"Contact Us" - Rotating Shapes - Part 1

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About this lesson

In Part 1 of this lesson, we will begin to put together a Contact Us slide. We will use shapes and learn how to rotate shapes but keep the image horizontal. 

Quick reference

Slide 10, Contact Us - Shapes, Picture and Rotation

It is recommended we add a 'Contact Us' slide to the presentation so our audience knows how to contact us. This might be our email address, our website or maybe links to our social media.

In Part 1 of this lesson we will start buiding this slide using shapes and pictures. We will explore how to rotate shapes but keep the picture horizontal.

When to use

A 'Contact Us' slide should be included in the presentation whenever you want the audience or the reader to be able to keep in contact or connect. 

Instructions

Add Pictures

  1. From the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Shapes. 
  2. Select the Rectangle shape. 
  3. Hold down SHIFT and draw a square on the slide. 
  4. Press CTRL+D twice to duplicate. 
  5. Right-click on the shape, select Format Shape. 
  6. Select Picture and texture fill and click Insert. 
  7. Navigate to the folder that contains the picture. 
  8. Select the picture and click Insert. 
  9. From the Shape Format tab, in the Size group, click the lower-half of the Crop button. 
  10. Click Fill. 
  11. Reposition the picture if required. 
  12. Click Crop. 
  13. Repeat steps 5-12 to fill the other squares. 

Rotate with Shape

  1. Click on the first picture. 
  2. Right-click on the shape, select Format Picture. 
  3. From the Shape Options area, deselect Rotate with shape. 
  4. Use the rotation handle to rotate the shape so it looks like a diamond. 
  5. Repeat steps 2-4 for the other shapes. 

Format Shapes

  1. Select the first shape. 
  2. From the Picture Format tab, in the Picture Styles group, click Picture Border. 
  3. Click Weight. 
  4. Select 4 1/2 pts. 
  5. Select the other two shapes. 
  6. From the Picture Format tab, in the Picture Styles group, click Picture Border. 
  7. Click Weight. 
  8. Select 1pts. 
  9. Arrange the three shapes vertically so they overlap. 
  10. Select the picture in the middle. 
  11. From the Picture Format tab, in the Arrange group, click Bring to Front. 
  12. Select one of the pictures behind. 
  13. Right-click and select Format Picture. 
  14. Change the transparency to 72%. 
  15. Repeat steps 6-14 for the other picture. 

Hints & tips

  • When rotating shapes, use the Smart Guides to ensure they are straight. 
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  • 00:03 The next slide we're going to add to our presentation is a contact us slide.
  • 00:09 And I would always recommend that at the end of your presentation you do have some
  • 00:13 kind of slide that lists out your contact details, maybe your social media
  • 00:17 accounts so people know how to get in touch with you or stay connected.
  • 00:21 Now one of the techniques I've used to build this slide we've already seen again,
  • 00:26 it's just a combination of shapes, pictures, text, icons, and
  • 00:30 we also have some links in there as well.
  • 00:33 But there are a couple of other little things in here which I want to show you.
  • 00:37 So let's jump across to our presentation and start building out this slide.
  • 00:41 So as you can see here, I've already started this slide.
  • 00:45 And the main reason that I've done that is because we've utilized these skills quite
  • 00:49 a lot throughout this course, so there's no need to repeat them again.
  • 00:53 I've added a shape on the right hand side, and also some text and align.
  • 00:59 And of course, we have a background with our dark transparency over the top.
  • 01:04 So let's start adding in our images.
  • 01:07 Now to do this, I'm going to jump up to insert, and I'm going to insert a square,
  • 01:13 hold down Shift, drag, and I'm going to make it about that big.
  • 01:19 I'm going to duplicate this square a couple of times.
  • 01:25 I'm just going to place these randomly on the page.
  • 01:29 Now the first thing I'm going to do here is I'm going to add a picture to all
  • 01:33 of these squares.
  • 01:34 So right-click format shape.
  • 01:36 We've seen how to do this many times, picture or texture fill
  • 01:42 Insert from file, and then you can go in and choose your picture.
  • 01:48 So I'm going to use this one just here.
  • 01:50 I want to make sure that I'm using my crop and fill technique.
  • 01:55 I'm going to make this a little bit bigger, And move it over slightly.
  • 02:03 And crop.
  • 02:04 Let's do the same for the next one picture and texture fill, insert from a file.
  • 02:10 And we're going to use this picture of the team.
  • 02:14 Once again, crop and fill.
  • 02:18 And I'm just going to move this one over very slightly.
  • 02:22 And to the final picture Is going to be this one, just here.
  • 02:33 Crop and fill, and let's just move that over a little bit as well.
  • 02:38 Okay, great, so now I have my three pictures inside my shapes.
  • 02:43 Now what you'll notice is that on the slide I showed you at the beginning,
  • 02:46 these shapes were actually rotated so they were more like a diamond,
  • 02:50 as opposed to a square.
  • 02:52 So if I have my picture in a square like this,
  • 02:55 what I can do is with this format picture pane open, on the right hand side.
  • 03:00 Right at the bottom, I have this option to rotate with shape.
  • 03:04 Because what you'll notice is if I rotate this around, so
  • 03:08 that this is a diamond, the image inside is now not correct.
  • 03:13 So if I undo and deselect rotate with shape, I can then rotate the shape,
  • 03:18 but the picture is going to stay horizontal.
  • 03:22 Let go, so nice and simple.
  • 03:25 Let's do the same thing here.
  • 03:27 Select picture, deselect rotate with shape.
  • 03:31 And rotate that around.
  • 03:33 And the same for this one deselect rotate with shape.
  • 03:38 And there we go.
  • 03:39 So this shape here is basically going to be the main focus.
  • 03:43 So I'm going to add a slightly bigger picture border.
  • 03:49 So let's change the weight of the border to something like 4 and a half points.
  • 03:55 And I'm also going to change the color of that border to a light gray, and for these
  • 04:00 other two and I'm going to select both of them by holding down my control key.
  • 04:04 I'm going to use a thinner picture border, so let's say one and a half points.
  • 04:10 And again, we're going to use that grey.
  • 04:12 I'm going to take this picture and we're going to place it underneath.
  • 04:17 And you'll see as I do this part of that shape is now essentially hanging off
  • 04:21 the bottom of the slide, and that is something we call off slide elements.
  • 04:26 Now I'm not going to, get too much into that at the moment because it is more of
  • 04:30 an advanced topic but just know that when you run your slideshow you're not actually
  • 04:35 going to see the part of the picture that is off the slide.
  • 04:38 I'm going to grab the other one, and
  • 04:40 I'm going to place it in a similar location towards the top.
  • 04:43 And because I want this picture in the middle to be the one that's at the front,
  • 04:48 I need to select it go up to picture format, and
  • 04:51 I can say bring to front to rearrange the order.
  • 04:54 What I'm then going to do is change the transparency of the two pictures that
  • 04:58 are behind.
  • 04:59 So let's click on the first one,
  • 05:01 in the format picture pane on the right hand side, I have a transparency slider,
  • 05:06 and I'm going to take that transparency quite far down so something like 72%.
  • 05:11 Let's do the same for the other one and because I know I want it exactly the same,
  • 05:16 I'm just going to type in 72 and hit Enter.
  • 05:19 So now if I run my slide show,
  • 05:21 that's what it looks like you're not going to see those off slide elements.
  • 05:27 That's the end of part 1.
  • 05:28 This lesson continues in part 2.

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