10 PowerPoint Presentation Formatting Tips [Most Useful Ones]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
A few weeks ago, our client Jacob paused mid-Zoom and asked,
“How much formatting is too much formatting in a presentation?”
Our Creative Director didn’t even blink before answering,
“The kind that makes your message work harder to be seen.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on countless PowerPoint presentation formatting projects every year. And over time, we’ve spotted one recurring challenge: formatting is treated like decoration, not direction.
In this blog, we’re sharing the most useful PowerPoint presentation formatting tips that help your message speak clearly and confidently, without being buried under clutter.
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 formatting matters
Formatting is not the same as design. Formatting is structure. It’s clarity. It’s what makes a slide readable in three seconds or forgettable in one.
Too often, we see formatting being treated like the final polish. Like something you fix right before you hit “Send.” That mindset is a trap. Because formatting is not the last step. It’s the framework that holds your story together.
We’ve worked with teams that had brilliant content buried in walls of text, weirdly spaced elements, inconsistent fonts, and mismatched icons. The audience? Lost in confusion before the speaker even reached slide three.
And no, it’s not about making slides pretty. It’s about making them functional. A well-formatted slide knows what it wants to say and guides the viewer’s eyes there, fast.
If your formatting is off, your message doesn’t land. Your data gets ignored. Your visuals fight for attention. You lose momentum.
Good formatting does the opposite. It creates hierarchy. It shows confidence. It reduces friction. And most importantly, it respects your audience’s time.
That’s why we care about formatting. Not because it makes the deck look good. But because it helps your message perform.
10 PowerPoint Presentation Formatting Tips [Most Useful Ones]
We’re not going to list generic advice like “use bullet points” or “stick to fewer words.” You’ve heard that already. These are the formatting tips we actually use when building presentations that have to work—whether it’s in a boardroom, on a stage, or over Zoom.
1. Align everything like it’s your job (because it is)
If we had to pick just one formatting tip, this would be it. Misalignment is the fastest way to make a deck look messy, even if everything else is technically fine. When text boxes, icons, images, and headers are even slightly off, the audience senses something is wrong, even if they can’t articulate it.
Use PowerPoint’s alignment tools. Turn on guides. Snap objects to grid. Whatever it takes, get everything to line up with purpose. Clean alignment creates visual trust. And visual trust means the audience doesn’t question your professionalism before they’ve even heard you speak.
2. Build and stick to a layout grid
Ever noticed how the most elegant magazines or websites feel “organized” without trying too hard? That’s because of layout grids. They help you establish invisible rules that dictate where content goes and how much space it’s allowed to take up.
We always create a grid system before we even start designing slides. Whether it’s a simple two-column layout or a 12-column complex structure, the goal is the same: visual rhythm. Once you define your layout logic, formatting becomes faster, more consistent, and a lot more impressive.
3. Set consistent margins on every single slide
Yes, every single slide. This is one of the small things that has a huge impact. Consistent margins ensure your content breathes properly. It makes text easier to read. It keeps your visuals from feeling crammed.
Decide on your margin spacing at the start. Is it 0.5 inch from the left and right edges? Or 1 inch all around? Once you decide, apply it to everything—titles, paragraphs, charts, and even logos. Don’t let things float too close to the edge. It screams unprofessional.
4. Use font styles to show hierarchy—not just aesthetics
Most people use fonts like they’re choosing an outfit for the weekend. That’s not formatting. That’s guessing.
In formatting, fonts signal structure. Your slide title should look different from your subtitle. Your body text should feel different from your chart labels. Each font style has a job. When all the fonts look the same, your audience doesn’t know where to look first.
Pick two font sizes for titles and body. Stick to one font family unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Use bold and color to guide emphasis—not randomly, but with intention.
5. Format one slide, then replicate structure across the rest
Here’s what usually happens. Someone builds the deck slide by slide, formatting each one as they go.
By slide 12, the fonts have changed three times, the image styles are all over the place, and the spacing is unpredictable.
Instead, format one slide properly—like, obsess over it—and then use it as a template. That way, the rest of the deck inherits the same structure. It doesn’t just save time. It keeps the whole presentation visually coherent.
When we create client decks, we often build 5 to 6 master layouts before adding content. That foundation keeps everything grounded.
6. Limit your color palette and actually use it consistently
You don’t need twelve colors. You don’t even need six. What you need is a palette with discipline.
Pick 2 to 3 primary colors and 1 or 2 accent colors. Then decide which colors are for headings, which are for highlights, and which are for backgrounds. And don’t improvise slide to slide.
Color is a powerful formatting tool when it’s used with purpose. If every chart uses a different blue, or if your callouts shift from red to orange to green without reason, you confuse your viewer and dilute your message.
7. Define clear spacing rules between elements
Ever read a slide and feel like everything’s crammed together like sardines? That’s what happens when spacing is left to gut instinct.
Create a few simple spacing rules. For example, “20px between title and body,” “30px between icon and text,” or “uniform padding inside all shapes.” You don’t have to be rigid, but having a standard set of spacing values keeps your formatting clean.
We use spacing to create visual hierarchy. More space around something draws attention. Less space groups things together. Use that intentionally.
8. Don’t center-align everything—it’s lazy formatting
Center alignment works for invitation cards, not data-driven presentations.
If you want your audience to read quickly, stick to left alignment for most content. It’s faster for the brain to process. Only center-align elements that are symmetrical or need to feel elevated—like a section break or quote.
We see a lot of center-aligned bullet points, charts, and even entire paragraphs. That’s not clean formatting. That’s what happens when you’re guessing your way through layout decisions.
9. Make slide titles work as headlines, not just labels
Formatting is also about content structure. Slide titles should not be “Q1 Performance” or “Marketing Plan.” That’s vague. That’s formatting with no function.
Instead, turn slide titles into headlines. Say something meaningful. “Q1 Sales Beat Forecast by 18 Percent.” That’s a title that earns its place. It tells the audience what the slide is about before they even read a single bullet point.
When we format decks, we often rewrite slide titles to reflect key messages. This small content-formatting overlap changes how the entire presentation flows.
10. Use slide masters and layout presets like a pro
PowerPoint gives you tools to keep formatting consistent across your deck. Yet, most people ignore slide masters and manually format everything.
That’s a mistake.
Slide masters let you define global formatting rules—fonts, colors, placeholders, logos, and more. When you use them properly, you’re not just saving time. You’re future-proofing the deck.
If someone else edits your presentation later, they’ll have a consistent structure to follow. That reduces human error. It also means you can make global changes in minutes rather than redoing 45 slides manually.
Every major deck we deliver is built using well-structured slide masters. It’s non-negotiable if you care about formatting.
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.