Using SmartArt Graphics

SmartArt graphics provide you with a number of different diagram types that you can use to visually illustrate information on a slide; SmartArt isn’t just a series of design elements or shapes, however. You can use SmartArt to show relationships between text entries, providing you with slides that make important concepts easy for your audience to understand. And bottom line: SmartArt graphics look professional and are impressive additions to your slides in both visual and informational terms.

PowerPoint provides different types or categories of SmartArt, each type having a particular purpose. For example, the Cycle category of SmartArt graphics enables you to create diagrams that represent sequential cycles or a process that takes place in a circular flow. Figure 19.10 shows a cyclical diagram on a slide that is in the Slide Show view. The SmartArt diagram not only provides the audience with a picture of an overall process, it provides you with the outline for your talking points related to the subject of that particular slide.