The grid image should be exactly the right size, without any need for scaling to fit. You can now insert the image of the grid into your PPT presentation’s Slide Master. Select “File” from the Menu Bar and hover over “Export.” A drop-down menu will appear select “Export As” from this menu and then select the save location and file type. The last step in Illustrator is to save your grid as an image and import it into PPT as you would any other image. Select “Opacity” and set it to around 30%. Select your columns/content area (all of it) and go to the top “Object bar” in Illustrator. Keeping the column fill colors at 100% opacity can make it difficult to set up and review your content when developing your presentation. Once your columns/content areas filled in, you’ll want to lower the color opacity so that you can see your content when using the grid as an underlay. First, differentiate your columns from your gutters and use the “Rectangle Tool” again to fill in your columns/content area with another color - I like blue. The grid is in place, but there a couple of more things to do before placing it into PPT. You can drag out guides from your rulers to extend beyond the artboard if that is more helpful to you. This will remove the color-filled columns used to create the grid and replace it with guidelines that are more traditional than those that would have been created had you clicked the “Add Guides” checkbox in the “Split to Grid” options window. A drop-down menu will appear select the “Make Guides” option. Select the grid and right-click your mouse. Once you’ve clicked “OK” you’ll see that the rectangle you drew earlier has been split into a grid. Another option is a checkbox that allows you to make guides out of your selection, but we will be using a different method to do this in Step 5. Once you’ve selected the gutter size the “Width” and “Total” fields automatically update with that information. This specification isn’t a default number by any means, so feel free to experiment. There really isn’t a right or wrong size, but you don’t want it too thin or too wide in either case, the viewer could easily become distracted or the natural flow of the presentation could be affected. A good general rule is to have your gutter size be slightly over or about double the size of your leading. Selecting a good gutter size really depends on your line length, font size, leading (the space between the lines of text), and other font and paragraph properties. This leads us to the next option, “Gutter.” The gutter is the space between columns that allows for breathing room between the different pieces of content (e.g., text, images, etc.). This option is automatically populated by the number of columns you chose to input and doesn’t account for any spacing between your columns. Two columns is probably a good default for most basic presentations. For the purposes of this example, I’ll be using three, but you can choose as many or as few as you like. In the columns section on the right, input the number of columns you want for your grid. For most purposes you’ll only want to have one row, so we’ll leave this section alone or input “1” in the “Row” field if it isn’t already there. The options for creating rows are on the left side of the window, and the options for creating columns are found on the right side of the window. A new window will appear with the various grid options you can select to build a grid that best suits your needs. With your rectangle selected, go to “Object” on the Menu Bar and hover the cursor over “Path” from the drop-down menu. After you’ve covered your artboard, select the rectangle you just created. I do not recommend using white or a grey similar to that surrounding the artboard, as this could lead to some confusion in subsequent steps. Using the Rectangle Tool, cover your artboard with the color fill of your choice. Alternatively, you can use the Hotkey (M). Select the Rectangle Tool from the Tool Panel. Once you’ve created a new file according to these specifications, click “Create.” In this example I’ll be using 4:3 (10x7.5). Be sure to enter dimensions for the artboard that mirror those of your future PPT presentation. Start by creating a new file in Adobe Illustrator. In this article, Rick Carruth walks us through a step-by-step method for creating a grid in Adobe Illustrator that can be used in PPT. Harmoniously placed content encourages the eye to flow naturally over the graphic elements, enhancing both interest and retention. In terms of visual appeal, there is not much that can be said for overstuffed PowerPoint slides.
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