Tips and Tricks #16: Color palettes: the pulse of good presentations

Tips and Tricks #16: Color palettes: the pulse of good presentations

Hi Everyone!

As you all probably know, color affects everything we see, perceive, and experience. These subtle visual influences are called the color psychology. The fields of advertising and marketing often use colors to influence our moods positively, emotions, and even memory. 
 
How much of importance do you think the color scheme and effects should be given in presentations? Should color psychology be considered in business at all?
 
In business presentations, colors can be of vital importance to capture the audience's attention. An ideal presentation is one that engages the audience and helps them remember the information presented. Proper use of shades, tones, and color combinations can help your ideas reach the consumers fast and effective. 
 
For example, the combinations of red and yellow—like in the McDonald's logo—can trigger food cravings in you. 
 
You can use complementary colors, simple graphic elements, and contrasting backgrounds for a pleasant look, but sometimes the use of multiple and countless color combinations can be overwhelming. Luckily, we are here to help you pick your requirements from the Show's numerous color choices and customized presentation themes. 
 
Here are a few suggestions for deciding on a color when designing your slides:
 
1. One of the basic steps while designing your slides is to use the right contrasts. For dark backgrounds use light shades or bright accent colors for texts. Moreover, for light or neutral backgrounds use dark shades or bold accent colors for texts. This type of high contrast can help your audience read your text and process your graphics more easily.


Example: Show's "Breezy" theme uses bright contrast text against a neutral background. 
 
2. Adding graphics or patterns as backgrounds to slides works wonders in drawing people's attention—but only as long as they do not dominate the contents in the slide. Graphics should be clean and functional, while the background patterns or textures should be very subtle and light to favor the clear reading of the slide's content. The Show's Evolutionary theme, as seen in the example, uses subtle, complementary background patterns that add attraction but not distraction from the text.


Example: Show's "Evolutionary" theme uses white or pastel text against a dark slide background. 


Example: In Show's "Origami" theme, the simple, bright "folded paper" graphic behind the title text highlights and frames the presentation title to give it more weight and emphasis. 
 
3. For important titles, logos, and graphics, consider using the embossing or drop- shadow effect. This makes the element look more raised or apart from the background. However, use this effect sparingly and only when you need an extra emphasis as it can appear distracting and unprofessional.


Example: The shadow effect that the Show provides for graphics helps you give your slides a visual depth which otherwise would be a simple slide background.
 
4. When it comes to using plain black and white designs, be mindful of the effect, since this can often look too stark and unfinished, or even unappealing and unprofessional. If you decide to use a black and white look, apply subtle gradients or simple graphics to add more life to your slides.


Example: This presentation theme from Show, "Monochrome," uses a black and white color palette and clean, abstract graphics to help emphasize the slide's text.
 
5. Once you have decided on a color scheme, be sure to stick on to that throughout your slide decks. Mixing and matching colors like the rainbow will look chaotic and likely distract your audience.
 
Design choices can greatly influence the moods and emotions of the audience. A good presentation design can engage the audience well and help them carry the ideas with them. So, use colors intelligently and productively. 
  
We hope you found this article interesting and useful. Have questions or feedback to share? Feel free to comment below. We're looking forward to serving you. 
 
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more updates on the Show. 



      • Sticky Posts

      • Tips and Tricks #08: Lock and unlock objects in Zoho Show

        Hello everyone, Here is a tip about just one of the many interesting tools in Zoho Show.  Let's say the marketing and design teams are working together on a product launch. With multiple people working on this shared presentation, and rushing to get it
      • Tip and Tricks #01: Take your text for a spin

        Hello folks, Zoho Show's all-new, clear, contextual interface was a great update to an already great product, so we thought you might appreciate some help putting it to good use.  Following this release, the Zoho Show Community is happy to launch  Tips
      • Tips and Tricks #06: Animate text at the paragraph level on Zoho Show.

        Hi guys!   We're back with another Show tip! Before we jump into it, let's read through a quick scenario first.    Say you have a slide with a list of bullets and paragraph levels to present to your audience. The second it's on the screen, your audience
      • Tips and Tricks #05: Add pictures as comments within a slide.

        Hello everyone,   We're back with a new Show tip.  In today's post, we'll look at a more interesting way to comment and collaborate on a slide in Zoho Show. ​ No matter where your colleagues are in the world, using comments to share opinions or give feedback is
      • Tips and Tricks #07: Crop a Picture to Fit a Shape

        Hello everyone, Whether you're designing an adventurous photo collage, your company's brochure, or simply a team introduction for new hires, images always play a crucial role in making your presentation look interesting and interactive.    To help spruce

        • Recent Topics

        • The way that Users can view the ticket

          I have created users. What I would like to achieve is the following: All users under the same company account should be able to view each other’s tickets.
        • Zoho UAE SMS/WHATSAPP

          Hello everyone, so I have a question as regards DC and their impact on automation, integration and app usage. For example I am working with a UAE clientniw but each time I tried to connect their WhatsApp and sms then automate their process I tend to receive
        • Looking to Flag or Tag contacts/ accounts on Zoho Desk?

          I am looking for a way to flag certain accounts and make it obvious on the views pages. So for example if a has a certain package or needs extra attention it is clear before even clicking on the ticket. This could be via adding a tag or flag onto an account,
        • setting date-time field from string

          hello everyone, i hope someone could help me. i have a date-time field in a form that i want to fill in from two separate fields of date, and time. i need to combine the two fields to a one date-time field but can make it work. i tried to convert the
        • Calendars and CRM Contacts

          I'm finding having multiple calendars in Zoho One so confusing. I have a few questions so I can get this straight. We have a meeting room that we have set up as a resource in Calendar. Can this be set up in Bookings and the CRM Calendar? Using Zoho Calendar,
        • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (v1.23.0)

          Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v.1.23.0) is here with interesting features and thoughtful enhancements to elevate your workplace communication and productivity. Here's a quick look at what's new. Record your meetings. You can now record audio and
        • Applying a record template

          Hi all, I can't figure this out. I hope you can help. The scenario: We have learners who have to complete a 'digital' journal with tasks in order to qualify. Those tasks, once completed, need a final signature from their 'Mentor', which will trigger their
        • Quickbooks invoice with Zoho Creator

          Is it possible to push data from Zoho Creator directly to an invoice on QuickBooks? If so, where can I find information on how to do this?
        • Help: Capture full page URL in hidden field when same Zoho Form is embedded on multiple pages (iframe)

          Hi all, Goal Use one Zoho Form across multiple pages and record the exact page URL (incl. subdomain + path + hash) where the user submitted it. Example pages: https://www.example.com/cargo/ https://www.example.com/cargo/containers/#contact https://cargo.example.com/auto/
        • Automatically Populate fields - HELP!

          There have been many discussions on this but I still can't seem to get it to work for me. I am trying to create a lookup field and have other fields automatically populate. Based on the instructions in the Help Center, I should be using the "on user input". It's just not working, here is the layout...   Both forms are in the same application. Current form is called Add Note, form to fetch records from is called Add Client. Lookup field is called Select_Client_ID related field in fetch form is called
        • Push notifications to portal users

          Hi all, it is possible to send push notifications to portal users?
        • Rename the attachment from record template pdf in the sendmail deluge script

          Hello Zoho, I urgently need a feature to rename record templates that I send via the sendmail feature. The program I created sends emails to clients with an invoices that have been created in the invoice database. If the user selects 3 invoice numbers,
        • Alt Text On Multiple Images

          I'm using Zoho Social to post to a charity website. Often the posts have multiple images, but it seems there is only one field for Alt Text. Does that mean I can only include it for the first image? Or is there a way to add alt text for all the imag
        • [SOLVED] Getting 401 when trying to download ticket attachment via API

          I'm able to use the API just fine to access ticket content. But I cannot download ticket attachment, keep getting 401 Client Error. Example: https://desk.zoho.com.au/api/v1/tickets/{ticket_id}/attachments/{attachment_id}/content?orgId={org_id} For headers,
        • Zoho project – Workdrive integration.

          Hello everyone, I was wondering something, we did the Zoho projects integration with Zoho Workdrive but nowhere during this integration we could set the location of the folders that would be automatically created in Workdrive. As I understand it, it creates
        • Scriptを埋め込みたくてOn User Inputを探しているのですが・・・

          編集モードで、Scriptを埋め込みたい項目を選択し、「項目のプロパティ」パネルで、その下のほうに「フィールドアクション(Field Actions)」という見出しがあると聞いたのですが、そもそも、それが見つかりません。そのために、On User Inputなどのイベントが選べません。 画面の英語を日本語に訳しているためにわけわからん状態になっているのかも知れませんが、わかる方、いらっしゃいますか?
        • Problem with cloud query exceeded

          When making a call I get this error, It is associated with a function in node that calls external APIs This is the code //tokenConsultar = thisapp.ObtenerToken(); //input.token = tokenConsultar.get("output").toMap().get("token");
        • Showing Total of Funnel Chart Legend (With Values) Items

          Hi, We are using the funnel type chart for displaying our zCRM sales pipeline stages and associated sum of deals in each stage.  We have configured the legend to show the associated value (Deal Amount (Sum)) for each stage adjacent to the legend items (Stages). Is there a way to display the total of the values in the same chart?  For example, at the bottom of the legend or maybe as a #merge placeholder in the legend title?
        • How to Convert VCF Contacts to CSV using Excel

          Many users switch from traditional address books to digital formats like vCard and CSV. These formats allow users to easily manage their contacts. However, a difficulty comes when you need to transfer your contact information to another application or
        • Field authorization for Linking module in Zoho CRM portal

          Hi guys! Currently building a customer portal for one of my clients, and I ran into a bit of a roadblock while using a multi-select lookup field. The issue is that there is no way to hide or define access in the linking module created by this multi-select
        • Kaizen #63 - Layout Rules in Zoho CRM

          Hello and welcome to another week of Kaizen! This week, we will be discussing Layout Rules in Zoho CRM. If you need to modify the layout of a module based on user inputs, or to show or hide sections based on the value of a specific field, we have got
        • Zoho CRM Portals - allow access per account

          Hello all, I am trying to set up a portal for our customer but I seem to be hitting an obstacle and I am not sure if it is my problem or a limitation in the software. So basically the way I understand the portal Contact Email > Each Record or Related
        • Android - Writer não acentua em Português com teclado bluetooth

          Gosto muito do Zoho, tanto o Note quando o Writer. Infelizmente, o Writer sofre de um problema sério: ao usar um teclado bluetooth, forma mais cômoda de lidar com um processador de texto, os acentos (todos!) da Língua Portuguesa não são aceitos. Todos
        • Set File Upload fields as mandatory

          Currently the CRM for some reason lacks the ability to set a file upload field as mandatory So we have an issue We have a requirement that before a Deal stage is set as Deal is Won the member needs to upload a file Now for some weird reason in Zoho I
        • Editing HTML in Zoho CRM Email Template

          I am trying to create a template within the CRM email option, but need to be able to use custom HTML. There does not seem to be a way to do so.
        • Ability to CC on a mass email

          Ability to CC someone on a mass email.
        • How to make attachments mandatory

          I want the user to be unable to mark an opportunity as Closed – Won if it doesn’t have any attachments. I’ve already tried client scripts and functions, but nothing worked.
        • SLA Ticket Report

          From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports Service level agreement (SLA) ticket reports in a help desk system are crucial for ensuring that services are delivered according to established commitments. They help maintain accountability
        • Zoho Backstage - PCI Compliance / Web Security

          I have a couple of questions related to Backstage and payment processing.... 1. my purchasing division is not giving approval to use Backstage yet because of some security issues. In order for us to take payments via a payment gateway like Authorize.net
        • Zoho Tables August 2025 Update: Faster and Smoother

          We’ve been working behind the scenes to make Zoho Tables faster, lighter, and more reliable. Here are the highlights: Faster Response Times Optimised the way responses are generated. Reduced memory consumption by 20–25%, leading to smoother performance
        • Video Upload from app says "unsupported aspect ratio" but is verified to be correct.

          I and my social media person are experiencing a problem where Social will not accept video uploads to Instagram. The error we receive is "unsupported aspect ratio" but looking directly at the file in question we see that the width and ratio both match
        • Disposable Email Addresses

          Dear zMail Team, Can you also bring out a few disposable email addresses for each accounts? That way occasional registrations and imminent spam from them can be largely solved right? ---- Deepak Vasudevan http://thamizhththendral.blogspot.com/
        • Zoho sheet - Zoho expense

          I want to schedule to create an expense using Zoho Sheet and flow. That is the EMI that I pay on a particular date to the bank and should be itemised, like principal and interest on the loan. Can someone help me in this regard??
        • Ability to configure a schedule/shift for each user and/or crew in Zoho FSM

          Hello, In our team of Field Agents, we have different shifts. Some field agent always work from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM while others work the evening shift like 4:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Sometime shift are on weekdays only or on weekend. It would be great to be
        • Free webinar: Streamlining customer service paperwork with the Zoho Sign extension for Zoho Desk

          Hello Everyone! Have you been wondering about bridging the gap between digitised customer service and business paperwork? Join our free webinar to learn how you can do this by connecting Zoho Sign, our digital signature app, with Zoho Desk, our online
        • Zoho Books | Product updates | July 2025

          Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From plan-based trials to the option to mark PDF templates as inactive, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Introducing Plan Based Trials in Zoho
        • Mail Search should allow grouping by conversation like Gmail.

          Having switched from gmail I have found the search function hard to use. Mostly because mail is not grouped by conversation in search. If I search for a word when looking for a conversation had with someone then sometimes 10 emails will come up from the
        • Improve Zoho Learn updated article notifications

          I noticed today while updating an article, that the notification users get says "[User Name] has published article [Article Name]..." My feedback to the product team is that it would be really helpful for an end user, if the system notification differentiated
        • Safari Support

          Safari, the world's second largest browser, zoho desk does not officially or fully support. That needs to change.
        • Can I get images from an "Image Upload" field in a webhook?

          I want to send images from 2 "image upload" fields via a webhook. Is this possible?
        • Next Page