By Ellen Finkelstein
You can use abstract images to create interesting, textured backgrounds for slides or shapes. For example, Nancy Duarte’s signature slide uses a textured image background. You can see an example here. (If you have PowerPoint 2010, you have this presentation. Choose File> New> Sample Templates> 5 Rules.)
Here’s an example, using abstract images as a fill for the shapes of a diagram.
First, you have to find an abstract image. That’s fairly easy. For example, go to stock.xchng and enter abstract in the search box. Find some images whose legal agreement allows you to use them the way you want (most are pretty liberal on that site) and download them. Here are 3 that I downloaded:
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