How to format tablet and phone lock screens

There may be times when a specific message or process needs to be up front and center for team members to be aware of. This can be anything from making sure you’re doing due diligence on third parties to preventing a conflict of interest for your company.

One way to make sure your messaging is always accessible and top of mind is to have company devices broadcast them in the form of lock screen backgrounds! You can create them in PowerPoint with a few simple steps using your downloads from Design Club—we’ll show you how.

How to format a phone lock screen

1. First you’ll need to open a copy of your PowerPoint file—we’re using Read it before you approve it. Select “Design” in the PowerPoint menu.

2. To resize the image choose the “Slide Size” option then select “Page Setup”.

3. In the “Page Setup” window you can enter the dimensions of your phones’ lock screen in pixels or choose a size from the “Slide sized for” drop down menu. If you don’t know the exact dimensions,select the “On Screen Show (16:9)” option (the most common aspect ratio for phones is 16:9). Then press “OK”.

   

4. PowerPoint will ask you if you want to scale the graphics to fit the new dimensions of the page. Select “Scale”.

5. Depending on the original piece and its dimensions you may need to move a few items around to fit the new size.

   Here, we stretched the yellow background graphic to fill the top and bottom of the lock screen. Then, we moved the heading to the top, and made the invoice graphic flush to the bottom.

6. Once you are happy with the layout, choose “Export” as a JPG from the “File” menu and confirm the name and location.

7. Your new phone lockscreen is ready to test out! Just remember that phones come in all different shapes and sizes. You may have to make additional adjustments to fit your company devices.

How to format a tablet lock screen

1. First you’ll need to open a copy of your Design Club PowerPoint file, we’re using Conflicts of Interest: Friends and Family, and select “Design” at the top of the PowerPoint window.

2. To customize the size of the image choose the “Slide Size” option then select “Page Setup”.

3. In the “Page Setup” window you can enter the dimensions of your tablet’s lock screen in pixels or choose a size from the “Slide sized for” drop down menu. We are using “On Screen Show (16:9)” for this example (the most common aspect ratio for tablets are 16:10, 16:9).

   In order for the slide size to correctly update we also need to change the orientation to horizontal. You can either manually switch the width and height dimensions, or click on the horizontal orientation icon. When you're ready, press “OK”.

4. PowerPoint will ask you if you want to scale the graphics to fit the new dimensions of the page. Select “Scale”.

5. Depending on the Design Club piece you are using, you may need to move a few items around to fit the new dimensions.

   For example, we moved the people to the left of the screen, and the text to the right hand side. Then we moved the background graphics to fill the leftover white space and enlarged the text so it's easy to read on a tablet sized device.

6. Once you are happy with the layout, choose “Export” as a JPG from the “File” menu. Confirm the file name and where you want to save it, and hit “Export”.

7. Your new phone lockscreen is ready to test out!

   Just remember that tablets come in all different shapes and sizes. You may have to make additional adjustments to fit your company devices.

And that is all there is to it! Now your devices can help keep information or messaging front and center to reduce risk, increase efficiency and make work more enjoyable.