5 Common Errors in PowerPoint Templates

As a PowerPoint Specialist, I see many different corporate PowerPoint templates. While some are created perfectly, others have room for improvement, and some need to be scrapped and started again.

What’s wrong with some of the templates that I see? Most haven’t been created correctly in PowerPoint, making them problematic for users. Let’s be honest: We want to make life easy for our staff, not more difficult. Incomplete templates result in poor user adoption and additional time spent creating presentations because staff must spend time fixing issues.

How does this happen? Designers do a fabulous job designing stunning slides and templates because they have an eye for detail and can make things look beautiful. Not all designers can transfer their beautiful designs into a PowerPoint template. Building a template requires a different set of skills than designing one.

Here is a list of five errors I frequently see with corporate PowerPoint templates.

#1. Missing corporate colours

The most common thing I see wrong with PowerPoint templates is that the brand colours haven't been added as theme colours to the template. In other words, the colours have been added to the slides and not added to the slide master, i.e. the template. This means that when you add content in PowerPoint, for example, a chart, a table, or a SmartArt graphic, the default colours are picked up, resulting in your branding being mixed up with the default Microsoft colours.

#2. Inconsistent fonts

The second most common issue I see in PowerPoint templates is that fonts have not been added to the template. At first glance, you might not notice there's an issue. But when you insert a text box, the font within the text box contains the default font, not your brand font. This means that you’ll have inconsistent branding throughout your PowerPoint file, and users will spend precious time picking through slides and changing the fonts to match, that’s if they even notice the errant font in the first place. And let's be honest: we don't want our users to spend more time creating PowerPoint slides than necessary.

#3. Functionality

In addition to looking good, slide layouts must be functional too. I often see templates with imposing background graphics on every slide, with no blank or title-only slides. What if we want a chart or SmartArt? Then, we end up with a tiny chart that will be difficult for our audience to read. Yes, we can Hide Background Graphics for that slide, but that’s making it difficult for our staff.

#4. Poor contrast

Is it important for your organisation that people viewing your slides can read the text? Of course, it is! I see many organisations whose font colour and background colour combinations would not pass an accessibility check. Yes, there is such a thing as accessibility checkers. They test the font colour relative to the background colour of the text. For example, this newsletter is written in black text against a white background.

Has anyone checked the colour combinations in your template? There are some great online tools available that will give you an indication as to whether the font colour and background colour can be read at certain font sizes. For example, your text may pass at a larger font size and fail at a smaller one. This is important for presentations, websites, and printed media. I commonly see pale brand colours used for the font colour on a white background, and it's very hard to read the text.

#5. Variants

When creating a template in PowerPoint, we must strip out the variants from the original file. If this task isn’t done, strange things will happen when working with the PowerPoint file. When someone changes the slide size or chooses a different variant in the PowerPoint file, you will lose all your custom formatting, such as colour palettes and fonts. If you’re unsure what I mean by variants, these can be found on the Design tab.

Now that you know the pitfalls, how can you ensure this doesn’t happen with your corporate template? We offer a template review service, where we work with you to ensure you get a fully finished, functional template. We provide a detailed report with guidance and feedback that you can pass on to your designer.

Once you have a fabulous template, what next? To ensure full user adoption, we can work with you to design a training program that includes your brand guidelines and train your staff on the fundamentals of PowerPoint so that they can quickly create professional, on-brand slides and present them with confidence.

Thank you for reading this article. I'd love to hear your feedback on template pitfalls. If you need any assistance with rebranding and presentation training within your organisation, please reach out!

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