Sometimes it’s the tiniest thing that can separate a bland, boring photo slideshow – from an unforgettable, awesome slideshow. Smilebox is here for you with a bunch of great ideas you can implement on your next slideshow whether you choose to you use our very own slideshow maker or something else.
Slideshow layout ideas:
- Rule of Three – increase memorability and engagement by splitting slides into 3 equal parts! This is the best way to tell a story with one frame. Great for professional presentations – showcasing your team and “how it works” slides.
- Picture Superiority – use as many photos as possible and have them dominate the frame in comparison to the volume of text. Keep photos on the left, text on the right for better eye-flow.
- Full Bleed – toss those margins and go full-frame. Keep your full bleed frames with as little text as possible.
- Horizontal Frame Composition – split your frame into horizontal bars, this is an especially efficient layout when you’re dealing with a lot of text.
- Big Callout – a large text callout dominates the frame – this is especially useful when designing a greeting frame, or when ending a slideshow.
The 3 Principals of an Effective Slideshow Title
- Know your audience: be specific! Our Family Vacation – bad. The Johnsons’ France Holiday! – better.
- Create Curiosity: Dave’s Bachelor Party – bad. You Won’t Believe What Happened at Dave’s Bachelor Party! – better.
- Put your best image on the title page!
How to End Your Slideshow
- By saying thank you!
- With a joke (not so appropriate if this is a memorial slideshow…)
- Contact information – especially important if this is a business-related slideshow.
- Inspire the viewers with a quote. Either from someone famous – or someone you all know.
- With a link – if you’re sharing your slideshow online.
Choose the Right Music!
- Make sure your music fits the event. We already did part of the work for you here and here.
- If you don’t want the sound to play a dominant role try instrumental ambient music. Keep in mind classical music, albeit instrumental, tends to steal a lot of focus…
- No music also works. But think it over long and hard.
- Most importantly: time the slides to go along with the music
Humor is important!
- Adding humor to your slideshow creates a bond with your viewers. If they’re laughing – they’re engaged.
- Humor will make people remember your slideshow. People may forget what you say, but they won’t forget how you made them feel.
- When you use humor, more people want to watch what you’re showing.
- When the circumstances are solemn, a bit of appropriately applied humor can help lift the spirits of those attending.
- Slideshows are just such a great medium with which to have fun and be funny!
Some Creative Slideshow ideas:
- Old Yearbook Photos slideshow
- Quarantined at Home slideshow
- Slideshow Cooking Recipe with pictures
- A Slideshow starring your pet
- Trivia Slideshow for an event
Betcha didn’t think about those slideshows
- Graduation slideshow
- Thanksgiving slideshow
- Travel slideshow
- Memorial slideshow
How to create a slideshow with Smilebox
Smilebox has one of the best online slideshow maker out there. First of all – We’ve got a huge selection of slideshow templates for ANT EVENT OR OCCASION you can think of. Seriously. A ton of them. And once you pick a design – it’s super easy and fun to create your slideshow. All our slideshows are fully-animated – and fully customizable!
