You’ve got the ideas, the vision, the drawings…now it’s time to communicate them clearly and confidently. Whether you’re pulling together a quick concept pitch or refining a final design presentation, the right tools can make your work feel sharper, more professional, and easier for clients to understand.
This collection includes 15 of my favorite tools to help you plan, design, and deliver stronger presentations, without starting from scratch every time. From layout platforms and font pairing sites to imagery tools and AI-generated magic, these resources are here to help you:
- Add polish with less effort
- Make smarter decisions about what to include
- Tell the story of your design in a way that clicks with clients
Use them alongside the Client Presentation Planner Matrix (download at the end!) for even more clarity and structure.
Design & Layout Tools
Your layout tools set the tone for how your ideas are received. Some are better for polished final presentations, others for quick brainstorming or collaboration. Having the right tool for the right moment makes all the difference.
1. Canva – I used to be such a Canva snob, but not anymore! Fast and intuitive, Canva is great for designing moodboards, concept boards, and templated client presentations. Ideal when you’re on a deadline and need the presentation to still feel clean and branded.
2. InDesign – Adobe’s powerhouse for professional, multi-page layouts. Use this when you need tight control over spacing, typography, and structure – especially for portfolios or PDF proposals. Very much an expected standard in high-end or commercial projects.
3. Google Slides / PowerPoint / Keynote – These classics are great for building straightforward presentations quickly. Google Slides is especially handy for real-time collaboration.
4. Figma Slides / FigJam – I love FigJam for whiteboards – visual thinking! But Figma also has a platform for creating slides presentations!
5. Prezi – Offers animated, zoom-based presentations for a more dynamic storytelling experience. Excellent when you want to walk clients through space planning or phased development visually.
Typography & Fonts
Good typography elevates every presentation. Whether you want clean and modern or bold and expressive, the right font pairing builds hierarchy and polish into your work without extra effort.
6. Google Fonts – A free and reliable font library that integrates easily with most design platforms. Great for creating professional, web-safe presentations.
7. Adobe Fonts – Access to a more curated and design-forward selection if you’re already using Creative Cloud. Perfect for more refined or brand-specific work.
8. Fontpair – A helpful tool when you’re stuck picking fonts. It suggests effective font pairings (like serif + sans-serif) that work well in headers and body text.
Color & Styling
Color choices impact mood, tone, and clarity. Whether you’re working with client brand colors or building something from scratch, these tools help you experiment and stay inspired.
9. Coolors.co – Quickly generate palettes or input your brand colors to see smart pairings. It’s intuitive and great for experimenting.
10. Color Hunt – A curated collection of stylish color palettes. Use it when you want a spark of inspiration or a more trend-forward palette to match a design theme.
Imagery Tools for Mood, Movement & Magic
Great presentations go beyond text and layout — they use images and motion to tell a compelling visual story. These tools help bring that magic to life.
11. Unsplash – A go-to for high-resolution, royalty-free photography. Great for backgrounds, moodboard filler, or aesthetic reference images.
12. Midjourney – Use this AI tool to create atmospheric visuals or even animated renderings based on your own interior designs. Especially powerful for visualizing concepts not yet built.
13. Coverr.co – Stock videos can bring presentations to life. Use subtle motion (like trees swaying or lights flickering) as backdrops or mood-setting visuals.
14. Photoshop – The classic tool for refining, editing, or compositing images. It’s also great for converting CAD drawings into raster images so you can emphasize line weights or layer them creatively in an image-based slide.
File Handling & Utilities
You don’t need to be a tech wizard to clean up file sizes, convert drawings, or prep documents for sharing. These handy tools keep your workflow smooth and frustration-free.
15. SmallPDF – A fast and reliable way to compress large PDFs, convert file types, and even split or merge pages. Great when your InDesign export is too big to email.
Feel like your presentations are all over the place?
It’s easy to get stuck wondering what to include, how much to show, or whether your presentation tells a clear enough story.
The Client Presentation Planner Matrix is here to change that.
This free, practical tool helps you plan and prioritise your presentations with more clarity, structure, and confidence — no matter what stage of the design process you’re in.
Use it to:
✅ Outline and organise your ideas
✅ Make strategic decisions about what to include (and what to skip)
✅ Strengthen your storytelling with a clearer flow and purpose
✅ Save time and reduce second-guessing when a deadline is looming
👉 Download the Client Presentation Planner Matrix now and take the stress out of preparing your next design presentation.
