How to Make a Presentation Template [In PowerPoint & Google Slides]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Jul 23, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 10
A few weeks ago, our client Charlie, a marketing lead, asked us a question while we were building their internal team presentation template. He said,
“Why is it so hard to make a template that actually works for everyone?”
Our Creative Director, without missing a beat, replied,
“Because most templates are built to look good, not to work well.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on dozens of presentation templates throughout the year. And in the process, we’ve seen one problem crop up over and over again: people confuse a “beautiful deck” with a “useful system.”
So, in this blog, we’ll break down exactly how to make a presentation template in PowerPoint and Google Slides that your team can actually use without breaking it apart slide by slide.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
Why You Even Need a Presentation Template (Yes, You Do)
Let’s get one thing out of the way. You need a presentation template. Not because it’s trendy. Not because everyone else has one. But because without it, you’re wasting time, burning energy, and quietly letting your brand take a hit slide after slide.
Here’s what usually happens. Someone on your team needs to make a quick deck. So they open up an old presentation, duplicate a few slides, change some colors, maybe tweak a font or two. The next person does the same thing. Then another. And before you know it, every deck looks like it belongs to a different company.
There’s no rhythm. No consistency. No brand memory.
A proper presentation template fixes this. It acts like a smart system. It gives your team ready-made layouts they can plug content into without having to think about alignment, colors, fonts, or hierarchy. Which means they can focus on the message instead of wrestling with design.
And let’s be honest. Most people aren’t designers. Expecting every team member to make visually polished slides without any guardrails is like handing someone a scalpel and asking them to do surgery because they watched a few YouTube videos. It’s not realistic.
So, why do you need a presentation template? Because it’s the only way to scale slide creation across a team without wrecking your brand in the process.
How to Make a Presentation Template in PowerPoint and Google Slides
Making a presentation template isn’t just about tossing your logo in the corner and calling it a day. That’s branding theatre. We’re talking about building something that people will use, something that holds up when the pressure is on and the deadlines are tight.
This is the system we use when we create templates for our clients. It works because it’s structured, but flexible. Beautiful, but not rigid. Ready? Let’s go step by step.
1. Start With a Real Use Case
Don’t build your template in isolation. Start with how it’s actually going to be used.
Ask yourself (or better yet, your team):
What kind of decks do we make most often? (Sales, internal updates, investor decks?)
Who is using the template? (Design-savvy folks or business users?)
Will the presentation be shared digitally, presented live, or printed?
How much content do we typically need to fit on one slide?
You need these answers before you even touch the master slides. Otherwise, you’ll end up building something aesthetically nice but practically useless.
When we worked on Charlie’s template, for example, we realized their team sends a lot of client updates over email. That meant the slides needed to be content-heavy, readable on laptops, and not depend on fancy transitions or dark backgrounds. That insight shaped everything.
2. Set Up the Master Slides (the Right Way)
Master Slides (called Slide Master in PowerPoint and Theme Builder in Google Slides) are where the actual template lives. This is where you define how every layout behaves. Don’t skip this part or try to hack your way around it by designing slides individually. That’s how templates break.
Here’s what to include in your master setup:
Title slide
Section break slide
Content slide with title and body
Two-column layout
Image with caption
Quote or testimonial
Data/graph slide
Contact or closing slide
You don’t need to go overboard. Around 10-12 layouts are enough for most teams. The goal isn’t to give people 50 options. It’s to give them just enough structure so they don’t have to think.
Make sure these layouts are built on actual placeholders, not text boxes. That’s a detail most people overlook, but it matters. Placeholders ensure that font sizes, spacing, and alignment stay consistent no matter who’s editing the deck.
3. Lock the Non-Negotiables
There are parts of your slides that should never move. Logo. Footer. Slide number. Maybe a background shape or brand graphic.
In PowerPoint, you can lock these elements by adding them to the Master Slide, outside the placeholders. In Google Slides, there’s no native lock feature (yet), but you can achieve a similar effect by putting fixed elements into the master and telling your team not to touch them. Not foolproof, but it holds up.
The reason you do this is simple: control. You don’t want every team member resizing the logo to “make space” or changing the footer font to match their mood. Templates give you leverage only when they’re respected. Locking helps enforce that respect.
4. Build a Custom Color Theme
This step gets skipped more than it should. Most people just use the default palette and assume everyone will magically choose the right colors. They won’t.
In PowerPoint, go to Design > Colors > Customize Colors. In Google Slides, go to Slide > Edit Theme > Colors.
Create a custom palette that includes:
Primary brand color
Secondary color(s)
Text color
Accent color for highlights
Background (usually white or very light gray)
Once this is in place, all charts, shapes, and smart art will automatically use these colors by default. That saves a lot of time and keeps everything aligned.
Bonus tip: Create a guide slide in the template with a color key. It’s a simple thing that makes your team’s life easier.
5. Use Real Fonts, Not Fancy Ones
Fonts are like tone of voice. Choose the wrong one and the entire message feels off.
Here’s the deal: use your brand font if you have one. But if it’s not installed on every machine (especially in larger orgs), use a web-safe fallback. Google Fonts are a great option because they work across Google Slides and PowerPoint.
Make sure your font sizes are locked in on the placeholders. Define a hierarchy:
Slide title: e.g., 32pt
Body text: e.g., 18pt
Captions or footnotes: e.g., 12pt
Keep it clean. Don’t mix five fonts on one slide. Two is enough. One, even better.
6. Create a Content Guide Inside the Deck
Most teams won’t read a separate PDF about how to use the template. So put the guidance where they can’t ignore it: inside the template itself.
Add 3-5 internal instruction slides upfront or at the end. Examples:
How to use this template
Do’s and don’ts
Examples of good slides
Design principles to follow
Shortcuts and hacks
You’re not just handing off a tool. You’re teaching your team how to use it well. And that’s where real adoption begins.
7. Build a Mini Library of Assets
Give your team a jumpstart. Include pre-made visual assets they can drag and drop without thinking.
What this could include:
Icons in your brand style
Sample data charts
Editable infographics
Branded mockups
Background shapes or patterns
CTA buttons
Put them in a hidden slide section or a separate slide deck called “asset library.” People love shortcuts. This is one of the best ways to drive template adoption.
8. Test It with Real Users Before You Roll It Out
This is the part where most templates fall apart. You hand it off to your team and then—silence. A few weeks later, someone sends you a deck that looks nothing like what you built.
Why? Because you didn’t test it.
Before finalizing the template, ask 2-3 team members to build a quick deck using only the template. No design tweaks. Just raw use. Watch where they get stuck. Where do they overwrite things? What do they delete? What layout do they keep reusing? That’s your feedback loop.
It doesn’t matter how polished your presentation template looks if no one actually wants to use it.
9. Keep It Flexible, Not Precious
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your template will be broken. Someone will mess with the fonts. Another person will add Comic Sans as a joke (hopefully). It’s part of the process.
The real goal isn’t perfection. It’s guidance. A well-made template doesn’t eliminate bad design entirely, but it makes it harder to screw up.
So don’t treat your template like some sacred object. Expect edits. Expect edge cases. Build flexibility into it. That’s how you keep it useful, month after month.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.