When preparing a presentation deck, most of us stick with the default bulleted lists style (yes, those boring, black dot) and few know that we can create custom bulleted lists in PowerPoint. In fact, I’ve seen the same dull style used in almost every project I’ve worked on over the past nine years. In my quest to make presentation decks a little more interesting, I’ve decided to give traditional bullets a spin and share two creative ways to use icons and SmartArt in bulleted lists.
Method 1: Create bulleted lists with icons
One of the most interesting ways to customise bulleted lists in PowerPoint is by using relevant icons that connect to your content. With plenty of creative icons available online, you’ll never run out of choices! For example, if you’re presenting a checklist of things to do before performing a system upgrade, you can use ‘checked/ticked’ or ‘marked sheet/notepad’ icons instead of standard bullets, something like this:
Option 1 – Simple but manual approach
The simplest way to do this, is to look for suitable icons in popular sites like Flaticon or The Noun Project, save them to your desktop, then insert them as pictures into your slide and resize accordingly. While this is a straightforward approach, but it requires manually copying and pasting the icon for every new bullet point if you intend to reuse it over a long list (which can get a little tedious).
Option 2 – Automate the bulleted list with icons
Now, here’s the interesting bit… PowerPoint lets you set custom picture bullets that appear automatically when you hit the Enter button. With this approach, you can save time when working with a long list.
1. Click the content placeholder.
2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the tiny arrow next to the Bullets button and select Bullets and Numbering.
3. In the Bullets and Numbering dialog box, click Picture.
4. In the Insert Pictures screen, under From a file, click Browse.
5. Look for the saved icons in your desktop, select the icon and then click Insert.
6. You’ve successfully created a bulleted list with the chosen icon. But wait…the icons appear smaller than expected. Let’s adjust the size in the next step!
7. Repeat Step 2. Then, in the Bullets and Numbering dialog box, adjust the Size accordingly. The maximum permitted value is 400. Click OK when done.
8. Ta daaa!! You’ve successfully resized the picture bullets. To add additional bullet points with your custom icon, simply position your cursor at the end of the last item in the list and hit the Enter button.
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Method 2: Get creative (and smart) with SmartArt!
If you are hard-pressed for time and want something quick and fancy, use SmartArt! This easy-to-use feature comes with many professional graphic layouts you can choose from the gallery. You can also apply different styles to the graphic layout and easily switch from one layout to another.
Insert SmartArt in your slide
1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click SmartArt.
2. By default, the category All is displayed, but you can narrow options by selecting a particular category (e.g., List, Process or Cycle) from the left pane. For this example, select Vertical Box List and click OK.
3. The selected layout is inserted into the slide.
4. Click each placeholder text and type your key points. You’ll notice that the layout automatically adjusts the spacing and alignment based on how much content you’ve added. Reposition and resize it as you see fit and voila! You’ve effortlessly created nice bulleted lists!
Customise colours and styles
If you’re not happy with the default design of the layout, you can easily change it.
1. Click the SmartArt graphic layout.
2. Under SmartArt tools, on the Design tab, select any type of design that you want to apply from the SmartArt Styles group. In this example, click Change Colors and select the second option under Accent 4.
3. Now you have a better colour shade that matches the style of the heading “2 Objectives”.
Switch to a different SmartArt layout
If you change your mind later and want to use another layout, you can do so. And the best part is, you don’t have to retype your content!
1. Click the SmartArt graphic layout. Under SmartArt tools, on the Design tab, select any type of layout that you want to change from the Layouts group. In this example, I’ve selected Horizontal Bullet List.
2. The existing graphic layout is instantly transformed into a new layout type.
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I’m not trying to be dramatic here but sometimes, your choice of bullet style is a design decision that can affect how your message lands. Standard black dots are forgettable; custom bullet points and SmartArt graphics are memorable. So, have fun exploring these eye-refreshing ways of making bulleted lists!
Have you experimented with creating custom bulleted lists in your own presentations? I’d love to hear which method worked best for you. Share your experience in the comments below!
