Do you want to create presentations like a pro? Are you fed up with the same old layouts and features available in Powerpoint?

Do you struggle to bring energy into your presentation design? If so, you are in the right place! Check out our latest tutorial where you will learn to create outstanding interactive presentations using Adobe XD!

Adobe XD will allow you to create dynamic and eye-catching presentations with some simple features that will leave your audiences captivated!

Don’t be put off to use Adobe XD initially; it looks a little complicated, but with practice and time you will be able to confidently design presentations like a pro.

Here is an overview of some of the techniques covered, for a more thorough understanding, please check out the video.

Hover Effect

A great interactive feature is to add hover effects to buttons – where changes to the icon colour, size and orientation take place when the mouse hovers over the button. 

As well as the icon moving position and changing colour and size, you can also rotate the icon, which helps to give a professional feel and is much more engaging than just static buttons.

The best thing about the hover effect in Adobe XD is that everything is automatically animated. You need to set up the default state, and the hover state and the in-between animation will be automated!

LEARN ADOBE APPLICATIONS

from Adobe Certified Instructors and industry professionals

Navigation

In Adobe XD, you can set up lots of different and exciting ways to navigate between slides. As well as the standard back arrows and tap interactions, This tutorial will show you how to set up:

  • Keyboard shortcuts – you can set up any custom keyboard shortcut within the interaction menu so that when that key is typed, you jump straight to the relevant slide.

  • Voice commands – this is a cool one! You can really easily set up any word to navigate to any slide. Within your presentation you just hold the spacebar and say the word and the relevant slide appears! Seriously, this is so fun you must try it!

  • Sticky menus – If you want to add another impressive feature to your presentation, you can create a sticky menu which you can fix the position so that it stays on the page when you scroll. 

Finally, if you have two separate screens (that aren’t mirroring), you can also use the actual design board to click on the relevant slide, and your presentation (on a separate screen) will quickly move straight to it (much like a table of contents).

Anchor Links

Adobe XD has an automatic built-in scroll function so that if you have slides that are quite long, you can automatically scroll down to see the content.

Another brilliant feature which is useful for long slides is anchor links which you can set up so that when a component is clicked (e.g. an image or icon), the page scrolls to the relevant part of the slide.

These are very simple to build and give the user easy navigation to the relevant part of the presentation.


Conclusion


The features covered only scratch the surface of what you can do with components to present things engagingly and interactively. You can also use components to build cool interactive quizzes and games. If you do decide to create something in XD, please share the public URL as I’d love to check it out!

Are you interested in becoming a Graphic Designer or Illustrator?

Join 10,000+ creatives and subscribe to our FREE Graphic Design Survival Kit mini-course.

You’ll  get instant access to a video+email course, our community + extra resources. Our beginner level free mini-course will be the perfect starting point for your design studies.


UP NEXT

Learning to build brands is an essential skill for designers and learning to brand yourself is perhaps more important.

Click here.

About the author 

Shumi Perhiniak

Shumi is a self-taught graphic designer and illustrator who has worked for Toni&Guy, Renaissance Learning, Baker Ross, and many others.

Additionally, she owned a brick-and-mortar stationery shop selling her art prints and now sells wholesale to retailers and online shops under the brand name www.herdesignworld.com.

Related topics you might be interested in

We’re thrilled to announce the Food Packaging Design Contest for Quito offering a $1,500 cash prize to the winner. The contest is open to everyone!

Continue reading

Kickstart your creative journey with our first design contest of 2025 on Packaging Label design. The contest is open to everyone!

Continue reading

From the rise of AI-driven tools to a renewed appreciation for traditional media and 90s aesthetics, Find the hottest graphic design trends of 2025—and don’t miss your free downloadable guide!

Continue reading

Discover the essentials of book design and download a free guide that will help you master the terminology and techniques like a pro!

Continue reading

Get a comprehensive understanding of over 100 graphic design terms and definitions!

Continue reading

Learn how you can participate in our Book Cover Design Contest and have your work reviewed and featured on our YouTube channel!

Continue reading

Make your portfolio stand out by participating in our Magazine Spread Contest! See how you can participate and have your work reviewed and featured on our YouTube channel.

Continue reading

Take part in our Design Contest and enhance your portfolio! Find out more about how to take part and get your work reviewed and featured on our YouTube channel.

Continue reading