The Slide Designer lets you build a polished, full-bleed slide in a few clicks — no PowerPoint, no image editor. You pick a background (a stock photo, a solid colour, or an image from your Media Library), choose a layout, type your text, and the slide is rendered on our servers and dropped straight into your slideshow.
Designed slides behave exactly like any other slide: you can reorder them, apply conditions and schedules, and edit them again later.
Opening the Designer
- Open the slideshow you want to add a slide to.
- In the toolbar above the slide grid, click Design Slide.
The Designer opens as a three-step wizard: Background → Layout → Text. You can move back to any earlier step at any time using the numbered dots at the top — your choices are kept as you go.
Tip: The Designer automatically matches the shape of your slideshow (landscape, portrait, or square), so the layouts and photos it offers already fit your screens.
Step 1 — Choose a background
The first step has three tabs:
Stock Photo
Type what you're looking for (for example “coffee”, “team meeting”, “winter landscape”) and press Search. Click any photo to select it — it's imported into your Media Library automatically so you can reuse it later. The photographer credit is shown beneath the results and travels with the slide, keeping you compliant with the photo provider's attribution rules.
- Use Load more to see additional results.
- If search is briefly unavailable, wait a moment and try again.
Solid Color
Pick a flat background colour. Your workspace's brand accent colour is offered first, followed by a set of neutral tones, or choose any colour with the picker.
Media Library
Choose an image you've already uploaded. This is handy for logos, product photography, or a background you use repeatedly.
When you've chosen a background, click Next: Layout.
Step 2 — Choose a layout
Layouts control where your text sits on the slide — for example a centred heading, a heading with a supporting paragraph, or a heading with a call-to-action. Each thumbnail previews your chosen background so you can see how it will look. Click one to select it, then click Next: Text.
Step 3 — Add text and style it
This is where the slide comes together. Depending on the layout you chose, you'll see fields for a Headline, Body text, and/or a Call to action. Each field shows a character count so your text stays within a size that looks good on screen.
Below the text fields are the styling controls:
- Font — choose from a curated set of display and body fonts.
- Text colour — pick from quick swatches or any custom colour.
- Background dimming — only shown for photo/image backgrounds. Drag the slider to darken the image so light text stays readable.
A live preview on the right updates as you type and style. If your text colour is hard to read against the background, a gentle contrast warning appears — it's advisory only and won't stop you saving.
When you're happy, click Save. The slide is rendered and added to the end of your slideshow. (You'll see a brief “Rendering your slide…” message.)
Note: The preview is a close approximation. The final slide is rendered on our servers and may differ very slightly.
Adding a header band
On the Text step you can switch on Show header band to add a coloured strip across the top of the slide — ideal for consistent branding. You can:
- Set the band colour (defaults to your brand accent).
- Toggle Show logo to display your workspace logo in the band.
- Choose the logo position (left, centre, or right).
- Add short optional text, such as your workspace name.
If you turn on the logo but haven't uploaded one yet, the band still renders cleanly — just add your logo in workspace settings to have it appear.
Brand templates — save your look and reuse it
A brand template is a saved combination of background, font, text colour, dimming, and header band. Once you've saved one, you can start any new slide from it in a single click — keeping every slide on-brand without redoing the setup.
Saving a brand template
On the Text step, click Save as brand template… at the bottom-left of the window, give it a name, and click Save. You can keep up to five brand templates per workspace.
Starting from a brand template
When you open the Designer, any brand templates you've saved appear in a Your brand row at the top of Step 1. Click one to pre-fill the background, styling, and header — then carry on and customise anything you like. It's a starting point, not a lock.
Managing brand templates
Each brand card has a ⋯ menu where you can Set as default (the default appears first and is marked with a badge) or Delete it. Deleting a brand template does not affect slides you've already created from it.
Editing a designed slide later
Designed slides can be re-opened and changed. On the slide grid, hover the designed slide and click the Edit design (pencil) button. The Designer reopens with all your original choices filled in, except the background image has to be fetched again. Make your changes and click Save — the slide is re-rendered in place, so its position, duration, and any conditions or schedules are preserved.
Tips for great-looking slides
- Keep text short. A punchy headline reads better on a screen across the room than a full paragraph.
- Mind the contrast. Use the dimming slider on busy photos, and heed the readability warning.
- Reuse your brand. Save a brand template once and every future slide starts on-brand.
- Icelandic and accented characters are fully supported across all the built-in fonts.
Frequently asked questions
Can everyone on my team use the Designer?
The Designer is available to team members who can create content. If you don't see the
Design Slide button, ask your workspace administrator about your permissions.
Do I have to credit stock photos?
Attribution is handled for you — the photographer credit is captured automatically when you
select a photo, in line with the photo provider's guidelines.
Where do imported photos go?
Any stock photo you select is saved to your Media Library, so you can reuse
it on other slides without searching again.
What happens to slides made from a brand template if I change or delete the template?
Nothing — existing slides are unaffected. A brand template is only a starting point applied at
the moment you create a slide.