You are a presenter and not a designer. So, why do you need to stuff images in your PowerPoint presentations when you believe your text and oral script is enough to entice audience?

The answer is not that complicated.

The truth is that by-and-large audience is lazy and they don't want to read and digest text on PPT slides. No doubt that text has its own value. But images actually act as a supporting tool to make even a deadening topic exciting. Therefore, calling them as the lifeblood of a PowerPoint presentation is not wide of the mark.   

In fact, it is pretty strange to know that many presenters don't know the best practices of using images. And if you are one among such then, keep reading.

Bottom line is every great presentation has the right balance of text and amazing images. So, always go for inserting creative images in presentation slides.

But that's easier said than done. Right! Making and inserting images that are appealing is a time-killing exercise. Moreover, all presenters don't have necessary arty skills to do it quickly and attractively. 

Taking this into consideration, here we are going to share an easy to apply and effective trick to design attractive visuals. This trick is none other than splitting a visual into multiple pieces. Such multiples pieces of visuals bring unique intersectional effect without compromising the complete impact.  

Now, let’s check out the step-by-step procedure to quickly split an image.

What You Will Learn In This Tutorial :

Split Image Effect in a Presentation Slide

Steps To Create Split Image Effect In PowerPoint:

Step 1: Start by selecting an apt visual

Suppose you are preparing PowerPoint slides for your company profile presentation. It’s not hard to understand that an ordinary business handshake visual is not enough to bring that oomph factor. Therefore, going for a visual that reflect a business’ core values or well-defined mission or growth strategy is sensible.

How about using an energetic visual that stirs up emotions and portrays passion? Won’t such a visual be the best fit and look cool too? It will indeed! 

For example, in the sample slide given below, we have picked hot air balloon visual as a metaphor to perfectly depict a company’s mission and vision.

Mind it!

Irrespective of the fact that whether you are crafting a wide screen PPT (16:9) or standard screen PPT (4:3), make sure the visual does not cover whole slide. It is always sensible to leave little space for title text. Check the sample slide below as ready reference:

 

Insert a Visual

 

Step 2: Insert parallelogram having unequal adjacent sides


First click on the ‘Insert’ tab in the PowerPoint ribbon to introduce parallelogram effect. Now, on clicking the ‘Shapes’ button, a dropdown menu opens up. Further, select the Parallelogram shape (5th option in first row) from the ‘Basic shapes’ as shown below.

 

Parallelogram shape in PowerPoint

 

Click on the parallelogram option to select it and then drag to draw the selected option on visual. Tilt the parallelogram using the rotating handle to give it a striking angle. Now, copy this final shape and make replicas till it covers the whole image. Generally, 6-8 replicas are enough to cover an image.

Further, roughly adjust the height of each parallelogram to bring in an uneven and arty effect. Lastly, position the parallelograms at a certain distance from each other. After this you will get a result somewhat like the slide shown below.         

Insert Parallelogram shapes on slide

 

Step 3: Use the Merge option to intersect the image   

In this step, apply the ‘Merge’ functionality to bring in the final result. Basically, in this step a crisscross or intersect of image and parallelogram is made to create the effect. Let’s check out how it can be done.

  • Start by copying the image as we need to insert it repeatedly.
  • Press Ctrl button to first select image followed by parallelogram.
  • Remember always select image prior to parallelogram.
  • After this click on the ‘Format’ tab given under ‘Drawing tools’.
  • Find the ‘Merge Shapes’ command and click on it to open a dropdown menu.
  • Select the ‘Intersect’ option from this menu.

For your assistance here’s the image showing the pathway to get first split.

Intersect Image and Shape

And this is how the first result will appear on your slide after completion of the first split.

 

Use Merge Shapes Intersect to Create a Split

 

But that’s not the final result. You need to repeat the above mentioned bulleted steps again and again till the last split. Your final outcome will be something like this.

 

How the Split Image Looks

 

Add your text and your super cool slide is ready!

 

Split Image Effect in a Presentation Slide

 

Checkout some more amazing outcomes created by using the same split effect.

 

Top down split effect using rectangles

To craft this effect, in place of parallelogram, select and apply ‘Rectangle’ from the ‘Shapes’ menu. Position them on image from top to bottom having space in between. Vary each rectangle’s length to bring in the uneven effect like we did in case of parallelogram. Here’s an example PPT slide for you.

Top down Split Effect using Rectangles

Same parallelogram effect but with little twist  

Here we have used the same parallelogram effect in a reversed direction. Rest the steps are same as we mentioned above.

Same Parallelogram effect but with little twist

Circular split to craft the donut effect

To bring in this circular split select ‘Donut Shape’ from ‘Shapes’ menu. Start by positioning three to five different sized donut shapes. You can use the sizing handle to enlarge or reduce the size of donut shape. Remember you need to press both Ctrl and Shift to give a same center to all circular shapes.     

Circular split to craft the Donut effect

Concluding thoughts

The images one uses in a PowerPoint presentation are not only meant to add colors. They tell stories just as words do. In fact, images grab attention more effectively than words. Crux is that an image is worth a thousand words, therefore, the use of images should be an integral part of PPT presentation.

But remember you just can’t insert a plain visual and anticipate that audience will digest it as such. Don’t worry even if you lack graphic designing skills.

Thankfully there are tons of simple tricks like image splitting to quickly bring that oomph factor. Actually, image splitting is a great trick to craft fast, easy and awesome effects for almost all images you can think of.

Try it once!

Looking to learn more such handy tricks to quickly give arty effect to your slide images? Drop a message in the comment box below or directly contact our experts at SlideGeeks.