A readable template beats a pretty one every time. If the back row can't read it, the design didn't work — no matter how nice it looks on your laptop screen up close.
Safe margins
Keep text at least 8-10% in from every edge. Screens crop differently between the room's projector, the stream output, and any lobby overflow displays — text right at the edge risks getting cut off on at least one of them.
Font size and weight
- Minimum 60-70pt for lyrics on a standard 16:9 slide at 1920x1080 — smaller than that becomes unreadable from the back of most rooms.
- Use a bold or semi-bold weight, not a thin/light one. Thin fonts wash out against bright backgrounds and camera compression on stream.
- Add a subtle drop shadow or outline if backgrounds vary in brightness (video loops especially) so text stays legible over both light and dark frames.
Line breaks
Break lines where the lyric naturally pauses, not wherever the text happens to wrap. Two short lines that match the phrasing of the song are easier to sing along to than one long line that wraps awkwardly. Keep it to 2 lines per slide maximum — 3 only if the lines are short.
Consistency across songs
Save the finished look as a ProPresenter template/theme and apply it to every song, rather than rebuilding text styling from scratch each week. This is also what makes it possible for a new volunteer to build slides for a new song without redesigning anything.