In PowerPoint, you can customize the background of a slide by adding a solid color, a color gradient, a texture, or even a picture.
To format a slide background with a solid color:
On the Format menu, click Slide Background.
On the Solid tab of the Format Background dialog box, expand the Color gallery and click the color you want.
Click Apply to apply the background to only the current slide, or Apply to All to apply the background to all slides in the presentation.
A color gradient is a visual effect in which two or more colors blend into each other. PowerPoint offers several gradient patterns—Linear, Path, Radial, Rectangular, and From Title, each with several variations. Standard gradients based on the presentation’s color scheme are conveniently available from the Toolbox, or you can create your own gradient using from 2 to 10 colors.
If you want something fancier than a gradient, you can add a textured pattern or a picture to the slide background. PowerPoint comes with 24 preset textures that you can easily apply to the background of slides. You can add any picture to a slide’s background, either as a single object stretched across the slide, or as a series of tiled images.
See Also
For examples of color gradient, texture, and picture slide backgrounds, and step-by-step instructions for applying them, see "Practice Formatting Slide Backgrounds" later in this chapter.