PowerPoint Designer is an AI-driven feature that provides suggestions for designing slides and editing PowerPoint templates. Similar to PowerPoint, Google Slides’ designer feature also provides suggested templates and themes for presentation slides.
How to use Design Ideas in Google Slides using Templates
Google Slides initially had a feature similar to PowerPoint’s Designer tool that provided layout and design suggestions, which was discontinued in January 2024. However, there are still different ways you can get design ideas, such as using Google Slides themes and templates. The steps below show how to use these Google Slides design features to get suggestions similar to those of PowerPoint design ideas.
You can get design ideas for creating slides by going to the Templates menu in Google Slides. This menu can be accessed via the Templates button from the Google Slides toolbar or via Slide -> Templates.
Google Slides template suggestions can be used to pick the most appropriate template according to your presentation topic. Just click on a template to switch to its design and see the various slide layouts that come with it.
Once you select a template, the slide layouts will pop up on the right sidebar. Click on the layouts you want to add to the presentation, and they will begin populating your slide deck. You can also use the Import all slides option at the button to add all slide layouts to your presentation.
You can also quickly find templates and related settings by going to the Search option via the Google Slides toolbar or by using the ALT+/ hotkey.
Customize Theme for Selected Template
Once you have selected a template, you can customize its theme to modify the look of the default template further. Simply go to Slide -> Change Theme to pick a theme.
From the right sidebar, pick a theme to change the template’s look. Alternatively, you can use the Import theme option from the bottom of the sidebar to select a custom theme from Google Drive.
To preview changes, select a theme. This will show you the changes made to the template. You can use Undo via Edit -> Undo to switch back to the original theme or the CTRL/Command+Z hotkey. The below example shows a Google Slides default template edited with a dark theme that modified its default look.
Customize Background for Selected Template
In addition to the theme, you can customize the background color for the selected template via Slide -> Change Background.
This will open a menu where you can select a custom color or image to replace the template’s background.
The image below shows a Google Slides default template edited after changing the background color. As you can see from the example below, the added color merged with the template to create a unique look. Depending on your template design, the selected color or image might partially or completely change the template’s look, merging with existing slide elements.
How to use Design Ideas in Google Slides using Themes
When wondering how to start a presentation, you can also go with a simple theme instead of a template. This is because to make an engaging presentation, a simple design might stand out more than a colorful presentation template. To get ideas for themes, go to Slide -> Change Theme.
From the right sidebar, select a theme to apply and preview it. The theme designs suggested in Google Slides are based on default themes.
Once you select a theme, you can modify it via Slide -> Change Background.
This will enable you to change the presentation background with a color or image.
The below example shows a solid color used as a background color for a Google Slides default theme. If you’re wondering about the difference between the background and theme, the theme contains more features than just the color or background image, such as the fonts and layouts.
Editing the Google Slides Master Slide to Customize the Design
Like PowerPoint, Google Slides also contains a Slide Master-like feature that can be accessed via Slide -> Edit Theme. This feature allows users to edit the base theme and presentation layouts.
Once in editing mode, you can change the background and colors of the theme in Google Slides.
The Background option enables changing the color and picture of the slides with a custom color or image.
You can change the theme color by going to Colors in the Edit theme menu. The right sidebar provides options for picking colors to replace the default theme color, enabling customizing the presentation layouts.
Alternatives to Google Slides Design Ideas
Now that you know the answer to the question, “Does Google Slides have design ideas?” Let’s take a look at a few alternatives for Google Slides design ideas to create compelling presentation designs.
Use PowerPoint Designer for Google Slides Templates
If you can access PowerPoint, you can download a Google Slides template in PPTX format via File -> Download -> Microsoft PowerPoint (PPTX). You can use the downloaded template to use PowerPoint Designer or upload an edited PowerPoint template to Google Slides after design modifications using the PowerPoint Designer tool.
The Designer button on the Home tab, which is accessible via the Design tab, can be used to download Google Slides presentations to get design ideas. You can also set up your presentations using Designer and upload them to Google Slides.
Google Slides Templates
It can be quite convenient to opt for readymade templates for presentations instead of making elaborate designs yourself or looking for suggestions using various tools and app features. For example, by using SlideModel’s Google Slides templates, you can customize professionally designed slide layouts. You can look for templates that best match your topic to save time and make minor adjustments to make presentations in less time. SlideModel provides various designs with customizable templates based on various topics. You can also customize many of these Google Slides templates according to your topic and adjust them to a specific brand design to match your needs.
AI-Powered Online Design Tools
Since AI has been the next big revolution, everything, including automated presentation designs, is now being developed using AI-powered design tools. SlideModel.ai is one such tool that generates presentations based on text input. With SlideModel.ai, you can quickly generate slides based on your content and customize the design by generating AI-powered images. Once you are done generating a presentation, it can be downloaded as a fully editable PowerPoint file, or you can open it on Google Slides for editing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can get design ideas in Google Slides by selecting a suggested template or theme in Google Slides.
Google Slides had an option called Explore which was similar to the Designer feature in PowerPoint. However, the tool was discontinued on January 30, 2024.
While removing the Explore feature in Google Slides, a key feature that provided Google slideshow ideas using Google-powered design suggestions was removed. You can use the template and theme suggestions in Google Slides to design your slides. These options are available via the Slide menu in Google Slides.
You can get design ideas in Google Slides by using the Templates or Change Theme option from the Slide menu.
Yes, you can change the background for a Google Slides theme or template with a color or an image.
The AI-powered Designer feature in PowerPoint is far more comprehensive than the template and theme design suggestions in Google Slides.
As an alternative to the default design suggestions in Google Slides, you can use PowerPoint’s designer feature and upload the presentation to Google Slides, use Google Slides templates, or use AI-powered presentation tools like SlideModel.Ai.
Final Words
While Google Slides provides design ideas in the form of template and theme suggestions, these features are not as powerful as the Designer feature in PowerPoint. Furthermore, discontinuing the Explore button in Google Slides means that now you have to use other methods to get template and layout suggestions instead of directly using a simple search bar. However, by using Google Slides templates and themes from suggested ones and customizing the color and background design, you can generate slides according to your specific design needs.
When wondering how to make a presentation design visually appealing or how to end a presentation with an attractive layout, you can use alternatives to make your content stand out. These alternatives can include AI-powered tools like SlideModel.ai and third-party Google Slides templates, or you can use the Designer feature in PowerPoint to create designs for Google Slides. Using these alternatives, you can design slides and quickly generate slide decks for presentations based on your topic and branding needs.
