing effect and is often used in corporate and healthcare settings to inspire confidence.
• Yellow: Associated with happiness and energy. Its brightness catches the eye quickly, making it effective for highlighting important points.
• Green: Represents growth and harmony. It’s easy on the eyes and used to denote eco-friendly concepts or financial themes.
• Orange : Suggests creativity and enthusiasm. It’s less aggressive than red but still effective in drawing attention and showing warmth.
• Purple: Implies luxury and wisdom. It’s used to create a sense of mystery or to appeal to the imagination.
• Black: Denotes sophistication and elegance. It’s powerful for conveying seriousness and can make other colors stand out when used as a background.
• White: Symbolizes purity and simplicity. It’s great for creating contrast and making content appear cleaner and more accessible.
• Pink: Evokes femininity and romance. It’s softer than red and can attract attention with its nurturing and calming qualities.
• Gray: Represents neutrality and balance. It’s versatile, often used as a background to help other colors pop or to convey a sense of sophistication without overwhelming.

What colors attract people’s attention?

When selecting colors for presentations, our primary goal is to capture the audience’s attention. This requires a thoughtful selection of colors that complement each other well. Here are several attention-grabbing color combinations designed to catch the eye, tailored to suit many themes and styles:

• Red and white: This mix is great for when you want to get people excited or to act on something, like in a sales pitch or a pep talk. It’s clear and direct.
• Navy blue and gold: Perfect presentation colors for serious business talks, financial updates, or anything where you want to look sharp and trustworthy. The use of a blue color theme keeps things looking professional.
• Yellow and gray: This combination is perfect for sparking creativity or presenting something new, like a startup idea or a design project. It’s bright and keeps things interesting.
• Turquoise and coral: This one’s refreshing and works well for topics on health, wellness, or the environment. It feels fresh and easy on the eyes, great presentation colors for learning settings.
• Purple and lime green: If you’re aiming to stand out, especially with tech or futuristic themes, this is your go-to. These are colors that grab attention without being too much.
• Orange and teal: Ideal for talking about marketing, travel, or anything adventurous. It’s engaging and makes people want to listen, perfect for a younger or dynamic crowd.
• Black and electric blue: When you’re dealing with high-tech or luxury products, this beautiful color combination gives off a cutting-edge vibe. It’s sleek and makes a statement.

Each pair is picked to not just look good but to help convey your message effectively to your audience, depending on what you’re talking about.

Presentation colors: careful application is key

When you’ve got your palette together, remember to use it to direct attention rather than steal the show. For example, see how the monochromatic theme below was applied to the dinosaur illustration. From left to right, the first color was used for headlines, the second for body text, the third for background, and the fourth and fifth are accent colors.

Also, remember that accent colors should be used sparingly. Try using them to draw attention to the most important parts of your presentations, such as the 1-3 key takeaways you want people to remember.

If you’re interested in learning more about creating an effective presentation, read the following article on presentation design .

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What are the Best Colours for Your PowerPoint presentation?

Choosing the best colours for PowerPoint isn’t as black and white as it seems. Many factors go into picking a powerful palette – involving everything from your audience’s emotions to your talk’s cultural context and, of course, to how your slides look.

Suppose you’re taking it as seriously as you should. In that case, you need to consider all of these when deciding on your colour scheme – as nailing this aspect of your presentation’s design will help you to communicate your message in the most impactful way possible. Interested? Let’s get stuck in.

Complementary colours

It would help to consider contrast when picking two or more colours for your presentation.

Contrasting colours are valuables when it comes to heightening the visual effect of your slides. They’re instantly impactful – reeling your viewers in by drawing their eyes to the screen. Also, they enhance your slides’ other elements – such as any fonts or tables used – increasing their visibility when used correctly. There’s a reason why black is nearly always paired with white and blue with yellow or orange. Together, they create a powerful impression… and it’s all thanks to contrast.

There’s a simple way to discover contrasting colours, and that’s by using a simple colour wheel. With this tool, you can easily see which colours are the opposite of which… helping you to refine your palette and ensure your presentation has colourful clout.

It also helps to follow the 60-30-10 colour rule . It’s generally for interior decorating but can support picking a colour scheme.

What Colours should not be used in PowerPoint?

When choosing colours for your slides, it’s important to create a contrast between the background and the text. I recommend avoiding using light text on a light background.

For example, a yellow background with white text often makes the text difficult to read. Likewise, with yellow text on a white background, it’s challenging to see.

Make sure your presentation content can be seen at the back of the room. You can use a colour contrast checker to ensure you have a strong contrast ratio to ensure your slides will be readable. This will help make your text more readable and provide a clear contrast between the text and background of your slides to enable your audience to follow along easily.

What are the Most Popular Colours for PowerPoint?

Here are some of the best colour combinations in PowerPoint. You can choose to experiment with your own as well.

Red & Black

Black & Yellow

Others include:

Blue & Yellow

Black & White

Orange and blue

Yellow and purple

Black and white

The selection method is slightly different for more complex presentations using three or more contrasting colours (triadic colours, for those who want to know). Pick three equally distanced colours around the colour wheel to choose the best complementary shades. These colours should, again, work beautifully together – providing that perfect contrast you crave.

Popular triadic choices include:

• Orange, green and purple
• Yellow, blue and red

Generally, we wouldn’t advise throwing a fourth colour into the mix – or more, besides. While using bright colours can have a wonderfully eye-catching effect on your PowerPoint slides, using too many at once could make them too “busy” – overloading the audience and detracting from the potential power of the colour combinations you’ve used. Adhere to the cliche “less is more”, and your simple yet striking presentation should speak for itself.

Colour psychology

You’re probably already familiar with the basic principles of colour psychology. Essentially, it’s been said that specific colours have set effects on people – specifically, causing them to feel a particular way. For instance, red is purported to inspire anger, blue to calm, and yellow to feel joy.

While there’s something to be said for this, colour psychology (as many people understand it) isn’t a flawless theory for one big reason: emotions aren’t quantifiable! Therefore, we can’t honestly claim that specific colours create the same feelings in every person – everybody’s different, and shades carry unique meanings for most of us.

You want to tap into your audience’s context of specific colours and other psychological and physical factors that may come into play. This is where the true magic of colour psychology lies. By understanding what influences your audience when it comes to colour – and knowing which colours are paired up with which emotions and responses in their lives – you can design something that sings. For instance, did you know that while, in Western and Japanese culture, the concept of love is associated with the colour red, it’s symbolised by the colour blue in African culture and yellow in Native American?

You can also your colour choice to the theme of your presentation. More on that later.

Know your audience. Get to know what inspires them, and let that influence your palette. It could make all the difference.

Colour symbolism

So, now you know to look into contrasting colours and your audience’s association with them. But we’re missing one major factor: you. What colours reflect you the best?

There are two ways that you can approach figuring this out. The first is straightforward: looking at your brand’s existing design. If you have a strong image already – of which colours will doubtlessly play a role, used on your website, logo and elsewhere – this is where you should start when designing your presentation. After all, these colours are already associated with you, so using them will create a strong link between your PowerPoint and the rest of your materials. Further, use colours so your audience can recognise you more quickly, and your presentation should look more professional. There are a lot of pros.

Option two requires a bit of decision-making. Suppose your brand doesn’t have any firm affiliations to colour already. In that case, you should consider which colours are associated with what in the context of your presentation and overarching brand ethos. Similarly to the colour psychology we’ve discussed, these hues will help you communicate your message clearly (and colourful). Some colour combinations are considered classic. They go together

Some popular colour associations include:

• Green – nature, the environment
• Blue – the ocean, sadness (referred to as “the blues”!)
• Orange – warmth, autumn
• Red – anger, love, energy

So: what are you talking about? Are there any clear colour associations to that topic already? Drill down to the heart of your presentation’s message, and choose the colours that reflect that the most.

One final thing. Once you’ve discovered your “essential” colour – whether that’s the colour that’s most strongly associated with the topic of your presentation or the colour that you’re hoping will have the biggest influence on your audience – make sure to make it the strongest colour on your palette (for instance, the background of your slides). This should ensure it delivers the impact you’re hoping for… levelling up your talk. Perfection.

Over to Hue

We know that we’ve given you a lot to think about, but if you’re ever feeling confused over colour, remember that it all boils down to the following factors:

Your brand + your audience’s colour associations + visual effect = the best palette

Once you’ve nailed this equation, the rest should come quickly. Good luck!

Choosing the right colours is one thing – putting together a presentation your audience will never forget. That’s another. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help your slides shine.

Illiya Vjestica

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How to choose the best presentation color schemes & combinations

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When designing a presentation, or even just experimenting with design, you'd be surprised at the different color combinations you can create. Choosing a color scheme is tricky, but understanding the basics of color theory allows… ... read more When designing a presentation, or even just experimenting with design, you'd be surprised at the different color combinations you can create. Choosing a color scheme is tricky, but understanding the basics of color theory allows you to develop the perfect color palette for your presentation. close

Selecting a color scheme that stirs the desired reaction in your audience is a tricky and challenging process. Unfortunately, picking out an appropriate color scheme isn’t as simple as putting together the colors you like. The color choices used in a PowerPoint presentation reflect the character and personality of your business. When the color wheel offers itself to your imagination, how do you know how to use it correctly?

We cannot underestimate the power of color. It’s a language of its own, influencing emotions and setting the mood for your presentation before you even begin to speak. Presentation slides can convey a relaxed, professional, or confident persona based on the color scheme alone.

What do colors mean?

Starting off with the tough question: what is color?

All that color comes down to is perception. When an object reflects light, it reflects different combinations of wavelengths that our brains interpret as color. And once we begin to understand color theory, we start to have a better understanding of how we perceive colors.

What is color theory?

Color theory offers a foundation for understanding the rules around color and color schemes. It is a basic guideline for mixing colors and analyzes the visual effects of how colors mix or contrast with each other.

Once you understand the logic of color, you can create and use color palettes more effectively and confidently.

Primary colors

Primary colors are colors that cannot be created by mixing colors and they are yellow, red, and blue. When it comes to creating a color palette, the primary colors anchor the color scheme. Meaning that using any one or any combination of the primary colors will place limits on your color scheme when you decide to select other colors.

Secondary colors

The secondary colors are created by mixing the purest form of any two primary colors. The three secondary colors are orange, purple, and green.

Tertiary colors

Tertiary colors take things a step further. They are created by mixing a primary color with a secondary color, making them a mix of several colors. But unlike secondary colors, they are not mixed in equal amounts.

For example, red-purple, or magenta, is a mix of red and purple, meaning it is two parts red and one part blue.

The six tertiary colors are red-purple (magenta), red-orange (vermillion), blue-purple (violet), blue-green (teal), yellow-orange (amber), and yellow-green (chartreuse).

The color theory wheel

What are the additive and subtractive color theories?

The additive and subtractive color models are systems of color reproduction related to how the eye receives light to produce colors.

The additive colors are red, green, and blue, or RGB. The RGB color models are for electronic screens like computers or TVs. It begins with black and then adds red, green, and blue light to convey a spectrum of colors. When more colors are added, the result is lighter and closer to white. With the three colors combined in equal amounts, you get white light.

Meanwhile, the subtractive color model applies to any color typically seen on a physical surface, namely paper. In this model, you subtract colors to get closer to white. The subtractive colors are cyan, magenta, yellow, and key/black (CYMK), and these are usually the colors listed on printer cartridges. When these colors are printed, they absorb the light and appear black.

How to combine colors?

Using the color wheel, we can experiment with color combinations to create original and effective color schemes. There are seven major color schemes in graphic design that designers regularly use and return to.

Warm colors

If you draw a line through the color wheel, it cleanly separates the warm and cool colors. The warm colors are reds, yellows, and oranges, and they are hues associated with energy, brightness, and action.

Cool colors

Cool colors are blues, greens, and purples, and they often connote feelings of peace, calm, and serenity.

Complementary colors

A complementary color scheme comes from combining colors that stand directly opposite each other on the color wheel (such as purple and green, orange and blue) and their respective tints.

Since this color scheme offers a strong contrast, it’s best to use one color as a dominant color and use the second color as an accent in designs. Use contrast to highlight important points in your presentation.

Split complementary colors

A split complementary color scheme features a selected base color and the two colors that neighbor that base color’s complement. The result is a versatile and nuanced color palette that is more diverse than a complementary color scheme while still maintaining a healthy and interesting contrast.

Although this color scheme is easy to achieve, it can be tricky to maintain. A split complementary scheme offers more color combinations, but it takes a bit of experimenting to find a good balance.

Triads and tetradic color combinations

A triadic color combination creates a balanced contrast by featuring three colors at an equal distance from each other on the color wheel, forming a triangle. However, it can feel overwhelming when the colors selected are bold. This can be handled by choosing one color to be the dominant one and using the others sparingly or by selecting a softer tint.

A tetradic color scheme is achieved by drawing a rectangle on the color wheel, resulting in a vibrant color scheme.

Analogous colors

Analogous colors sit next to each other on the color wheel and together create a soothing color scheme. When using analogous colors like red, yellow, and orange together, it’s best to have one color dominate, the second color support, and a third color accent.

Monochromatic colors

With a monochromatic color scheme, you choose one color and support it with its varying shades and tints. The result is a calm and consistent feel that looks polished and professional. This type of color scheme is easy to use since you only need to select one color and then use black, white, or grey to change it. 

How to choose a color scheme?

These formulas for putting together color combinations are easy to pick up with enough practice. Yet, the challenge lies in the other factors you must consider when choosing colors for your color palette, which affect the impact and effectiveness of your color scheme.

Consider the user experience

When creating a presentation, consider the audience and the purpose. For example, using a monochromatic color palette is appropriate for a professional presentation , while complementary palettes are versatile for different types of occasions.

But also remember the details; for example, a bright background could be distracting and make it hard to read the text.

Set a mood for your color scheme

What is the mood you want to convey? If you want an energetic presentation, you’re better off using brighter colors like reds and yellows. While shades of blue are great for creating a peaceful and serene mood. Or you could tone down the clutter by creating negative space in black or white.

Working with high contrast

Be clever with your use of contrast. If you’re using a dark background, use light text that your audience can read, and vice versa. It’s important to use high contrast in more professional presentations to draw the audience’s attention to the contents. Draw attention to your important points with accent colors.

Follow the 60-30-10 rule

Originally an interior design rule, the 60-30-10 principle has proved to be a great tip for graphic design . It adheres to a balance of 60% of the main color (for backgrounds), 30% of the secondary color (filling in shapes or images), and 10% for the accent colors in outlines and text.

Refer to your color wheel

Use the color wheel to your advantage. Refer to it constantly to select color combinations of different color schemes. Sometimes, a color scheme that may look good in theory might not work with your presentation. It takes several tests to find a scheme that resonates with your personality and serves your presentation.

Draft multiple designs

As with any creative endeavor, there is no way to find out how your ideas will work without drafting and experimenting. In your quest of finding the appropriate color scheme, you need to create multiple drafts with your palette suggestions and see which works best. It’s good to step away from your work and sleep on it to refresh your perspective.

Keep it simple

Don’t overthink it. Keep your color scheme simple. A monochromatic palette is a great starting point for beginners since you’d only be working with one color. For more advanced users, try not to work with more than four colors; anchor your design in one dominant color and use the others for support.

Avoid unnecessary usage of color

Exercise restraint. Not every instance will need an explosion of color. For example, in a chart with only two variables, heights, and length suffice as differentiating factors. But when a third or fourth variable is introduced, then the color becomes necessary to emphasize or highlight differences.

Be consistent with color across charts

When using multiple charts and graphs, make sure to be consistent throughout the presentation when referring to the same groups. It keeps the document neat and organized and helps the reader follow along.

Leverage the meaningfulness of color

Different colors hold different meanings and symbolism. If you’re using color in graphs to represent certain groups, then keep in mind the colors they are typically associated with to make it easier for a reader to follow.

A general rule to follow is avoiding high color brightness and saturation or at least keeping them to highlight a particular element. 

Attend to color blindness

Be inclusive of those with color blindness. The most common form of color blindness causes those afflicted to confuse red and green, and less commonly the confusion between yellow and blue. So use variety in the lightness and saturation to differentiate between colors rather than relying only on hue.

Sites like Coblis have color blindness simulators to help you get an idea of how your visuals will look and if there are potential ambiguities.

Types of color palettes

When it comes to data visualization, color is a necessary component in visual aids such as charts and elements. Misusing color could be distracting or confusing, but using color productively helps you tell the story you want to tell. Depending on the data you want to convey, there are different types of color palettes to consider.

Qualitative palette

A qualitative palette is used when the information presented deals with categorical variables such as age groups, countries, race, etc. In a qualitative palette, a distinct color is assigned to each variable or group.

A qualitative palette relies on the colors to differentiate between several variables, so try to limit the palette to no more than ten colors. Any more would create confusion in distinguishing between groups. Play around with hues, lightness, and saturation to create distinctiveness between colors.

It’s also important to maintain overall cohesion to not create unintentional bias by highlighting certain variables more than others.

Sequential palette

A sequential palette is used when the variables are numeric and typically portrayed sequentially. Often in a sequential palette, the lightness or hues are the distinguishing factors between variables.

The use of lightness is the most recognizable form of a sequential palette, which is why a single hue could be used. Low values are connoted with lighter colors, while darker colors are used for higher values. Otherwise, it is recommended to use two adjacent colors from a warm or cool palette.

Diverging palette

A diverging palette is applied when numeric variables have a central value (like zero). It’s useful to think of a diverging palette as two sequential palettes meeting at a middle point. The two sides are assigned two distinctive colors, and as with sequential palettes, lightness is used to portray distance from the central value.

Discrete vs. continuous palette

Sequential and diverging color palettes interact with data values with either discrete colors akin to a numerical value or through a continuous fading function between the variable and color.

Often, the process of creating color palettes follows the first method of using discrete or distinct colors, even though it would make sense to use a continuous color function to communicate the relationship between values.

However, people distinguish details such as length or position more quickly than they do color differences. So discrete palettes highlight patterns in the data, and we can set a clearer range within a discrete palette. While on a continuous palette, data would be pushed into a narrower range.

How to create a color scheme for your presentation

With the variety of color schemes and color palettes possible, where do you even begin creating your own? There are many variables involved in building a color scheme for your presentation, so start at the root and select colors appropriate for your goal. You can also reach out to our team for their presentation design (and palette-making) expertise.

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Pick your colors

Building a color scheme begins with selecting colors that fit your purpose and mood. The process of picking colors is simplified once you can select a base color to build on.

The dominant color

Visual language is very effective in creating a subconscious connection and resonating with your audience. So begin by selecting a dominant color that encapsulates your beliefs and best represents your topic and niche to create the base for your color palette.

The secondary color

A secondary color supports your scheme’s dominant color and makes it stand out more.

The accent color

Accent colors are used to contrast and emphasize points in a presentation. Complementary colors make for perfect accent colors as they offer a bold contrast that attracts the eye. Accent colors are meant to be used sparingly to not overwhelm the viewer.

Keep colors in balance

Maintain a balance with your color palette and diversify the use of colors in highlighting text or brightening slides. Apply the 60-30-10 rule to your dominant, secondary, and accent colors.

Use the theme color palette

When creating your presentation, take advantage of the theme palette feature in PowerPoint and Google Slides. This tool allows you easy access to your color palette and lets you quickly change the colors of text and elements in your presentation at once without having to do them individually.

Use the tools at your disposal

There are several tools available for building a color scheme and using color palettes in presentation and design software. Use them to create a cohesive and engaging color scheme to be used in your presentations.

Tools and resources for using colors

By now, you should have a pretty good idea of color theory and how to build a color scheme. However, that shouldn’t discourage you from using tools and resources that help you speed up the process of selecting the perfect color scheme for your presentation.

Data Color Picker

Data Color Picker is a great tool for generating color schemes for sequential and diverging palettes. Often, some hues are left out between the two endpoints of a sequential palette, but Data Color Picker has a default tab for palettes that is perfect for generating multi-hued palettes.

Chroma.js Color Palette Helper

This tool has detailed options for crafting a color palette, with options for the type of palette desired (sequential, diverging), correcting lightness, and a color blindness simulator. These features of the chroma.js Color Palette Helper allow for more refined and cohesive palettes.

Color Thief

Since there aren’t many tools for creating qualitative palettes, you could extract potential color palettes from images with colors that resemble your intended mood. Color Thief is a tool that lets you generate a color palette from your own uploaded pictures. Although you would need to tweak your options to create an appropriate palette, Color Thief is a great starting point.

Viz Palette

Similar to Coblis, Viz Palette is a color palette tool that allows you to see how your palettes are perceived by individuals with different color perception deficiencies and color contexts. Furthermore, you can alter the color palette instantly in the tool.

Adobe Color

Adobe Color is a free Adobe tool for building color palettes based on different schemes and combinations. Moreover, it offers premade color schemes to play around with, use in your presentation, and even save if you’re an Adobe user.

Illustrator Color Guide

In the Illustrator Color Guide, you could generate a 5-color scheme along with its tints and shades based on the one color you select. And with preset modes, you could select the type of color scheme you want to create. You can save your color palettes to return to them in future presentations.

Preset Color Guides

Chances are, you’re familiar with Microsoft Office products. Well, did you know that all of the Office softwares have preset color schemes that you can use for your projects? In PowerPoint, you can find the color schemes in the Colors menu in the Slide Master view. You could select an option or customize your own.

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Combining colors in PowerPoint – Mistakes to avoid

By Robert Lane

Why do some color combinations work so well in your presentations, and why do other color combinations make your presentations difficult to watch? PowerPoint expert Robert Lane explains how to combine colors to make effective and professional-looking slides.

With PowerPoint You have all the Tools but ...

Newer versions of PowerPoint have marvelous tools for helping even the “artistically challenged” among us get beyond bullet points and create effective, graphically appealing, downright professional-looking visual slides. That’s fantastic! Now the question is … how should we use those tools? Most of us have never been trained as graphic artists and don’t necessarily know the rules for making visually attractive and meaningful content.

Because the discussion of “effective visual communication” might fill an entire book, let’s narrow the focus here to concentrate solely on the use of color in PowerPoint. What are good, and not so good, ways of using color on slides?

Color Groups

One way to approach colors is to classify them into two broad groups: warm and cool colors (Figure 1). Reds, oranges, and yellows are referred to as warm colors. They tend to pop out and attract attention—especially a bright red. Greens, blues, and purples are cool colors. They tend to recede into the background and draw less attention, especially darker shades. White and very light colors also catch the eye, whereas black and very dark colors generally are less noticeable.

Figure 1 – Color Groups

Note, however, that above effects are not absolutely fixed. They can flip. The quantity and contrast of one color compared to another also comes into play. For example, if we place small black shapes on a solid white slide background, the black shapes pop out as more noticeable, versus the sea of white around them (Figure 2). In this case, the brain is more interested in figuring out if shapes communicate some form of meaning or pattern, rather than merely reacting to their color characteristics. Not surprisingly, some optical illusions take advantage of this phenomenon.

Figure 2 – Color Quantity and Contrast

Consider the color groups, as well as quantity and contrast, when combining colors on slides. It’s pretty safe to combine warm colors with each other and shades of brown (Figure 3) or cool colors with each other and shades of gray (Figure 4). White, black, and beige are neutral colors and go well with all colors in either group.

Figure 3 – Warm Colors Group

Figure 4 – Cool Colors Group

Where most PowerPoint designers get into trouble is combining colors across the warm/cool boundary. Absolutely NEVER do what is depicted in Figures 5 and 6. If you stare at either of these images for very long, your eyes begin screaming. They have trouble distinguishing interactions between the color wavelengths, resulting in fatigue and discomfort. Mixing bright blues and reds is a terrible practice to inflict upon audiences, and unfortunately it happens all too often. The same goes with mixing reds and greens.

Figure 5 – Red and Blue Color Combinations Cause Eye Strain

Figure 6 – Red and Green Color Combinations also Cause Eye Strain

A red and green combination also brings up the issue of color blindness, which apparently affects approximately 7 percent of men and 1 percent of women. Inability to notice the difference between red and green colors is the most common form of color blindness. For example, let’s say you place green text on a red background, as in Figure 6. If the text color’s shading (amount of darkness) has little contrast with the background color’s shading, some viewers will not be able to read that text at all! Avoid such problems by never mixing these two colors, especially in a text versus background combination.

Julie Terberg, a graphic designer and PowerPoint MVP, also points out that using the themes in PowerPoint can make your color combination choices easier (Figure 7). Theme colors have been chosen to look good together (although, still use caution) and to work well in both light and dark presentation environments.

Figure 7 – Using Theme Colors Make Your Choices Easier

The Forgiving Nature of Color Gradients

Interestingly enough, the process of combining colors is much more forgiving when using gradients—colors that fade into each other. Beginning with version 2010, PowerPoint offers a greatly improved, user-friendly interface for making gradients, by the way (Figure 8).

Figure 8 – Adding a Gradient to a Shape

Because nature regularly blends colors this way (think of a sunset), we are used to seeing colors gradually transition from one hue to the next, meaning that you can get away with combining just about any color set and still end up with a reasonably attractive and professional look. Just make sure the transitions are gradual.

Try blending colors to make a custom-designed slide background, a decorative shape—perhaps for a sectional background (Figure 9) or navigation button (Figure 10)—or even jazzy, 3-D text (Figure 11).

Figure 9 – Purple, Gold and Gray Gradient inside a Shape

Figure 10 – Gradient-filled Shape used as a Navigation Button

Figure 11 – Gradient-filled PowerPoint Text

Color and Text Considerations

Going back to the issues of color quantity and contrast (black dots on the white background), those considerations are especially important when slides contain text. Unless such text exists in a navigation button or is purely decorative, generally the goal is for audience members to be able to read it, right? Therefore, opting for a simple background that contrasts sharply with the text color helps the message pop out and attract attention (Figure 12).

Figure 12 – Text Color should Contrast Sharply with a Background

Placing text on top of pictures is popular but can be tricky because controlling the contrast then becomes more difficult. The solution, again, is to make sure the text color contrasts as much as possible with a majority of the picture’s colors and then add a distinct shadow or glow to the text (Figure 13).

Figure 13 – Shadow on Text Helps it Appear more Distinct on top of a Picture

General Color Issues

Here are a few additional PowerPoint-related color tips we’ve discovered over the years:

Using red text is almost never a good idea. That particular color, of all colors, tends to washout when projected on a screen if any kind of unwanted ambient light also hits the screen—perhaps from sunlight streaking through a window or glare from a poorly aimed stage light.

Unless there is a particularly good reason for using brightly colored text … don’t. Stick with white or light beige on a dark background or black (or otherwise very dark color) on a light background. Your slides will have a more professional appearance as a result.

Stay away from gradients in text unless the words are large and intended to be primarily decorative in nature.

When using gradients, simplicity is your friend. Limit the number of colors, and, whenever possible, try using combinations that are readily found in nature for maximum appeal.

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10 Color Palettes to Nail Your Next Presentation

Bring your a-game to your next pitch meeting with these sure-to-dazzle color palettes..

Color is a powerful design tool. The right scheme can energize and motivate, soothe and inspire. With that in mind, we’ve put together a batch of ten eye-catching color palettes, each intended to have a different psychological effect on your presentation audience.

Perhaps you’re a young startup and need to excite potential investors , or maybe you want to ensure that viewers remain focused on important data. Whatever the style of presentation or pitch, you’ll find a color palette that suits your presentation needs in the list below.

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Simply take a note of the HEX codes in these inspiring color palettes, and apply your swatches to backgrounds , typography , or sales presentation templates for your next PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides pitch.

Now, let’s get started! It’s time to nail that pitch.

License this image via Pikoso.kz .

What Are the Best Colors for Presentations?

The best colors to use in PowerPoint , Google Slides, and other presentation software can vary widely depending on your audience, brand, and what you’re trying to achieve with the presentation.

A pitch for a new client might require exciting, inspiring color choices that help your audience to feel energized , while a data-heavy presentation to long-standing investors might require a more stable and reassuring color scheme.

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• How to Use the Color Wheel to Build a Brand Palette

Below, you’ll find 10 color palettes for presentations that tap into the power of color psychology , helping you to choose colors that will always work in your favor.

These stylish color palettes can work for a variety of presentation purposes, like corporate reports, brand launches , and Q1 forecasts.

Scroll down to find the perfect presentation palette to help you bring the power of color to your next pitch.

1. The Perfect Color Palette to Energize Your Audience

Orange has been proven to promote energy and appetite in viewers, so it’s the perfect color choice for presentations that need to have an upbeat feel.

To keep your audience engaged throughout a long presentation, it helps to balance orange’s energy with the soothing, expansive mood of violet blue .

Blue-sky thinking is blue for good reason—this is a color that provokes inspiration and openness to new ideas.

To keep your energized palette crisp and clean, turn to ice white and pitch black to ensure your text remains crisp and legible. 

2. The Best Color Palette to Calm and Reassure the Room

Sometimes, it’s more important to calm and reassure your audience than to energize or surprise them. Presentations focused on mental well being , health , or wellness wouldn’t benefit from a neon palette , for example.

Instead, bring a zen mood to the boardroom with this palette of soothing hues. Spring green , mulberry purple, terracotta, and blue gray have a grounding effect and mimic the soothing colors found in nature to create an ultra-relaxing effect. 

3. The Perfect Color Palette to Boost Confidence

Red is traditionally the color of confidence, proven to make viewers feel stronger and more self-assured in its presence. However, pure red can be overtly aggressive, and the forceful effect of the color can be heightened on bright screens. Much better to temper red’s aggression with softer red orange , fuchsia , and shell pink .

This is still a highly confident palette with its graduation of warm hues, and its assertion is even stronger when paired with mysterious and authoritative plum purple .

4. The Best Color Palette to Appeal to Corporate Businesses

This color scheme gives a nod to the traditional palettes of the financial and legal world. Bottle green and cognac brown are teamed with dark racing-green and old gold for an established and luxurious effect.

Corporate presentations can be difficult to enliven, as they require a degree of formality and convention. However, this palette steps away from oft-used navy blue toward something more interesting.

Evocative of leather and velvet, this is a cocooning and moneyed palette that will help corporate clients feel like you understand their formal world. 

License this image via AlonaPhoto .

5. The Best Palette to Look Cool and On-Trend

Many startups, entrepreneurs, and young brands want to appeal to Gen Z audiences , and they need to have a cool color palette to match.

Whether you’re presenting a new product launch or looking to entice an on-the-pulse angel investor, this violet and neon palette will cement your cool credentials.

Look to urban colors, such as neons and grays, to create presentation slides with an ultra-cool mood.

This urban-inspired presentation palette combines deep and inky violet with acid lime yellow for a high-contrast effect, while concrete gray and moody black provide a neutral offset.

6. The Perfect Color Palette to Look Innovative

Young companies or startups pitching for their first round of investments need a palette that will communicate a spirit of innovation and fresh thinking. A perfect color palette for tech businesses or science startups, this palette has a futuristic, forward-looking mood.

Purple is the most intellectual and mysterious of all colors, making it a good fit for businesses offering something a little different from the norm, especially in the tech sector .

Neon pink is an unexpected choice for work presentations, but here it’s the perfect companion to purple and violet blue, bringing energy and a youthful mood. 

7. The Best Color Palette to Appear High-End

Elevate your high-end presentations with this luxurious color scheme that borrows from vintage color schemes of the 1930s and 1940s.

If you’re pitching for a high-end brand or simply want to bring an elegant mood to your presentation slides, this claret and copper scheme will help your PowerPoint templates feel opulent and expensive.

Dark brick red and olive green are traditional establishment colors that give a nod to beautiful brick architecture and vintage uniforms.

This affluent color palette would also be a good fit for the hospitality, travel, or luxury goods sectors. Team with metallic backgrounds and crisp white text for simple luxury.

8. The Best Color Palette to Improve Focus

If you have vitally important data or a specific message you want your viewers to remember, consider this presentation palette of focus-promoting colors that will prevent your audience from mid-pitch window gazing.

Blue and green are the two colors most associated with improving focus and concentration, with blue promoting expansive thinking and green providing a harmonic, nature-inspired mood.

In this business color palette, rich teal combines both of these hues for a serious focus hit. Earthy burnt orange prevents teal from feeling lethargic, while giving the palette a grounded edge that feels serious and cerebral. 

9. The Best Color Palette to Promote Sustainability

As sustainability is a central concern for many businesses today, it might be in your interest to give your presentations an environmental edge.

While businesses are often advised to avoid greenwashing , for the purpose of presentations, green is still the most reliable color for communicating environmentally-themed messages. It helps to immediately situate your audience within an eco-friendly mindset .

Whether you want to discuss how your company can become more eco-friendly or promote a sustainable product to a potential buyer, this fresh and verdant palette will give your slides a nature-inspired mood.

Emerald green , sage, and deep bottle green are made crisp and contemporary when teamed with chalk white.

10. The Perfect Color Palette to Boost Creativity

We could all do with a little more creativity in our working day, and you can turn to selective color choices to boost your weekly brainstorming session.

For presentations that need to appear creative or boost the creative potential of your audience, bright colors are stimulating, expressive, and promote a sense of childlike play and experimentation.

This is a colorful pick-me-up scheme for work-weary souls—a perfect presentation color palette for team-building days, ideation sessions, or for subjects that are more outside-the-box than usual.

Orange and pink perk up the palette with warm tones , while viridian green and azure blue bring a fresh, tropical feel to this fun, creative color palette.

License this cover image via VISTA by Westend61 .

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30+ Stylish PowerPoint Color Schemes 2024

Color is an element that can make or break a design, and that rule holds true for presentation design as well. Choosing the right PowerPoint color scheme is super important.

But there’s one extra thing to consider – where your presentation will be given. A PowerPoint presentation can look quite different on a computer or tablet versus on a projected screen.

When it comes to selecting a PowerPoint color scheme, this is an important consideration. We’ve rounded nearly stylish PowerPoint color schemes as inspiration. While darker color schemes might look great close-up on screens, opt for lighter backgrounds (for enhanced readability) for projected presentations.

Note: The last color in each scheme is for the slide background.

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1. Blue, Gray Green & Orange

With a bright overall scheme that’s easy on the eyes, this color scheme can help you create a modern PowerPoint presentation that’s readable and friendly. You can even tweak the colors somewhat to better work with your brand, if necessary.

The best thing about this color palette is that it lends itself to plenty of different presentation styles and applications.

2. Violet Gradient

Using the first two colors noted above, you can create a dark-to-light monotone gradient that can make for a modern PowerPoint design style.

Take this concept and expand it to any other colors you like for your spin on this modern color scheme.

3. Mint and Orange

On paper, these colors don’t seem to blend all that well, but with the right application min and orange on a black background can work.

Use a pair of colors like this for presentations where you are trying to make a bold statement or impact. This concept is often great for trendy topics or ideas that are a little unconventional.

4. Bright Blue and Light

The brighter, the better! Bright blue color schemes are a major trend in PowerPoint design … and for good reason. The color combination creates a bright, light feel with easy readability. Those are two things that pretty much everyone wants in a presentation template design.

The other thing that’s great about a color scheme like this – which focuses on one color – is that it matches practically everything else in the design with ease. It’s great for image-heavy presentations or those where text elements are a key focal point.

5. Teal and Lime

Two colors that you might not expect to see paired create a classy combo that’s interesting and engaging. Both teal and lime are considered “new neutrals” and work with a variety of colors easily. (What’s somewhat unexpected is putting them together.)

What’s great about this PowerPoint color scheme is that the extra interest from the hues can help generate extra attention for slides. The template in the example also mixes and matches teal and green primary color blocks to keep it interesting from slide to slide.

6. Colorful Gradients

Gradients are a color trend that just keeps reinventing and resurfacing. In the latest iteration, gradients are bright with a lot of color. Designers are working across the color wheel for gradients that have more of a rainbow effect throughout the design, even if individual gradients are more subtle.

What you are likely to see is a variety of different gradients throughout a project with different colors, but maybe a dominant color to carry the theme. Use this for presentation designs that are meant to be more fun, lighter, and highly engaging.

7. Light Blue Minimal

This color scheme with light blue and a minimal aesthetic is super trendy and so easy to read. You can add a lot of style with a black-and-white style for images or a deep blue accent for header text.

While a pale blue is ideal here, you could also consider experimenting with other pastels and the same overall theme for a modern presentation design.

8. Bright with Dark Background

The combination of bright colors on a dark background can be fun and quite different from the traditional PowerPoint color schemes that are often on white or light backgrounds. This design style for a presentation is bold and engaging but can be a challenge if you aren’t comfortable with that much color.

When you use a style like this, it is important to think about the presentation environment to ensure that everything will look as intended. A design like this, for example, can work well on screens, but not as well on a projector or in a large room.

9. Navy and Orange

The navy and orange color combination is stylish and classic for presentation design. To add a fresh touch consider some of the effects such as the template above, with color blocking and overlays to add extra interest.

What makes this color combination pop is the element of contrast between a dark and a bright pair. The navy here is almost a neutral hue and works with almost any other design element.

10. Dark and Light Green

A modern take on a monotone color scheme involves using two similar colors that aren’t exactly tints and tones of one another. This pairing of dark green and light (almost minty) green does precisely that.

What’s nice about this color scheme is that the colors can be used almost interchangeably as primary elements or accents. It provides a lot of flexibility in the presentation design.

11. Bright Crystal Blue

Blue presentation color schemes will always be in style. The only thing that changes is the variance of the hue. This pair of blues – a bright crystal blue with a darker teal – works in almost the same way as the pair of greens above.

What’s nice about this color palette though is that the dark color is the accent here. That’s a modern twist on color design for presentations.

12. Blue and Yellow

Blue and yellow are classic pairings and can make for a striking presentation color combination. With a bright white background, these hues stand out in a major way.

What works here is the element of contrast. A darker blue with a brighter yellow creates an almost yin and yang effect with color. The only real caution is to take care with yellow on a white or light background with fonts or other light elements.

Teal is a personality-packed color choice. If you are looking for a bold statement with a PowerPoint template, start here.

While the above color scheme also includes a hint of yellow for accents, the teal color option is strong enough to stand alone. You could consider a tint or tone for a mono-look. It also pairs amazingly well with black-and-white images.

Teal is a fun color option that will provide a lot of practical use with your slide deck.

14. Bright Coral

This color scheme is one of those that you will either love or hate. The bright coral color is powerful and generates an immediate reaction.

It’s also quite trendy and will stand out from many of the other more bland PowerPoint colors that you may encounter. This is a great option for a startup that wants to present with a bang or a brand that has a similar color in its palette. It may not work so well for more traditional brands or those that are more conservative with their slide designs.

15. Dark Mode Colors

A dark mode color scheme might be the biggest trend in all of design right now, and that also applies to presentation design.

This purple and emerald color paired with black with white text looks amazing. It is sleek, modern, and has high visual appeal without having to use a lot of images.

This works best for digital presentations when you don’t have concerns about room lighting to worry about.

If you aren’t ready to jump into dark mode on your own, the Harber template above is a great start with nice color, gradients, and interesting shapes throughout the slide types.

16. Navy and Lime

A navy and lime combination is a modern take on colorful neutrals that are anything but boring.

These colors have a nice balance with a white or light background and are fairly easy to use. With so many brands already using blue in their base color palette, this is an option that works and is an extension of existing elements for many brands. (Use your blue and add the lime to it.)

Also, with this color combination, the idea of a minimal overall slide structure is nice so that the power of the colors and impact comes through. They work beside images in full color or black and white.

17. Modern Blue

When you aren’t planning to use brand colors – or maybe as a startup or independent contractor so you don’t have them yet – a modern color combination can add the right flair to a PowerPoint presentation.

The bright grayish-blue in the Lekro PowerPoint template – you can find it here – adds the right amount of color without overwhelming the content. Plus, subtle orange accents help guide the eye throughout this PowerPoint color scheme. https://elements.envato.com/lekro-powerpoint-presentation-67YW3M

18. Blackish and Yellow

While at first pass, black and yellow might seem like a harsh color combination, it can set the tone for a project that should emanate strength. This PowerPoint color scheme softens the harshness of the duo with a blackish color, that’s grayer and has a softer feel.

Pair this combo on a light background or with black and white images for a stylish, mod look.

19. Orange and White

A bright color can soften the harshness of a stark PowerPoint design. Especially when used for larger portions of the content area, such as background swatches or to help accent particular elements.

The Sprint template makes great use of color with a simple palette – orange and white with black text – but has slide ideas that incorporate the color throughout for something with a more “designed” look to it. (And if you aren’t a fan of the orange, change the color for use with this template to keep the modern feel.)

Purple presentations are in. The color, which was once avoided by many in design projects, has flourished with recent color trends.

Because more funky, bright colors are popular, a presentation with a purple focus can be acceptable for a variety of uses. The use in Batagor template has a modern design with a deep header in the featured color, which works best with images that aren’t incredibly bold in terms of color.

21. Blue-Green Gradients

Another trending item in color is the use of gradients. This trend can be applied to PowerPOint presentations as well.

Use a blue-to-green gradient for a soft and harmonious color scheme that won’t get in the way of content. Use each hue alone for accents and informational divots throughout the presentation design.

22. Black and White

Minimalism is a design trend that never goes away. A black-and-white (or gray) presentation screams class and sophistication.

It can also be easy to work with when you don’t want the color to get in the way of your message. And if a design can stand alone without color, you know it works.

23. Reds and Black

If you are designing a presentation for viewing on screens, such as desktops or tablets, a dark background with bright color accents and white text can work well. (This combination gets a lot trickier on projector displays.)

While reverse text and red aren’t always recommended, you can see from the Nova template that they can be a stunning combination. But note, this modern color scheme is best for specific content and audiences.

24. Blue and Pink

This color scheme is a spin on Pantone’s colors of the year from 2016. https://designshack.net/articles/graphics/how-to-use-the-pantone-color-of-the-year-in-design-projects/ The brighter, bolder versions of rose quartz and serenity and fun and sophisticated.

The unexpected combo sets the tone with a strong, trustworthy blue and adds softness with the paler pink. The colors work equally well with white or darker backgrounds.

25. Blue and Green

Blue and green accents can help a black or white background come to life in a presentation template. The colors here can work with either background style, based on how you plan to display your presentation.

What’s nice about these colors is that they are pretty neutral – since both are found in nature – and can be used with ease for design or text elements in a PowerPoint color scheme.

26. Beige and Gray

If you are looking for a softer color palette, consider beige and gray. These hues can work well on screens or projected, making them a versatile option.

The nice thing about such a neutral palette is that it gives content plenty of room, so that will be the true focus of the presentation.

27. Tints and Tones

While the purplish blue-gray in the Business PowerPoint Presentation template is stunning, it represents a greater trend in presentation design. Pick a color – maybe your dominant brand color – and use tints and tones for the presentation color scheme.

By mixing the color with white or black and gray, you’ll end up with a stunning set of color variations that match your messaging.

28. Bold Rainbow

While most of the color schemes featured here only include a color or two, bright color schemes with wider color variations are trending.

This distinct “rainbow style” can be somewhat difficult to use without rules for each color. Proceed with caution.

29. Bright Neutrals

Lime green is the brightest “neutral” you might ever use. A fun palette that’s versatile can be a solid foundation for a color palette.

It works exceptionally well in the Rouka PowerPoint template thanks to a pairing with a subtle gray background. Using a light, but not white, background can be great for screens and projected presentations because it takes away some of the harshness of a white background. The subtle coloring is easier on the eyes for reading and viewing.

30. Rich Browns

Browns aren’t often what comes to mind when thinking of building a color scheme, but rich browns can be a modern option.

Pair a neutral beige-brown with a darker color for an interesting contrast that works with almost any style of content.

31. Mint Green

Go super trendy with a modern and streamlined palette of mint green and gray on white. While this combination can have a minimal feel, it also adds a touch of funkiness to the design.

Add another hint of color – think orange – for extra accents.

32. Dark Gray and Blue

It doesn’t get more classy than a combination of grays and blues. This new take on a classic color scheme adds another brighter blue as well to pick up on modern trends.

Just be careful with text using a dark background such as this one. White is probably your best option for typography (and look for a font with thicker strokes!)

How to choose the best colors for a scientific presentation?

• May 31, 2022
• CAREER SKILLS

Did you know that an average person can identify a million different colors ?

Choosing one or two colors for a scientific presentation from the 1 million colors accessible is always going to be a difficult task.

The color scheme you choose in your presentations is almost as significant as the information you present. Colors have an unconscious effect on us. To be an effective presenter and visual communicator, you need to understand the fundamentals of color theory and its effects.

Presentations with poor color choices result in unappealing visuals, unfavorable comments, and negative feedbacks from your audience.

A decent color palette can transform a good presentation into a perfect presentation, stimulates positive comments, and boosts audience acceptance of your content.

A scientific presentation is a formal approach to presenting your research outcomes, offering a hypothesis, exhibiting and interpreting the findings of a study, or summarizing what has been learnt or studied about a specific subject.

The colors you choose for your scientific presentation are therefore genuinely important in terms of professionalism.

This article will assist you in selecting the best colors for a scientific presentation.

The three-step process to choose the right colors for a scientific presentation.

Step 1: determine your goal..

First and foremost, you need to define a goal for presenting your work.

When it comes to giving a scientific presentation, the theme you choose should be professional and elegant.

If you choose too many colors, you may have to be careful not to overwhelm the audience.

Using only two or three colors can be a wise decision. Using more than three colors may cause your audience to become confused.

Make a decision about the type of presentation you wish to give. Are you attempting to:

To educate?

To persuade or convince?

To activate?

To inspire or motivate?

To entertain?

In conclusion :

• First, you need to understand your audience better. Find out what their wants and needs are.
• Second, write down your own goals. What do you want to accomplish?
• Third, find the overlap between you and your audience. And focus your presentation on that.

Then, you will have a much more clear idea about choosing the right colors for a scientific presentation.

Step 2: Learn the basics of color theory.

You must be careful not to use the wrong color blend if you use more than two colors in your scientific presentation.

This is why using the default themes that come with the software you’re using may not be the greatest idea.

What is the color theory?

Color theory is a scientific way of determining which colors go well together.

The color wheel is a visual representation of the relationship between various colors; it is the foundation of the color theory.

Having a basic idea about at least complementary colors is vital to making a visually appealing scientific presentation.

Different colors have different impressions .

Colors speak volumes all on their own. Color has the ability to promote learning by up to 75% and comprehension by up to 73 percent.

Warm colors convey energy, optimism, and enthusiasm, whereas cold colors convey dependability, professionalism, and peace .

Within these categories, each color is associated with an emotion or concept:

• Red: passion, romance, anger
• Orange: optimism, happiness, energy
• Yellow: happiness, hope
• Green: fertility, nature, abundance
• Blue: professionalism, calm, transparency
• Purple: luxury, royalty, creativity
• Black: elegance, mystery, darkness
• White: purity, cleanliness
• Brown: enduring, dependability, nature
• Beige: conservatism, piety, dullness

How to Choose the Ideal Color Scheme?

Aside from using the color wheel to choose your color schemes, as mentioned above, there are a few more helpful facts to note.

High Contrast

As an example, high contrast slides are essential for achieving maximum impact. For example, if you have a dark background, it’s a no-brainer to select a lighter font.

Alternatively, if you’ve chosen a monochromatic color scheme, you can use one complementary color to highlight important details on the opposite side of the color wheel.

It’s necessary to keep in mind that contrast isn’t just about selecting distinct colors; it’s about choosing the ones that will provide the most visual intrigue when paired together.

Because pure colors all have the exact amounts of saturation (color intensity) and value (how light or dark a color is), using only pure colors to create a scheme will be unattractive. A successful presentation requires a variety of tones, shades, and tints.

Keep It Simple

You’ve probably heard this before, but less is usually more when it comes to designing. Try to keep it simple and don’t use too many colors. In general, three to four colors are sufficient for a presentation.

The 60-30-10 Rule

According to the award-winning presentation company Ethos3 , an easy way to create a balanced presentation is to stick by the 60-30-10 Rule.

If you’ve chosen three colors, you should use 60% of the space on your slides for the primary color, 30% for the secondary color, and 10% for the accent color.

Spread Content Out

Another basic idea is to break up your content into bite-sized chunks throughout your presentation to make it easier to grasp.

In today’s world, engaging presentations with less than 3 minutes of viewing time have 50 to 60 slides.

Because you’ve probably added more information to each slide as the number of slides decreases. Having fully packed slides is not a good idea for accessibility. Instead, you might want to minimize the content for a single slide.

The more slides you have, the more pictures you’ve presumably used to describe each topic, and the fewer words you’ll use to explain each concept.

Step 3: Be specific

Even if you got everything right when choosing the right colors for your next scientific presentation, you might need to consider the audience in general and even the audience you’ll be presenting to.

Some people, for example, are colorblind. It doesn’t matter if you create the perfect scientific presentation with all of the correct colors if some of your audience members can’t see them.

Furthermore, failing to understand how to adapt your presentations for color blind people could lose up to 10% of your audience before you even start.

To help you make your design more inclusive, you can increase the contrast between colors to help make things stand out.

Increase the contrast between colors to help make things stand out and make your design more inclusive.

Furthermore, printers, monitors, projectors, and various paper formats rarely display a single color consistently. Because your viewers will not be able to make a comparison, the color will appear accurate to them.

But you might have to be careful if you are planning on using a combination of presenting methods simultaneously.

Your audience will be more attentive to your presentation if your slides are well-organized, appealing, and consistent.

Images courtesy: Entrepreneur vector created by jcomp – www.freepik.com , Photo by  Alexandre Pellaes  on  Unsplash

Aruna Kumarasiri

Founder at Proactive Grad, Materials Engineer, Researcher, and turned author. In 2019, he started his professional carrier as a materials engineer with the continuation of his research studies. His exposure to both academic and industrial worlds has provided many opportunities for him to give back to young professionals.

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The Ultimate Guide to Accessible Presentation Design

As a presentation design agency, we understand the importance a good design holds in effectively reaching your audience.

There are many factors that feed into an effective PowerPoint design including hierarchy, color and image selection, and which font you decide to use.

Presentation design relies heavily on creating enticing visuals that get your message across. But for those who are visually impaired, enticing visuals may not be enough to provide an accessible presentation.

Why you should design your PowerPoint for accessibility

At the forefront of why we practice accessible design is the desire to have clients benefit fully from the presentations we create for them. A large part of being a presentation designer is knowing your audience and knowing how they are accessing your material.

PowerPoint presentations may be viewed by individuals on their personal devices, or they may be projected in large auditoriums for thousands of people. Presentation designs can easily be washed out from the light of the projector, fluorescent lights, or even natural sunlight shining into the room. Having an accessible design will make your presentation easier to see for all members of your audience, with or without visual impairments.

As presentation designers, we are responsible for staying up to date with current standards and regulations surrounding design accessibility. In recent years, tech companies have been sued for web designs that did not align with the accessibility standards set by the ADA .

In 2018, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple for having a website that was inaccessible to the visually impaired, due to its incompatibility with screen readers. In the same year, Amazon was hit with a class action lawsuit for the same reason.  

At the beginning of 2019, Beyoncé’s company, Parkwood Entertainment, was sued on the grounds that their website was inaccessible to visually impaired users and was preventing them from being able to fully access the website.

Designing with accessible practices will allow more people to enjoy your content as well as protect you from avoidable legal ramifications.

Defining accessibility

When we mention accessible graphic design, we mean designing for people with color blindness, other visual impairments, such as low vision, and motor disabilities. Below is some information to keep in mind regarding how your designs will be experienced by those who have these disabilities.

Some notes on color blindness

People with color blindness are unable to distinguish between certain colors—these colors appear to look similar to each other and tend to blend together, rendering them indistinct.

There are three main types of color blindness, each with its own challenge:

• Red-green color blindness. This is the most common, affecting 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women . Those with this color blindness have difficulty distinguishing between reds and greens.
• Blue-yellow color blindness. Less than 1 in 10,000 people worldwide have this variety of color blindness, but it affects males and females equally. It presents as an inability to distinguish between blue and green, and red and yellow. In some cases, it can also make colors appear less vivid than they are.
• Monochromacy. This is complete color blindness and affects 1 in 100,000 people worldwide . With monochromacy, people cannot see color at all and are sometimes particularly sensitive to light.

Some notes on screen readers

For those with further visual impairments, such as low vision or tunnel vision, or individuals with motor impairments, screen readers are often used to navigate websites, read emails, go through presentations, fill out forms, and so on. Screen readers create an audio equivalent to visual material. This video shows how a screen reader reads a website.

How to design presentations for color blindness accessibility

In the case of PowerPoint presentations where sighted people may view the content on a slide all at once, screen readers voice out each item on the slide one at a time.

When we talk about creating accessible presentation designs, it can seem like we are separating our audience and creating one design for those with unaffected vision and a separate design for those who are colorblind or have other visual impairments—but this is not the case. Fortunately, many of the best practices for accessible presentation design are also the best practices for graphic design in general. The idea is that when you design for accessibility, you design for everyone. The list below highlights those design practices that are especially important for creating an accessible design.

Use the right color palette in your presentation design

When designing for clients, we are often given a set of guidelines that provides information on the branding and colors that their company uses to create their collateral. If you are not given brand guidelines to follow, you may need to come up with your own color palette for your presentation designs. Here are some important reminders on what to keep in mind as you plan what your presentations will look like.

How many colors should I use?

You will want to keep your presentation’s color palette as minimal as possible. A study from the University of Toronto showed that most people preferred simple color combinations that relied on only 2 or 3 colors.

Generally speaking, content is easier to understand if the audience does not have to interpret it through too many colors. Having one primary color with two supporting colors is a good place to start—many brand guidelines follow this format.

Which colors should I use for my design?

When selecting colors, whether from a brand guide or from scratch, it’s important to note how the colors you choose can influence your audience’s response to your presentation design. People are conditioned to attribute different meaning to different colors. Here is a brief look at what each color can mean for your presentation design.

• Red: Energy, passion, danger, love. Great for a presentation that is made to stand out or have a really large presence.
• Orange: Creativity, youth, enthusiasm. Orange is a good color to use for companies with a more youthful focus and want to do something a little bit different.
• Yellow: Happiness, hope, spontaneity, positivity. Good for use with companies that want to emphasize their efficiency, positivity, and lower costs.
• Green: Nature, growth, harmony, wealth, stability. Green is associated with both nature and money. It’s great to use for banks or companies that want to emphasize an eco-friendly message.
• Blue: Calm, trust, intelligence. Blue is often used for B2B brands and companies that set themselves up as hubs for information.
• Purple: Luxury, mystery, spirituality. Use purple to add a sense of prestige to your design.
• Pink: Femininity, playfulness, romance. Great for a company that wants to sell to a traditionally female audience.
• Brown: Wholesomeness, warmth, honesty. Brown is a good color to use for companies that want to point to a well-established heritage and sense of tradition.
• Black: Power, elegance, sophistication. Great for more luxurious brands.
• White: Purity, innocence, minimalism. White is often used as a secondary accent in a color scheme.
• Gray: Professionalism, formality, conventionality. If you are designing for a company that is more serious, gray will help you communicate authority and stability.
• Multicolor: Fun, diversity, optimism. Using an array of colors is a great way to show a company’s playfulness, and appeal to younger and more creative audiences.

When choosing a color palette, remember that red-green color blindness is quite common. If you have opted to use red or green, try not to pair it with the other color to avoid confusion. Below are some guidelines that will help you choose color combinations that will work for any audience.

The color wheel can help you choose your color combinations

When choosing your colors, the color wheel can be a great point of reference for what colors will work well together. Here is a short list of color schemes that traditionally complement each other.

Using the color wheel

• Complementary colors are any two colors that appear opposite from each other on the color wheel. Using a complementary color scheme will help make your design pop and create clear differentiation.
• Analogous colors are any three colors that appear side by side on the color wheel. In this type of color scheme, one color dominates, one color supports, and the last color accents. These combinations tend to be visually pleasing and effective in communicating different types of information.
• Triadic colors are any three colors that are equally spaced around the wheel. They create a bright and dynamic presentation, giving your presentation contrast and harmony at the same time. Red and green fall together easily with this type of combination. Keeping in mind the frequency of red-green color blindness, try to avoid combining these two colors where you can.

The best color schemes for readability tend to be complementary or analogous colors. Canva has a great color wheel that will help you choose the type of scheme you want, and experiment with different color combinations.

Proper color contrast makes your presentation design more accessible

Contrast is how well one color stands out against another. A common misconception is that contrast is created by the difference in colors—but the tone of the colors is what makes the real difference in being able to see each color clearly. Tone is how a color looks when you add a shade of gray to it, making the color less vibrant.

You might choose two vastly different colors and still find that they do not stand out from each other the way you had hoped. This is likely because they are the same tone. An easy way to test how well your colors contrast each other is to put them into grayscale.

Generally, you want to go for high contrasted elements in your design because that is the easiest to see. Light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background will appear more clearly than light text on a light background or a dark text on a dark background.

However, be careful not to oversaturate your designs with high contrast elements. If everything is highly contrasted, nothing stands out anymore. Contrast is best used to emphasize a point, such as a call to action, or a word or phrase that needs to stand out from the rest.

Low contrasts tend to be pleasing to the eye, but they impede the readability of text and the visibility of your graphics. The key here is to find balance between a beautiful color scheme and one that works for optimal clarity.

Since red-green color blindness is common, try to avoid this combination where you can. Some other combinations to be cautious with include: green and brown, green and blue, blue and gray, purple and blue, green and yellow, green and gray. These color combinations tend not to contrast well and it can be difficult to see a distinct difference between them, even for viewers without color blindness.

Contrast is especially important for text in a presentation. Text is an essential feature of any presentation, but it needs to be well contrasted against its background to be clearly legible to all audiences. Text is what provides the bulk of information in a presentation, so we want to make sure it doesn’t go undetected.

Besides contrast, our lead designers have some other tricks to emphasize text. One way is by giving the word or phrase being emphasized a different color from the rest of the text. Sometimes they will additionally place a thin box around the words to make it stand out even further.

When itemizing lists or outlining processes, it’s helpful to use numbers to indicate hierarchy and the order in which you want your audience to read.

Select photographs that are highly contrasted

Photographs are other graphics where you want to keep contrast in mind, especially if you will be overlaying text. Take the time to select photos with good contrast and try to avoid those with too much white if you already have lighter colors in your design palette. Light colors tend to get washed out by natural lighting, projector lights, and other environmental factors that tend to be beyond your control—accommodate for this in your design.

Use symbols for additional emphasis

It is important to not rely on color alone to convey your messages or be the focus of your design. Subtle changes or differences in color may go unnoticed by those with color blindness or other visual impairments.  Where possible, try to incorporate symbols to emphasize parts of the slide that need to be highlighted. This can mean underlining a word so that it stands out or putting a symbol next to the point you are currently focusing on. This helps guide your audience through each point as it is presented, and can help to minimize any confusion.

Include patterns and textures in your graphs

One of the most effective and accessible techniques for distinguishing between the different series within your graph is to use patterns in addition to colors. Using textures gives viewers an additional point of reference when comparing the cells of a graph with the graph’s respective legend. This way, even if the viewer finds the colors difficult to distinguish, the pattern will be a clear indication of what the graph is showing.

Additional resources for designing for color blindness

To ensure your presentation design is color accessible, there are resources you can use to see what your design would look like to someone with any type of color blindness.

• ‍ Color Oracle is a tool that will show you how your design appears to color blind viewers, as you design it.
• ‍ Color Review lets you check the contrast between two colors.
• ‍ Color Contrast Analyzer is a desktop tool that is available for download. It helps you determine the legibility of text and the visibility of visual elements.
• ‍ Color Shark is another quick way to check that the contrast between your colors is distinct enough to make for clear visibility and text readability.

How to design PowerPoint presentations to work with screen readers

When designing presentation decks that will be read by screen readers, the layout and order of objects on each slide are key to provide a meaningful experience to listeners.

Creating an appropriate layout for screen readers can be difficult to do, but it is very important to facilitate how the audience understands the information being presented. Layouts that are difficult to follow will result in screen readers doing a poor job of reading the slide, and consequently the listener will not gain any useful information. They will also miss out on the full experience of the presentation.

When screen readers read information out of order, listeners hear information that is not cohesive and consequently, carries little value or meaning. While screen reader users may not be able to see the design of your slides, the order of your content is still important to ensure a seamless progression through the content.

These tips will help you ensure your layouts are logical and compatible with how a screen reader will navigate through the content.

Organize content in a linear fashion

Screen readers go through each item on a slide from top to bottom, left to right. When organizing content on a slide, be sure that it flows linearly and logically. Put distinguishing information as early as possible in your slide so that listeners will know the key focus of the slide sooner. The most important information should be introduced as early as possible so that listeners know what each slide focuses on.

The Selection Pane in PowerPoint shows you the order in which a screen reader will navigate through your content. This can be found on the Home tab in the “Drawing” section; click on “Arrange” then “Selection Pane” to bring up the Selection side panel. Note that the screen reader will read this list of objects from the bottom to the top , so you want to make sure the title of the slide is at the bottom of this pane.

Another way to check if your slides are accessible to a screen reader is in the Review tab; click on “Check Accessibility”. This will point out which slides, and which items on those slides, are presenting an issue.

Writing alternative text for images

Alternative text (alt text) is what the screen reader reads to describe an image to the listener. It is also displayed in place of an image in case it cannot be loaded. Images that do not have alt text will either be ignored by screen readers or the image file name is read instead—either way, missing alt text often leaves users without useful pieces of information. If you have any images that are important for understanding the context of the slide, be sure to include alt text for each one.

Be descriptive

• Alt text should be clear and provide all the relevant information needed to understand what the image is. Here’s a good test for descriptiveness: close your eyes and have someone read the alt text to you. You should be able to picture a reasonably accurate version of the image and understand the key concept it conveys.

Keep it concise

• While it is important to be descriptive, your audience does not need unnecessary details. Additionally, most widely used screen readers cut off alt text at 125 characters. Focus on writing succinct alt text that sufficiently describes the image.

Identify the image’s purpose

• It is important to determine what purpose the image serves on your slide: is it informative or decorative?
• Alt text for informative images should not only describe the content of the image, but also make sense when read with its surrounding content.
• ‍ Decorative images exist on presentation slides for layout or aesthetic purposes and do not contain important information as it relates to the slide. For these images, you can leave out alt text—PowerPoint allows you to mark items as decorative so that screen readers know to ignore them.

Use proper punctuation

• Commas and periods in the alt text will cause the screen reader to ‘take a breath’, creating a more natural-sounding flow to the speech produced.

Use language that is appropriate to your audience

• Knowing your audience will help you discern which images need alt text and how complicated the text needs to be. If your slides are being shown to the general public, you should use layman terms and be as straightforward as possible. If your slides will be presented to industry professionals, you may use more technical descriptions that will provide additional meaning.

Creating alt text for grouped objects

There is a common misconception that grouped objects in PowerPoint do not need alt text, but this is not necessarily true.

When you have a heavily detailed graph, you will want to write alt text that explains the main takeaway. For example, if you are showing a company’s performance as it has increased over the last five years, you don’t need to write the statistics for every year—but you might write alt text that lets the audience know the graph shows an increase in sales over the last five years.

If you have a simple chart, you can write the data in the alt text as it concisely explains the chart's purpose. For example, a chart that shows 50% of customers prefer email contact and 50% prefer phone calls is straightforward but important nonetheless. Each piece of information is important on its own, so it is a good idea to include both stats in the alt text.

Writing alt text in PowerPoint

PowerPoint has an easy-to-use, built-in feature that allows you to add alt text for slide objects . You select the image, then right-click and select “Edit Alt Text”. Or, you can select the image and under the Picture Tools tab, select “Format” then “Alt Text”.

When marking items as a group, you will need to indicate that each of the individual aspects of the graph or image are decorative. In the alt text window in PowerPoint, you will have the option of setting decorative images. Click this option if you do not need to write alt text for the image.

If marking individual elements of a group, you can write text that easily explains what each element of the graph represents. Using the above example, if the section shows that 50% of people like emails, that is all you need to include in your alt text.

If the slide has text that already provides a sufficient description of the information presented in the chart or graph, you may not need to go in-depth with your alt text.

Design for people

While a large focus when writing alt text is for it to be screen reader friendly, do not lose sight of the fact that you are designing for the people in your audience. The photos used in your presentation should exhibit diversity, and that should carry over into the alt text.

Create hidden titles for “untitled” slides

In some cases, not all presentation slides need a designated title. Unfortunately, slides without titles will bring up an error message in PowerPoint. A workaround we use is to create a hidden title—simply put, it is a slide title that is moved outside of the slide workspace. It will be read by screen readers and will not appear during presentation show mode.

Since the title will be read by a screen reader, you want to provide a title that is informative to what the focus of the slide is.

Additional resources for screen reader accessibility

There are many resources available to help you understand how your designs will be interpreted by a screen reader. Since 2000, Windows comes with Microsoft Narrator pre-installed, which you can use to listen to how your PowerPoint presentation is designed and adjust for improved accessibility. The Mac equivalent is VoiceOver .

Designing for accessibility in all areas of life , should not feel any different from designing for any other audience. Adhering to good design practices and techniques will ensure that your designs are accessible and easy to follow, no matter who your audience is. If your company works with an external design agency , be sure to let them know that you want your designs to be considerate and accessible to all audiences. Stay up to date on ADA standards for design to ensure that you are protecting yourself and your company and creating slides that everyone can enjoy.

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Tasmania Devils AFL club launched with name, colours, logo and guernsey concept revealed

Live Moment Tasmania Devils AFL club launched with name, colours, logo and guernsey concept revealed

The colours, logo and foundation guernsey for Tasmania's AFL and AFLW team have been released — and they each hark back to decades of tradition.

The club will be known as the Tasmania Devils, they will wear green, yellow and red, and their guernsey will feature a map of Tasmania at its centre with a red "T".

All three elements have long been associated with football in Tasmania, and they have been formalised as the club edges closer to its long-awaited entry into the AFL in 2028.

They were announced at the club's launch tonight, held simultaneously at six locations around the state, in addition to 20 live stream sites.

Tasmania Football Club chair Grant O'Brien said it's an important milestone.

"Today is a special day, one we have waited a long time for — and one we will remember for a long time," he said.

"Your club has been blown away by the community support shown at Monday night's launch events.

"It has been a truly special moment in our state's football history with thousands of Tasmanians joining in the cheers and tears as we, together, unveiled our club."

The Devils nickname was always going to be preferred, provided the club could avoid long and potentially costly negotiations with Warner Bros over the right to use the name.

The colours have been associated with Tasmanian football since 1908.

The main unknown was the logo, which shows a profile of a Tasmanian devil.

Mr O'Brien said it represented Tasmania's "proud, tough, determined" characters.

"Characters that are feisty and will fight for their survival in a uniquely Tasmanian way," he said.

"Our Tasmanian Devil is a free spirited, powerful, and authentic identity.

"We call this Devil 'The Wild'."

Tussle over the name? Apparently all is well

Following earlier reports the legal owner of the Tasmanian Devils name, US entertainment giant Warner Bros, were not willing to allow the Tasmanian club to use it, a joint statement issued by the company and the AFL states that has been resolved.

"Warner Bros Discovery and the AFL have come to an amicable agreement and look forward to seeing footy fans across Tasmania support the AFL's newest football club, the Tasmania Devils," the statement reads.

"The 'Devils' will no doubt be a club that unites the state and showcases the best of Tasmania."

As to whether money exchanged hands over the use of the name, and who foots that bill, is yet to be revealed.

Early reactions on social media to the guernsey have been mixed, with some appreciating the nod to Tasmania's football heritage, while others questioned the use of a state guernsey — a practice not employed in other states.

The long road to a Tasmanian AFL team

Regardless of the politics around the team and the stadium, the launch is a historic moment for Tasmanian football.

For 30 years, bids have come and gone.

A bid involving a 30,000-seat stadium at the Hobart showgrounds was knocked back.

A 2008 bid from then-premier Paul Lennon ended in ignominy – dismissed out of hand by then-AFL head Andrew Demetriou. This was despite strong private sector backing.

And then came the entries of the Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney Giants, pushing back Tasmania's team by decades — if not forever.

Former AFL head Gillon McLachlan appeared to entertain the idea, but a 2018 report again ruled it out.

Tasmanians took the matter into their own hands, forming an AFL task force in 2019 and gaining tripartisan political support, again arguing the commercial case for a Tasmanian team.

The stadium question reared its head — Hobart would eventually need better facilities, but opinions were divided over whether the team comes first, or a new stadium.

And in March, 2022, then-premier Peter Gutwein announced a 27,000-seat stadium at Regatta Point, contingent in the state getting a team.

He resigned, and the concept was moved to the adjoining Macquarie Point under new premier Jeremy Rockliff — following a visit to the city by AFL executives.

The stadium was formalised in writing as a condition of the team's entry, agreed to by the AFL Commission and club presidents.

The contract was signed in May 2023, after the Commonwealth agreed to provide $240 million for the precinct.

But in Tasmania, tripartisan political support was over.

Political fight ahead over Macquarie Point stadium

There is still a lot of work to be done before the team runs out for round one, 2028.

A $70 million high performance centre on Hobart's eastern shore should be ready, to ensure the club can attract and retain players.

And then there's the Macquarie Point stadium.

The first season will be played at Bellerive Oval and York Park, with the Tasmanian government to pay the club $4.5 million per season if the new stadium isn't ready by round one, 2029.

The concept of a 23,000-seat, roofed stadium on that site — a condition for the team to enter the AFL — is being assessed by the Tasmanian Planning Commission on engineering, environmental, heritage and other planning grounds.

When that work is done, likely next year, it will need to pass both houses of parliament before construction can start.

By then, updated cost estimates should be known, with the original $750 million price tag another year older. There will also be detailed plans, and final answers to two burning questions: can it actually fit on the site? And how realistic is the 2029 completion date?

In the meantime, Labor leader Rebecca White has promised to renegotiate the deal with the AFL if she ends up premier after this weekend's election, focusing on the requirement for a stadium.

Regardless of the election result, the stadium will remain a political football.

The Liberals under Jeremy Rockliff are likely to win more seats but still be in minority, facing a progressive crossbench.

Labor's best chance at governing would be via the Greens, or potentially a combination of independents Kristie Johnston, Sue Hickey, David O'Byrne and the Jacqui Lambie Network.

In both situations, the final stadium vote would hang by a thread.

And that's before it gets to the upper house, where Labor and Liberals have been able to combine for a majority in recent years. That situation could come to an end, if Labor's Josh Willie and Liberal Jane Howlett are elected to the lower house this weekend.

Their replacements in the upper house could be independents.

The club may have been launched, but the path to a stadium remains a challenge for the government, and potentially the AFL.

Live Moment

Look back at how ABC readers and other Australians responded to this live moment.

We'll leave our coverage here

As Tasmanians continue to celebrate this history-making occassion, we'll leave our coverage here for tonight.

Thanks for joining us!

Flinders and King Islands missing from guernsey

The guernsey is a very close match to one already used by Tasmanian representative sides, prompting questions on social media about whether the team should set itself apart from the state side — like in other states.

The map design also leaves off King Island and Flinders Island.

But the reception to the logo has largely been positive.

'The players aren't here yet, we are'

The official launch of the Tasmania Devils AFL and AFLW club finishes, with club chair Grant O'Brien hopeful football fans on the mainland will also join up as foundation members.

A presentation points out how Tasmanians have repeatedly been told their own team would "never happen", and congratulated the state on reaching this stage.

It finishes with the line: "The players aren't here yet, we are."

Wondering what this is? Join us next time we're live and be part of the discussion.

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