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

        • Can we embed a Kanban Type of report using iframe too?

          I tried embedding a report as iFrame but it only appear as List View. It would be helpful if can also embed a Kanban Type of report.
        • Weekly Tips : Save Time with Saved Search

          Let's assume your work requires you to regularly check emails from important clients that have attachments and were sent within a specific time period. Instead of entering the same conditions every time—like sender, date range, and attachments included—you
        • Big Things Just Dropped in the SalesIQ Universe: Top Upgrades You’ll Love in Nova’25

          Nova'25 has landed, and it’s packed with meaningful upgrades to help you engage smarter, work faster, and scale with ease. Whether you're into proactive messaging, smarter automation, or better admin control, there's something here for everyone. Here's
        • Hidden Fields with Data Pre-Population and Notification Integration in Zoho Bookings Forms

          Dear Zoho Bookings Support Team, We'd like to propose a feature enhancement for Zoho Bookings forms that would improve data management and workflow efficiency: the ability to create hidden fields with pre-populated data. Current Functionality: Zoho Bookings
        • Tip #37 – How to ensure compliance and accountability using Advanced Session Audit – ‘Insider Insights’

          Hello Zoho Assist Community! This week we will be discussing how to strengthen your remote support operations with better visibility and control. Let’s say your support team handles a growing number of remote sessions each day. At the end of the week,
        • Replace an existing zoho show file with an uploaded one.

          For Zoho WorkDrive Upload API method, I have override-name-exist option, which I can use like this: curl https://www.zohoapis.eu/workdrive/api/v1/upload \ -F "filename=mypres.pptx" \ -F "parent_id=j3tzq1ae09c0cd91540df8d01670af05b657e" \ -F "override-name-exist=true"
        • Tip of the Week #66– Use internal comments to collaborate and resolve issues faster!

          Ever found yourself stuck on a customer query because you needed inputs from your teammate? Or sent a reply too soon and realized later that someone else on your team had a better context? When you rely on back-and-forth messages in external chats or
        • Using Zoho One to manage two (or more) businesses

          We are one company that operates two business, a scenario that Zoho One doesn't really seem to handle very well, and one which I can't imagine is at all unique to us! (It is basically designed to facilitate branding and use for one business only per subscription).
        • Skip order confirmation step in commerce?

          We have a store to sell products that are not shipped to a customer. Right now, when the order is placed, we have to manually 'confirm' the order so the sales order can convert to an invoice and charge the customer.  Is there a way to skip the manual
        • Free Shipping Coupon - Zoho Commerce

          I love the Zoho platform. Zoho Commerce is no exception; however, I'm struggling with a few common features I cannot find or are missing that I hope someone can help me with. Is there a way to create a coupon code for free shipping?
        • Is there a way to link an item to a liability account?

          I collect customer deposits for certain services and hold them in a liability account. However, Zoho Books doesn't let you create an item and assign it to a liability account so how do I create an invoice with an item that records it as a deposit into
        • Select a balance sheet account when creating an invoice

          Hi, it would be very helpfull to be able to select a balance sheet account when invoicing clients. We bill 30% of the job at signing and we would like to add to deferred revenues.  I have to create a transit revenue account and then tranfer to the right
        • How to work out commission in zoho commerce based on coupons

          HI There Is there any way to produce report based on coupon name in zoho commerce We need to pay commission to various channels who are helping us to increase the online sales so we have number dedicated coupons assigned to the above mentioned channels
        • Request for Subform Styling Feature in Zoho CRM Canvas

          Dear Zoho CRM Team, We have observed that in the Zoho CRM Canvas view, it is currently not possible to set presets or manage the styles of subform fields. Additionally, the ability to edit subform data directly within the Canvas view appears to be limited
        • How to Delete Old Tasks/Streams Assigned by Deactivated Users? 'Operation Not Permitted' Error

          Hello, I’m using Zoho Mail and have several old tasks assigned to me in Tasks and Streams. These tasks were created by former employees whose accounts are now deactivated. When I try to delete these tasks, I get an "Operation Not Permitted" error. These
        • Zoho Books - Sales Person Contact Details on Quotes

          Hi Zoho Books Team, I've had various clients ask me about showing the phone number and email of the sales person on Quotes to help eliminate any barriers to closing sales. When I tell them that it is not possible they are always surprised and say something
        • Related products category instead recommended products.

          Hi there, It is possible to show related products of the same category (as it works in the rest of the ecommerce) instead of showing recommended products.
        • Uploading PDF files

          How do I upload a PDF file to my ZOHO site?
        • How to send invoices to 2 emails?

          Hi! We are sending invoices to the "Customer email" field that is defined Zoho Books and is obtained/synced from a custom email field in Zoho CRM. But in some clientes, the invoices have to be sent to 2 emails and we are wondering how this could be accomplished.
        • It returns 1 record

          Var1= Tools_Request[Liability_Receipt == input.Liability_No]; for each rec in Var1.Tool_Request_Description { Var2= (ET_Inventory[SKU == rec.Tools_SKU].SKU).getAll(); } info call for Var2 It only fetch 1 record On record file
        • Narrative 5: The essential role of SLAs

          Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system - BTS Series Narrative 5: The essential role of SLAs Every organization that interacts with customers establishes a timeframe within which agents should respond to queries as part of a service level agreement
        • Nextdoor Integration

          Does Zoho social work with Nextdoor? www.nextdoor.com? Are there any plans for an integration?
        • My email sending has beed blocked due to high bounce rate. NEED HELP

          User ID: 886739811 Dear Zoho Team, I hope this message finds you well. My account (User ID: 886739811) was blocked from sending emails last week due to an unusually high bounce rate. This spike was caused by a bot attack on our platform, which led to
        • Can Zoho CRM Emails be used in Zoho Analytics in any capacity?

          We're wanting to display details about Lead Activity in regular reports through Zoho Analytics but we're having difficulty integrating Emails at all. We'd like to be able to note when an email is received and when it is sent somewhere other than just
        • WorkDrive Just Got Smarter: Introducing Zoho AI in WorkDrive!

          We're all looking for ways to work smarter, not harder, right? If you've been dabbling in the Zoho ecosystem, chances are you've bumped into Zia, Zoho's intelligent assistant that's quietly revolutionizing how we tackle our daily tasks. Meet Zia: Zoho’s
        • IF Statement in Zoho CRM Formula Field

          Hi, I am attempting to write a formula field that will give me one result if one statement AND another statement are true, then a different value if the first statement AND a different statement are true, else 0. Stated differently: if account = destination
        • Scheduled Maintenances

          Hi, Why is adding scheduled maintenance so arduous. It should be a simple process and take very little time for basically a recurring job. Creating 3 records with similar data seems crazy to me. Is there a easy way to do this? I have to create hundreds
        • Subform Fields for Form Rules & Subform Fields as a Condition with Form Fields as the Action

          Hi, The Subform in Field Rules is great, but it is missing completley from Form Rules and it lacks being able to have Subform Fields in the Condition while having Form Fields in the Action, it works the other way around. Thanks Dan
        • Power of Automation :: Implementing Deadline-Based Task Scoring with Custom Fields

          Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate
        • Zoho Forms - Subform Integration with Zoho CRM?

          I created a form in Zoho Forms that includes a sub-form for information that I want to integrate with the CONTACTS module. I am unable to find a way integrate/map the fields in the sub-form with the Contacts module in Zoho CRM. Is there a way to do this
        • Filter by user in Pivot Chart

          I have a Pivot chart where the data should be filtered by user. The user enters the system and should see only the data that correspond to it. Can anyone help me?
        • Is ZeptoMail Still Supported? No Response to API Query in Over a Week

          Is ZeptoMail Still Supported? No Response to API Query in Over a Week I’m posting here to express my growing frustration and concern over the lack of professionalism I’ve experienced with Zoho's ZeptoMail support. On July 21st, I received a response asking
        • Add ID to the recycling bin page

          Feature request to add the ID to the recycling bin page. This would be helpful for reference when trying to recover things. This is the long zoho ID for each item. - ticket ID - contact ID - account ID - etc.
        • Remove System Defined Ticket Layout

          Hi ZohoDesk, I have created a new Ticket Layout and made it the default and I want to remove the original default one so there is only one to choose from. It won't allow me to do this, or go into the options and take the tick out of the show in Help Center.
        • ZOHOLICS Japan 2025 開催のお知らせ

          ユーザーの皆さま こんにちは、Zoho コミュニティチームの中野です。 年に一度の自社最大イベント、「ZOHOLICS Japan 2025」(ゾーホリクス)の開催が決定しましたので、こちらでお知らせします。 今年の開催回は、特別ゲストやZoho のエキスパートが、 最新のDX事情や皆さまのビジネスプロセス改善、業績アップのヒントとなる情報をお届けします。 Zoho コミュニティからは、Zoho Championの西尾さん(@西尾 真言)、 コミュニティアンバサダープログラム(ZCAP)メンバーの箕輪さんにご登壇いただき、
        • Unable to connect Zoho Learn to other Zoho Tools

          Hello Zoho, Can you work on Zoho Learn. I am unable to connect it with other Zoho tools like Zoho people or even Zoho SalesiQ. This is needed, especially if I am connect Ai to my systems. Please work on connecting your applications better, especially
        • Chatbot for Urdu language

          Hello, I have successfully set up Zoho Desk and integrated it with Moodle using ASAP. I am now looking for a chatbot that supports the Urdu language to enhance student support. My goal is to enable the chatbot within ASAP so that students can ask questions,
        • Multi Level Hierarchical Query

          Hi guys I have a situation where i am trying to extract the descendants of a particular entry. So long story short, i have the Account table with Agency (A) id = 1, and that has child Agency (B) id = 2. This child agency (B) has a child agency (C) id
        • AI-Powered Grouping and Tagging of Related Issues and Tasks in Zoho Projects

          Dear Zoho Projects Team, Greetings, We would like to suggest a feature that would greatly enhance how we manage feature requests and bug reports submitted through the Zoho Desk to Zoho Projects integration. Use Case: Our support agents handle customer
        • How to change side bar from dark mode to light mode?

          The side bar on the left side in workdrive doesn't appear to have a way to fix it from dark mode - is there a way to? I can't read in dark mode without excessive headaches, and I would really like to be able to see while I have workdrive open, as workdrive
        • Next Page