Tips and tricks #51: Create visually engaging presentations using the different Shape options in Show

Hi All!

Shapes are useful visual aids you can add in your presentation to reinforce any concept. This helps your audience visualize your ideas or information clearly. You can also use them as design elements to add visual appeal to your slide deck. For example, you can combine a few hexagon shapes to form honeycomb patterns. You can use this beehive template whenever you want to signify effective teamwork.

Show offers a wide range of options under Shape in the top bar which you can use in your presentation regularly to create engaging content.

Add Basic Shapes to support your message

Basic Shapes help you emphasize certain principles in your slide deck. For example, you can use a triangle on the slide to showcase your organizational goals. At its base, you can show the prime factor needed to achieve the objective and use the sides to denote the actions that should be taken to achieve the ultimate requirement (mentioned at the top vertex of the triangle). This way, your audience will be able to understand and relate easily. Likewise, you can also create symbols, logos, and icons using these shapes.

At times, you may want to use a shape in your presentation and place text in it. For this, you can use a circle. Since circles have no edges, the audience's focus will be right at its center. You can use a circle to highlight any key point with a bright and bold font style.

Use Block Arrows to help direct your viewers' attention

Block Arrows can be an ideal choice when you want to indicate a direction or show the flow of your slide content. Block Arrows can also help highlight certain key points.

Draw process flows swiftly using Flow Charts shape

Flow Charts symbols such as Decision and Data are useful when you want to create a workflow within the slide. These special shapes are unique and represent the stage in a process. For example, the diamond shape indicates the decision-making phase and a parallelogram indicates the input or output data in a flowchart.

Note: In order to draw a shape continuously on the slide, you can enable the Continuous Draw Mode switch under Shape.

Form simple or complex formulas using Equation Shapes

You can use Equation Shapes such as Plus and Minus to form mathematical and scientific equations. You can also use them as background elements when you are dealing with a related concept.

Grab attention with Stars shapes

Stars shapes are useful when you want to emphasize information in the presentation. For example, you can use the Ribbon shape to display a few deals or offers.

Add Callouts to make your presentation look interactive

Callouts like Line, Rectangular, and Oval can add a conversational tone in your presentation. For example, you can use a Cloud callout, also commonly called a "thought bubble," to show the text inside as a thought.

Use clickable buttons to trigger a call to action

Action Buttons are useful when you want to include hyperlinks in a presentation. You can hyperlink these clickable buttons to a slide, URL, or a web page. For example, you can use the Movie button to direct the users to a page in your official website where you have all the product related videos.

Interlink elements to create a logical flow between them

Lines (Connectors) can help connect two objects on a slide and show the relationship between them. This is useful especially when you want to create flowcharts or process flows.

Customize your own patterns using Draw with pen tools

Using free hand tools like Line, Curve, Freeform, and Scribble, you can create your own patterns. You can also enable the Shape Recognition option to draw figures more precisely.

Additionally, Show also offers some Textbox and Symbol preset options under Text in the top bar which assume the properties of a shape on the slide.

We hope you found this post useful! We'll be back with more interesting tips for Show.

You can connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to learn more about how Show can help improve your business communications. You may also write to us at support@zohoshow.com or comment below.

Happy presenting!

—the Show team

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