Fliptron Trial Preparation

This is a design that is so fresh and so clean that Apple decided to make it a standard template in their presentation software, Keynote. Unfortunately, those of us with PowerPoint are forced to fend for ourselves when it comes to this simple yet beautiful effect.

If, when you open PowerPoint, it prompts you to choose some template or another, just pick the standard white background with black text. Things will get a bit more exciting shortly!

If you’re using Microsoft Office for Mac OS X, click the “Format” menu and choose “Slide background…” If you’re on a Windows machine, well, I haven’t had the occasion to see how everything syncs up, but if I remember correctly, things should be similar enough that you will be able to follow along with this guide. That said, upon clicking “Slide background…” this window will pop up:

You’ll want to click on the drop-down menu underneath the miniature preview (in the “Background fill” box). From that menu, select “Fill effects…” When you do that, this window will pop up:

To keep it super-simple for the first time through, you’ll want to select “Horizontal” under “Shading styles” and “One color” under “Colors.” The default selections in the other boxes should suffice. Upon selecting those options, you’ll want to click the drop-down menu underneath “Color 1,” which will bring up the following window:

This is the color picker. This list of colors is actually pretty lame, though, so you might want to click one of the icons along the top of the window, which let you select a color by other means. For example, if you choose that round-looking one, the window will change to a color wheel:

Regardless of how you choose your color, you’ll want to do so carefully. It might not be a good idea to take a bit of color psychology into account. Blue is said to symbolize loyalty (”true blue”), which is why I feel it is a good default for the courtroom. That said, once you’ve chosen your color, you’ll want to click “OK,” and you’ll return to the “Fill Effects” screen:

The only thing left to tweak on this screen is the severity of the gradient. Use the slider underneath your color selection to tweak it to your liking. As you can see, I prefer my gradient to be rather subtle, opting for a smooth transition from bottom to top.

Click “OK,” then “Apply to all,” and that’s it! However, if you’ve chosen a darker color for your gradient, you’ll probably want to go ahead and change the font to white or some other lighter color. And change it from that boring old Times New Roman to something interesting! I chose Trebuchet in my above example. (You’ll want to do this in the Slide Master if you know how… If you don’t, that is a topic I plan on writing about in the near future!)

Note: If you recognize this post, it is because I’ve imported it from an older blog of mine (”Tom Burke Presentations” on Blogspot), which is now defunct.

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