You're already using a theme in your PowerPoint presentation, even if you don't know it. The
default Office theme is where this color palette comes from; also your theme fonts; and last
but not least, shape styles.
What exactly is a theme? It's a set of design elements that can be applied to your presentation
to give it a consistent, professional look, making it possible to change the tone of your
presentation in a single click. Let me show you what I mean.
Let's go to the Design tab, where we can mouse over the thumbnails in the Themes gallery
for a preview. As you can see, the background and the theme elements I've used are changing,
including font, color - even the logo I put together using shape styles. It's almost like
I'm using a template.
You can also click the More arrow in the bottom right corner to see all of the themes at once.
This is one of my favorites. Just click to apply it, and the change takes effect immediately.
Keep in mind, trying out different themes will only work if you take advantage of what
they have to offer - including theme fonts, colors, and shape styles. Other colors and
fonts that you've chosen yourself won't reflect the change.
Now every slide - from Title, to Section Header, to Content - has been given a fresh new look.
Themes even have their own unique slide layouts. Notice how freely the layout changes if I
switch to this themeů or this one.
Themes are a great way to experiment with the design of your presentation. With so many
to choose from, it's easy to create professional-looking presentations without a lot of time and effort.