How to Make a Slide Deck Template [An Expert Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Jun 6
- 7 min read
Last month, while we were building a comprehensive slide deck template for a B2B SaaS company, our client, Sean, looked up and asked us,
“How do you even know what to include in a slide deck template when every team needs something different?”
Our Creative Director didn’t flinch. He simply said,
“You don’t start with slides. You start with the people who’ll use them.”
And that was exactly the right answer. As a presentation design agency, we work on dozens of slide deck templates every year, for clients across industries. And if there’s one recurring challenge we’ve noticed, it’s this: most teams either overbuild their templates or leave them too open-ended. In both cases, the result is chaos.
So, in this blog, we’ll walk you through how to make a slide deck template that’s actually usable, scalable, and doesn’t make your team silently curse you every time they open PowerPoint.
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 Should Care About Getting This Right
Let’s get this out of the way. Most slide deck templates are made by guessing.
Someone opens PowerPoint, throws in a cover slide, a title and bullet layout, maybe a chart or two, and calls it a day. But here’s the thing — a slide deck template is not a checklist of slide types. It’s a system. One that, when done right, saves hours, reduces inconsistency, and lets your team focus on what they’re actually trying to say.
Now ask yourself — how many people in your team have redesigned a slide from scratch even when you had a “template”? If that number’s higher than zero, your template isn’t working. And it’s not their fault.
The problem is deeper. Most templates are either too rigid (with pre-filled content that no one wants) or too vague (with empty placeholders that don’t guide anyone). In both cases, they don’t solve the actual problem they were meant to fix: speeding up work while keeping things on-brand and on-message.
When a slide deck template works, it’s invisible. Teams use it without thinking. Designers stop chasing formatting fixes. Leaders stop worrying about whether things “look consistent.” Everyone just focuses on the content. That’s what you want.
And that’s why this isn’t just a design job. It’s an operational one. You’re building infrastructure.
How to Make a Slide Deck Template
Let’s not overcomplicate this. If you want to know how to make a slide deck template that actually gets used, not just dumped in a company folder and forgotten, you need to stop thinking like a designer and start thinking like a systems builder.
You’re not just creating slides. You’re building a tool.
This means your template has to serve three masters:
The people who’ll use it
The messages they need to communicate
The brand it needs to represent
You mess up any of these and the whole thing falls apart. So let’s walk through this the way we do it when we build templates for clients — with strategy, structure, and sanity.
Step 1: Talk to the users before you touch PowerPoint
This is non-negotiable. Do not open PowerPoint yet. We’ve seen so many templates fail simply because they were built in isolation. Someone in marketing makes it. Sales opens it and goes, “This isn’t helpful.” Then they go rogue and start building Frankenstein slides from old decks.
Talk to the people who actually make decks. Ask them questions like:
What kinds of presentations do you build the most?
What slides do you always end up recreating?
What do you hate about the current template?
What tools are you using outside the official template?
You’ll start to notice patterns. Maybe everyone keeps reformatting tables. Or they’re constantly rebuilding client intro slides. Or the sales team adds 10 custom icons every time because the default ones don’t do the job.
Your job here is not to defend the brand. It’s to understand the friction. Then you fix that friction with better design, not more control.
Step 2: Map the core use cases
Not every template needs every slide. A product team doesn’t need 12 types of quote slides. A sales team might need five ways to show ROI. You build what’s needed — not what looks pretty in a portfolio.
Here’s how we typically map out slide types based on use case:
Internal presentations: updates, metrics, goals, retrospectives
Sales presentations: problems, solutions, case studies, pricing, credibility
Marketing decks: vision, brand storytelling, roadmaps, product overviews
Investor decks: market size, traction, team, growth story, funding needs
Training or onboarding: step-by-step content, definitions, process breakdowns
Each of these categories has different rhythms. Internal decks are more data-heavy. Sales decks need visual storytelling. Investor decks need proof, not fluff. So your template should support the rhythm of each, not flatten everything into the same five slide types.
We usually create a “core set” that’s universal, and then a few slide packs tailored for different teams. This keeps things clean but flexible.
Step 3: Build for non-designers, not design awards
Let’s say this clearly. If your template needs a manual to understand how to use it, you’ve already lost.
We design for speed and clarity. That means fewer decisions for the end user. Think of it like this: your job is to reduce cognitive load. No one wants to guess font sizes or align elements by eye at 11 p.m. before a deadline.
Here’s how you do that:
Use real placeholder content: Instead of “Insert title here,” try “3-word headline that summarizes your point.” Guide people.
Predefine text hierarchies: Titles, subtitles, body — each with a clear, distinct style. No more size-18-body-text when 24 is the default.
Smart color themes: Stick to your brand palette but give logical use-cases. For example, green for success metrics, red for risks, blue for product features. It helps people use color meaningfully, not decoratively.
Avoid overdesigning layouts: Don’t cram visual elements into every slide just to show design range. Leave white space. Let content breathe.
Also, create formatting rules that are baked into the layout — not left to chance. Set proper margins. Lock key elements in the master. Create consistent image ratios. Think like an architect, not a decorator.
Step 4: Include reusable assets, not just slides
This is where most templates fall short. A great slide deck template is not just a bunch of pretty layouts. It’s a toolkit. So build a system around reusable assets.
What to include:
Icon libraries: 20 to 50 custom icons that actually reflect your industry, product, and workflow
Branded infographics: timelines, pyramids, matrixes, process flows — all with placeholder content so they’re easy to repurpose
Device mockups: product shots already embedded in phone, laptop, or tablet frames that match your brand’s style
Charts and data visuals: pre-designed bar charts, pie charts, progress indicators, and so on — using your fonts and colors
Team slides: layouts with space for images, bios, roles — something your HR and Sales teams will both use
The key is to think about repeatability. What elements are people pulling from old decks again and again? Bake those in. If they’re using it more than once, it deserves a permanent home in your template.
Step 5: Make variations, but don’t go overboard
Too many variations create confusion. But too little choice forces people to hack layouts to make them fit. You want the Goldilocks zone — just enough to cover 80 percent of use cases.
Here’s our rule of thumb:
1 cover slide
2 to 3 section header styles
2 types of agenda slides
3 to 5 content layouts (title + body, image + text, two-column, etc.)
2 data layouts (charts, tables)
2 quote/testimonial styles
1 thank you slide
1 or 2 “wildcards” (like a big statement slide or a visual callout)
This keeps the file light but versatile. Also, put the most-used slides up front. The deeper into a deck someone has to scroll to find a layout, the less likely they’ll use it.
Step 6: Stress test before you roll out
Once your template’s built, don’t just upload and hope for the best. Give it to three types of users:
Someone who builds decks weekly
Someone who hates PowerPoint
Someone who has no clue what templates even do
Watch how they use it. Where do they hesitate? Where do they overwrite formatting? What slides do they avoid completely?
This kind of user testing tells you everything. We’ve made dozens of adjustments just based on watching someone try to align a logo or figure out why their font changed mid-sentence. If your template doesn’t survive real-world use, it doesn’t matter how good it looks.
Step 7: Document the system (briefly)
Don’t write a 20-page style guide. No one will read it. But do include a one-pager in the first slide with 3 things:
What this template is for
How to use it (and how not to)
Who to contact if you mess something up or need help
Also, name your file clearly. “ACME_2025_Master_Deck_Template_v1.0” is better than “Template final-final-use-this-one.pptx.”
A little instruction goes a long way in making sure your work doesn’t fall apart in the hands of an intern under deadline pressure.
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.