You’re preparing your visuals for your next presentation, and you open up your presentation slideshow application (any application). The first thing that your eyes lay on is a new slide with templates already there, waiting for you to put your texts and images right onto the pre-formatted place-holders. Easy to use?… Most definitely. Score some brownie points in originality?… Most definitely not.
“There’s A Template For Everything”…
Just imagine a world famous artist, painting a renowned masterpiece, and he gets to paint it on a pre-formatted canvas, complete with outlines. And colours to be used individually numbered conveniently for the artist to simply fill-in-the-blanks. Now, is that canvas going to be a one-of-a-kind unique work of art? Definitely not. In fact, even kids will be able to do what the artist did, just by painting it by the allocated by numbers…
Hmmm… Paint by numbers, anyone?…
So back to the presentation slideshow. What would you do if you’re presented with the pre-formatted templates? Well, just select a blank slide. You can do anything you want on a blank slide. In fact, you should work out your format freehand on a piece of paper first, and then only transfer it onto the blank slide. That way, you’ll have maximum freedom of creativity.
So Why Do Avoid Templates?…
What do I do when I open up my presentation slideshow app?… I first select a blank slide, then let my creative juice flow unhindered on the blank slide. And the same goes for every subsequent slide after that. In fact, I work exclusively with blank slides only. That way, I will actually have full visual control over how the individual slides will appear.
You don’t have to use them just because the templates are there. Try to design your masterpiece on a blank canvas instead. I’m sure you’ll find that it’s really fascinating…
