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Here's an example of a PowerPoint slide layout I made with a happy little icon sitting next to the title. A true classic. 🌟 

You can add icons to your slides from the Insert tab on the ribbon or directly from a placeholder that you add to a layout in the slide master view (like I did here 👇). Notice the circle shape, the gold outline, and the light grey fill color. All settings you can customize when adding your own placeholders to slide layouts. Specifically, this is a "content" placeholder, but you can also use an "online picture" placeholder to help get you to the icon library.

When you're ready to use your new slide layout (in Normal view) you'll click to open the stock image and icon libary, navigate to the icon tab and insert your desired icon. I chose this head and shoulder silhouette icon. The icon now sits nicely inside the borders of the placeholder. You can update the color of the icon too since PowerPoint gives you black by default. There's still something that doesn't look quite right to me though...

You'll see the icon fills most of the circle with the bottom corners almost touching the gold border outline. I think this looks a little sloppy, like I've just grabbed an icon and smooshed it in a circle willy nilly (cause that's basically what I did 🤷‍♂️). To fix this I recommend a couple little edits that'll make a big difference. 1) Reduce the size of the icon inside the placeholder to add more white space around the icon. Or, 2) Increase the size of the icon inside the placeholder and adjust the vertical offset height so the icon spills outside the placeholder's borders. See the difference? 👇 

🪄The trick is to re-size the icon inside the circles without re-sizing the dimensions of the circles themselves. Here's how to make that happen from the 'Format Graphic' menu. 

Right-click your icon, click "Format Graphic" to open the Format Graphic menu. Click on the Picture icon, head to the Crop dropdown menu and check out the settings under "Picture Position". Reduce the Width and Height settings here to make your icon smaller. I reduced my Width and Height from 1" to 0.8" respectively and I think that gives enough white space around the icon, it looks clean and intentional.  

CAUTION: Be sure not to adjust the settings you see under "Crop Position", this will decrease the size of the placeholder (the circles). 

Right-click your icon, click "Format  Graphic" to open the Format Graphic menu. Click on the Picture icon, head to the Crop dropdown menu and check out the settings under "Picture Position". Now you'll want to play around a little bit increasing the Width and Height and adjusting the number you see under "Offset Y" until your icon is in a position that you like. Adjusting the Offset Y value will adjust the spacing of your icon up or down inside the placeholder. I adjusted my icon's Width and Height to 1.3" each and the Offset Y value to 0.14" (you can type a custom value directly inside the box or use the up/down arrows to adjust accordingly). 

The difference between good and great design always feels like it's in these tiny little details. Simple edits that aren't always obvious, especially if you haven't explored all of PowerPoint's nooks and crannies. That's why you've got me.🙋‍♂️ Whats you're favorite PowerPoint trick? The little nudge that gives your designs that extra oomph? Email me and share. I might post about it or make a video just for you! 💓

New tutorials are live for channel members immediately and post publicly each week.🚀

Was this a new tip for you? Drop me an email and share your own favorite PowerPoint tips and tricks.💡 I might post about it or make a video just for you! 💓

1. How to Make Custom Icon Placeholders in PowerPoint
2. How to add icons in PowerPont [Two Ways!].
3. The Difference Between Picture and Content Placeholders in PowerPoint.
4. How to Open the Slide Master view in PowerPoint - Shortcut!
5. How to Use Icons in Report by Chris Lysy 
6. Grab templates from my data design souvenir shop.
7. My crowd-sourced data design resource list.
8. Subscribe or join on YouTube. I'll be forever grateful.✨
9. Courses offered by our friends at Depict Data Studio.*
10. Courses offered by our friends at Excel University.*
11. FREE monthly training from Miss Excel.*

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More about Me (Nick V)

Hi 👋, I’m Nick Visscher, information designer and program evaluator with over 20 years of experience working with non-profits like museums, zoos and aquariums. My greatest joy is helping people make their data shine through visually engaging reports, and slides. Let’s connect over on YouTube, and LinkedIn!