NotebookLM can turn your sources into slide decks. The catch: a vague ask gives you generic slides. These twelve prompts spell out the look, layout, and tone so you get decks that feel designed on purpose.
Open your notebook, go to Studio, and start a Slide Deck. Paste a prompt below, then tweak colors or section names to match your topic. Load the notebook with strong sources first: papers, transcripts, articles, or videos. NotebookTools speeds up imports from YouTube and the web if you are still building the notebook.
How to use slide prompts
- Pick one style per deck. Mixing two visual languages confuses the output.
- State plain-text rules so slides avoid markdown symbols like # or **.
- Ask for source grounding so claims trace back to your uploads.
- Regenerate weak slides with a follow-up: "Redo slide 4 with less text."
Editorial and business
Clean, credible decks for reports, strategy reviews, and client-facing work.
Smart editorial deck
Build a slide deck from my notebook sources in a sharp digital business magazine style. Slide text must be plain text only with no markdown symbols. Cover slide: asymmetrical Swiss-style layout, a 2-5 word headline as the visual anchor, and a short subtitle that states the reader's problem. Colors: white or cool gray background, near-black text, electric yellow or red accents. Headlines should fill 30-50% of each slide with a 10:1 size jump over body copy. One message per slide. Use cutout-style photos and yellow marker highlights on key numbers. Ground every point in my sources.
Best for: investor updates, market explainers, internal strategy.
Architectural portfolio
Turn my sources into a refined minimal presentation. Tone: professional, grid-based, whitespace-heavy. Palette: light gray or white base, black typography, optional full-black slides for emphasis. Add a small section label on every slide (example: 01. INTRODUCTION). Favor asymmetrical splits, oversized numbers beside narrative text, thin divider lines, and vertical timelines. Sans-serif headings, airy body text. No clutter. Content must come only from my uploaded sources.
Best for: case studies, agency pitches, design portfolios.
Yellow and black feature
Create slides from my notebook in a bold fashion-editorial style. Background: saturated yellow. Text: black in a large modern serif. Layout like a magazine spread with dynamic type placement. Use striking portrait photography and small handwritten-style accents or sticker-like details. High contrast, confident, visual-first. Plain text on slides, no markdown. Source-grounded content only.
Best for: brand stories, culture pieces, keynote openers.
Creative studio orange
Generate a slide deck from my sources that looks like a top creative agency pitch. White background, black text, blood-orange accent color. Mix dynamic photography with clean English display type. Confident spacing, strong hierarchy, one idea per slide. No markdown on slide faces. Keep claims tied to my notebook materials.
Best for: campaign recaps, creative proposals, rebrands.
Speaker minimal
Build a conference-style deck from my sources with very little on-slide text. White background, black sans-serif type, red accent only for emphasis. One headline and at most two short lines per slide. Use a single high-quality portrait or abstract photo per slide. Let me talk; the slides should support, not replace, the narrative. Plain text only. Ground content in my sources.
Best for: live talks, workshops, TED-style presentations.
Pop, youth, and street
Playful decks that make dense material feel approachable and memorable.
Comic explainer
Turn my notebook content into a manga-inspired slide story. Use panel-style layouts, speech bubbles, and a light narrative arc so ideas are easier to remember. Friendly tone, short dialogue, visual pacing between setup and payoff. Plain text in bubbles. Teach the core concepts from my sources through scenes and characters, not bullet walls.
Best for: onboarding, student audiences, complex topics made friendly.
Dusty pink editorial
Compile my sources as a mature-cute magazine editorial deck. Matte dusty-pink background, charcoal text, cutout subject photo centered with movement. Numbered callouts (NO.1, NO.2) in the margins, vertical side copy, subtle crop marks in corners. Hand-drawn bubbles for key quotes. Landscape slides, polished and trendy. Plain text only. Content from my notebook.
Best for: lifestyle brands, creator economy, consumer research.
Neo-retro builder
Create a developer-focused slide deck from my sources in neo-retro editorial style. Light cream grid-paper background, thick black borders, modular color blocks (hot pink, bright yellow, cyan). Pixel-style icons for agents, code, browsers, and tools. Short declarative copy, no marketing fluff. Stacked layers for architecture slides, left-to-right evolution for timelines. Feels like annotated engineering notes, not corporate PPT.
Best for: product demos, AI tooling, technical roadmaps.
Pink street collage
Design slides from my notebook in a pink street-pop style. Pink backgrounds, white and black text, thick-outline flat illustrations, soft trimmed photo shapes. Loose, playful, slightly rebellious energy. Flat colors, no gradients. One bold idea per slide. Plain text on slides. Keep facts tied to my sources.
Best for: Gen Z audiences, community products, culture decks.
Artistic and avant-garde
High-impact visuals when you want the deck itself to be memorable.
Royal blue and red wash
Build an artistic slide deck from my sources using wet watercolor textures in royal blue and red. Painterly backgrounds, elegant type, gallery-like pacing. Let visuals carry emotion while text stays minimal and precise. Vary brush intensity slide to slide. Plain text only. Ground narrative in my notebook.
Best for: arts programs, thought leadership, narrative essays.
Constructivist collage
Turn my sources into a constructivist tech-art deck. Warm beige paper texture background, charcoal text, neon yellow geometric accents, ultra-thin draft lines. Monochrome cutout portraits masked inside circles and squares. Blueprint-style labels (Fig.1, Fig.2), radar charts with bold yellow plot lines. Intellectual, structural, future-facing. Plain slide text. Source-based content.
Best for: research showcases, innovation labs, design theory.
Tips for better slide output
- Feed the notebook first. Thin sources produce thin slides. Import lectures and articles before generating.
- Name slide count. Add "about 10 slides" if you want a tight deck.
- Fix one slide at a time. Follow up on individual slides instead of regenerating the whole deck.
- Pair with study prompts. Use our research prompts to distill sources, then style the deck here.
FAQ
Where do I paste these?
In NotebookLM Studio when creating a Slide Deck, or in chat when asking for presentation-style output. Paste the full prompt, then add your topic if needed.
Will slides cite my sources?
NotebookLM grounds content in your notebook. For strict citations on every claim, add: "Reference which source supports each slide."
Need more chat prompts?
Browse the full prompt library or read what NotebookLM is to get oriented.