Canva is a wonderful accessible program that anyone can learn to use to make an array of graphic assets. You can use this versatile tool to elevate your next school presentation. Who says that school has to look boring? Making information visually appealing is extremely impactful and exactly what a designer does! Plus, making a factually accurate presentation that is fun and beautiful will score you extra points with your teacher. In today’s Canva tutorial, we will talk about how to make your school presentation stand out. These tips can be implemented and modified to make a presentation for your own topic for class. Not only will you have wonderful pieces you can use for school but you can have a bit more fun doing homework!
Discover tips to make your school presentation stand out
In a crowd of presentations, how do you make yours stand out? There are many boring pre-made templates that don’t use enough pictures out there, and if you’re in a time crunch there’s no problem using these. This tutorial wants to challenge you to create a stunning presentation from scratch rather than copying and pasting into a carbon-copied template. Here you will learn a few tricks to turning your boring school presentation to an eye-catching work of art.
1. Have a stunning opener
First impressions are important and that counts for school presentations too! Make that first opening slide memorable but remember to keep it relevant to your topic. Remember, keep the aesthetic for the rest of your presentation, because the opening slide sets the tone for the rest of the presentation.
Make sure not to overcrowd your opening slide with pictures, graphics, or words. In this case, less is more. You can even make one image frame your text for an effortless but professional look. Just make sure to have all the important information on there.
2. Limit the colors in your presentation
Use no more than five colors for your whole presentation. Remember simplicity is key. It is hard to know which words or information is important if every word is a different color! Use color sparingly, consistently and to highlight important information. Use your colors as accents, not the main stars of your presentation.
3. Have consistent slides
Build a template you can follow throughout your presentation. Or chose any of Canva's existing templates from the toolbar on the left. Then adapt the colors to make it uniquely your own by clicking on each object in the template, clicking on the color box near the top left of your slide window, and changing the color.
Add visual interest by using a second font. Pair different fonts and styles for body copy and titles in your slides and stick with it with all of your slides. In terms of fonts, also try to stick to a sans-serif font, as it will be easier for audience members to read. Pick a similar background and use the same colors throughout your presentation and make them indicate similar things throughout your presentation to create a design language with your audience and solidify information rapidly.
4. Add stunning photos
Have you noticed the most boring presentations lack any visual elements and pictures? Although some may think it distracting from the information at hand, visuals can help solidify information in your presentation. A lot of people learn in different ways, so by keeping it entertaining and visually appealing for those visual learners, you can broaden the interest of your audience. In fact, visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text!
To add photos or graphics in Canva, use the toolbar on the left to click on Elements. Then search for the item you're hoping to add. Next click on Photos, Graphics or Videos to see relevant results for each type of content. Once you find the image you like, just click on it and drag it onto your slide. You can also upload your own images by clicking Upload in the left-hand toolbar.
5. Write short, direct bullet points
Presentations are all about information so we want the message to be clear. Remember, less means more! Like in the title page, only put the most important information on your slides and make them short and easy to understand sentences. Visuals can help where words can fail.
6. Add some finishing flourish
You can add simple animations and transitions between slides to really make your presentation come to life! To add animations simply click on the objects on your slide you want to animate, and then click Animate above your working window. You'll have to option to chose how those objects move onto the slide, such as from the left side, from the bottom, and so on. You can also use animation to make items get larger or smaller (select under Scale), and really pop out by tumbling (select under Exaggerate), and more.
7. Don’t forget to research!
Now that you have a visually stunning presentation, hit it out of the ball park by having accurate facts fill in those short bullet points. What your teacher will care about is facts, making it look pretty is the icing on the cake. Research your topic online, reference your textbook, and ask your teacher for more information if needed!
Want to learn more about how Canva works?
If you liked this tutorial and want to learn more about how to navigate and create with Canva, take our Canva for Beginners Classes. If you got Canva down already but want to learn a bit more about design principles, take a look at our Discovering Design Classes.
Try tips to make your school presentation stand out
If you’re interested in learning another design software we also have a Procreate tips for beginners tutorial and a fun beginner Procreate tutorial.
Written by Ashley Velasquez. As a visual learner growing up in the age of technology, she was fascinated by the graphics and videos that would dance on early computer screens. As she started pursuing Visual Communications in college, she found that design involved in translating information, ideas and opinions onto endless platforms.
