Web sites where you can download free templates
by Antonella Pastore
The Web is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for your presentation designs. But it'll do more, actually:
there is plenty of Web sites that offer free presentation templates for you to download. Some are nothing more than backgrounds, but very often you'll find fully-fledged templates, with fonts, graphics, sounds and chart styles. In any case, you're going to find them extremely useful if, for example, you're in a rush and still want something nice and new, or if you want to add a different touch to your existing presentations.
I have put together and reviewed a number of selected Web sites offering free templates (even content outlines, if you've run short of ideas), pictures and images to jazz-up your presentations. I've looked into the range of designs, ease of download and format of templates, so that you know exactly what to look for and where. Some of the sites also offer templates for sale, so you've got the option to buy some beautiful designs for that special occasion.
*Digital Studio*
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Templates.htm
Professionally designed templates and agreeable range of colors and designs. 21 sets of templates are available, and each one contains 8 templates, which can be downloaded both in bundle and individually, always in zipped version. The site is rich in instructions on how to download and install the templates, but you'll have to browse through all the sets to find the best one that suits you, since the templates are not classified by theme or else.
*How To Conquer the World - PowerPoint Template Store*
http://www.howtoconquertheworld.com/ powerpoi.htm
Scroll down the page patiently, because it's only down there that you'll find some free templates to download and the links to the next pages. Most templates are on sale. Though modest in size, you'll find a good range of clean, simple but effective designs. The store offers a free newsletter through which you can get to know about special free offers.
*Web Site Estates - Free PowerPoint Templates*
http://www.websiteestates.com/ppoint.html
All free and oh-so elegant with their minimalist graphical tinge. You can get the templates by email by subscribing to their "PowerPoint Templates Delivered to Your Inbox!" service. The downloads are free because the site is ad-supported. This also means that after downloading your favorite template, it will open up in your browser to be saved, but you will see an advertisement on the first slide. However, save it securely, since you'll be able to remove the ad image when you open the template in PowerPoint. Files can be downloaded individually for free or in bulk by donating a $10 contribution to the designer through Amazon Honor System.
*Graphicsland*
http://www.graphicsland.com/ powerpoint-templates.htm
Wide choice of simple templates, mostly characterized by color rather than pictures or clip arts. Scroll down the long page to see the previews of the templates and to get to the link from which you can download them all in a handy zip file.
*Microsoft Office Template Gallery*
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/ templategallery/
On the official Microsoft site, you'll find an area devoted to free updates to your MS Office that cover all sorts of MS Office files (Word, Excel), PowerPoint files included. Templates, here, are mostly content samples for multiple purposes. The template, beside providing the layout and style, offers tips on what you want to write in a certain type of document. Document samples for download are: resumes, cover letters, sales and marketing documents, collection letters, legal documents, complaint letters.
Templates are ordered by category (Marketing, Financing, etc.). Click on the one that interests you and find there another subset of document types.
Presentations consist in textual presentation outlines with tips on how to structure the content of your presentation. Download is no easy job, however, unless you've got Office 2000 installed onto your system.
*3M Presentation Corner*
http://www.3m.com/meetingnetwork/ presentations/downloadable_templates_ download.jhtml?_DARGS=%2Fmeetingnetwo rk%2Fpresentations%2Fdownloadable_ templates_register.jhtml.38
Well... there's only one template for you to download here, vaguely inspired to a high-tech theme. Worth getting it, however, because the template includes a slide template, fonts, sounds, images that you can easily recycle for your presentation purposes.
*FreeFoto*
http://www.freefoto.com
Over 18,000 images with new pictures being added on a weekly basis on this extensive and easy-to-navigate Web site. Photographs can be used freely just by saving them from your browser window. High-resolution images and prints can be purchased.
On this fast, extensive site, images are grouped by categories that range from Business to Food and Drink.
The pictures are beautiful and very professionally converted to jpg format. This collection will give you lots of ideas for your backgrounds and individual slides. Read in this very issue (article #3) how you put up a picture as a watermarked background for your slides.
*The Freebie Directory: Free Graphics*
http://www.freebiedirectory.com/ Free_Graphics/
An accurate selection of Web sites that offer plenty of free graphics and Clip Art. Web sites are rated by users, and so you see quickly which one is worth a visit.
*Presenters' University*
http://www.presentersonline.com/resources/ templates/
This site deserves a special mention because it's a high-quality resource for presenters: articles on presentation techniques, new products, files... Not only is it varied but definitely very focused on the best for presenters.
Templates are grouped by category, and the designs are really elegant and contemporary in style. Each .ppt file actually contains 3 sample slides: title, text and chart, including font style and color, just ready to use.
*PowerPointed Free Templates by Indezine.com*
http://www.indezine.com
PowerPointed is a series of templates promoted by Indezine, Indian Web designer Geetesh Bajaj's presentation resource site with loads of tips and free PowerPoint graphics for download.
Beside the free templates, you may want to have a look at the Background Archive at:
http://www.indezine.com/back/index.html Here you'll find a whole collection of "tiles", small squares of graphic patterns, ordered by color, that you can tile, i.e. juxtapose in order to fill the whole available space of your presentation, desktop or Web page background. The designs are impressive and complex, so check out the final effect you're going to get. You can preview it by clicking on your favorite ones: sometimes, they might not be just the best choice if you're going to put text on them. However, I am sure you can find lots of applications for them, for example as background sections of a title or picture, or as fancy bullets for your lists.
As far as the PowerPoint templates are concerned check the links below. The files are ppt/pot and usually contain just one slide with the background. There's a whole host to choose from, and the designs are quite cool, I'd say. Simple but effective. Just pay attention to the font style and color that you will select to go with these templates. Fonts are left on their default settings, so they might not be just the ideal ones for the design you'll choose.
There are six series of free templates that you can find at:
PowerPointed 01
http://powerpointed.freeservers.com/ index.html
PowerPointed 02
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/ powerpointed/
PowerPointed 03
http://powerpointed.virtualave.net/
PowerPointed 04
http://powerpointed.50megs.com/
PowerPointed 05
http://powerpointed.20m.com/
PowerPointed 06
http://members.fortunecity.com/ powerpointed/
And now a final word of wisdom: although I always kept an eye on good design criteria, I got overly excited at the fancy graphics and backgrounds I found during my Web wanderings. I bet you'll easily get carried away by the range of colors, patterns, designs, fonts you're going to find (I changed my desktop background a dozen times while researching this article!)
The fact is that your focus of attention should always be on your audience. To keep your template search on track, stick to these three reminders:
a) Always check out that the colors contrast well with your text content
b) Choose colors that are not distracting from the ideas you're presenting
c) Always test how readable your text is against the beautiful graphics you are using.
Contributed by Antonella Pastore
Chief Information Architect
IKONOS New Media
(antonella.pastore@ikonosnewmedia.com)
You can read this article in the original issue of MasterView.
